Fun Ways to Teach TH, V and F Sounds – Auditory Discrimination Made Easy

Why Are the Sounds TH, V, and F So Tricky

If you’ve ever wondered why these sounds trip students up so much, you’re not alone. It all comes down to articulation and auditory discrimination—the ability to hear and distinguish between similar sounds. And if students don’t master this skill early on, it can affect their reading, spelling, and speaking for years to come.

So, how can we make practicing fricative sounds (like TH, V, and F) more effective and engaging? Enter Roll and Cover, a phonics game that transforms tricky sound practice into a hands-on, engaging experience.

What Makes These Sounds So Difficult?

One of the biggest reasons students struggle with TH, V, and F is because they’re produced using almost identical mouth movements:

• TH requires students to stick their tongue between their teeth, which can be tricky for some young learners to figure out. It also has two different pronunciations—voiced (as in this) and voiceless (as in thin).
• V and F are both fricative sounds made using the teeth and lips, but V is voiced and F voiceless, making them sound nearly identical. (Hey, if you’re not sure what fricative sounds are or what voiced vs voiceless means? Check out this amazing article by The Dyslexia Classroom.)
• These mix ups are especially common for younger learners, as they naturally replace the voiceless TH with F (think→fink) and the voiced TH sound with V (with→wiv)

Without regular, targeted phonics instruction, these sounds can become a roadblock in students’ literacy development. That’s where multi-sensory activities come in!

Enter Roll and Cover: The Game-Changer

If traditional phonics drills and flashcards aren’t cutting it, a game-based approach might be exactly what your students need! Roll and Cover is a low-prep phonics activity designed to strengthen auditory discrimination and articulation skills while making learning fun.

To play, students simply roll the dice and find a picture that matches the sound they rolled.

Make it Part of Your Literacy Routine

You can SUBSCRIBE to access my TH, V, and F Roll and Cover Bump game for FREE exclusively in my resource library. If you’re already subscribed, simply go to the Freebie Library to download it right away.

Teachers Love Roll and Cover

The best part? It’s completely no prep—just print the board, grab some dice, and you’re ready to go. No laminating, no cutting, no setup!

Teachers love that it:

• Aligns with structured literacy and Science of Reading principles.
• Can be used for whole class instruction, literacy centers, and small groups.
• Works well with articulation practice and phonics rules.
• Keeps students engaged while reinforcing essential literacy skills.
• That it is part of a series of roll and cover phonics games that systematically and explicitly cover phonics skills from short vowels to diphthongs. (psst. check out my other types of no-prep phonics activities.)

Explore My TPT Store for More Literacy Center Activities

Looking for more phonics games and articulation activities? Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store, Primed for Primary, for no-prep reading and spelling games, literacy centers, and word sorts that align with Science of Reading best practices.

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Let’s make phonics instruction engaging, effective, and stress-free—one game-based learning activity at a time!