This hands-on Cup Tower Phonics Activity is a fun and engaging resource designed to support early reading skills in preschool and kindergarten students. The document includes 4 pages, each featuring a square template with an illustrated stack of cups. Each cup contains a target word, making it perfect for an interactive phonics and literacy center.

The square template is ideal for cutting out and laminating, allowing you to reuse it many times in your classroom literacy corner.

Under each cup tower image, you will find six matching picture cards. You must cut out the pictures and glue each one onto a cup. Once completed, children can build the tower by reading the words and placing the cups in the correct order, recreating the illustrated stack.

This resource includes:

• 2 pages of CVC words
• 1 page of CCVC words
• 1 page of CVCC words

This activity is an excellent tool for strengthening early literacy because it helps children:

Practice phonics and decoding skills
Students must sound out the words and connect them with the correct image, reinforcing letter-sound correspondence.

Develop blending skills
CVC, CCVC, and CVCC words encourage children to blend sounds smoothly, an essential skill for learning to read.

Build phonemic awareness
Children focus on the individual sounds in each word, improving their ability to hear and identify phonemes.

Improve vocabulary and word recognition
Matching words to pictures supports comprehension and helps children recognize common early-reading words.

Learn through hands-on play
Building the tower adds a playful, motivating element that keeps students engaged and encourages independent learning.

Encourage fine motor development
Cutting, gluing, and assembling the tower strengthens hand muscles and coordination, which also supports writing readiness.

This is a perfect literacy center activity, ideal for small groups, independent work, or early finishers, and a great addition to any phonics and reading corner.