15+ Fun & Engaging CVC Centres for Kindergarten (with a FREE CVC Puzzle!)

April 17, 2025

Looking for fresh, low-prep CVC centres for Kindergarten classrooms? I’ve gathered 16 fun and engaging activities that my students (and my own kids!) absolutely love—perfect for helping little readers build confidence with CVC words in a playful, hands-on way.

Use these ideas in your literacy centres or small groups, especially for students who need a little extra practice with this essential early reading skill!

**Wait… What are CVC Words, Anyway?**

CVC words are simple, three-letter words that follow a consonant-vowel-consonant pattern—like cat, dog, or hop. After kids learn their letter names and sounds, decoding CVC words is the natural next step in their reading journey!

At this stage, we’re sticking to CVC words where each letter makes a clear, individual sound that can be blended easily. So no tricky patterns like jar or car just yet—those special vowel combinations come later!

My students (and own kids) really like this video to practice blending sounds in CVC words!

There’s also a version 2 to mix it up if needed😉

Ready to get your students excited about reading and writing CVC words? Scroll through 16 of my class’s favourite CVC centres to find fun, hands-on ideas you can try in your own room!

1. CVC Build & Magnify

There’s just something about adding magnifying glasses that makes this simple encoding centre extra fun! Students say the word, segment it into three sounds, and then build the word using letter manipulatives (I usually go with magnetic letters). Once they’ve built it, they grab a magnifying glass to check their answer—printed in teeny tiny font in the top right corner. It’s a small detail that adds big excitement!

2. CVC Read & Stack

Do your students love building? Why not use that interest to boost their literacy skills! In this centre, students look at the card, read the CVC word, and build a matching tower with blocks or cubes. My own little one loved this activity—he played it over and over again when I first introduced it! 😊

3. CVC Blend & Park

Since the Alphabet Parking Lot has been such a hit with both my kids and yours, I had to create a CVC version!

In this activity, students drive their toy car along the road, saying each letter sound as they pass a dot. Then, they reverse and drive a little faster to blend the sounds together—encouraging smooth, continuous blending. Once they’ve figured out the word, they park their car on the matching picture in the parking lot mat!

4. CVC Play Dough Mats

Do your kiddos love play dough but struggle with rolling snakes—or just get tired of making so many to build words? I ran into the same thing with my own little one, so I came up with this version instead!

It still works on fine motor skills by having them roll small play dough balls, but instead of shaping full letters, they simply press a letter stamp (or cutter) into the dough to form the CVC words.

Bonus: There’s an answer key included so students can check their work independently! 🤍

5. CVC Stamping

Here’s a classic stamping centre with a phonics twist! Just add letter stamps and an ink pad, and you’re good to go. For students who need a little extra support, there’s a word bank included at the top to help guide them.

6. Mystery CVC Words

My students love solving the “Mystery Word” by identifying each beginning sound and blending them together to figure it out! You can use magnetic letters for this activity, but if that’s too visually stimulating for some learners, there are printable letter tiles included in the resource as a calmer alternative.

7. CVC Read & Find

Here’s another simple, hands-on centre that kids find surprisingly fun! I like to stick the cards in a sensory bin, but you can also just lay them out on a table. If you have Velcro dots on hand, they’re a great addition—adding a tactile element that some students really enjoy (plus, when they run over to show you their work, everything stays in place! 😜)

8. CVC Puzzles (Freebie!)

This activity works just like my popular alphabet puzzle—students match the cards and then read the word! My students love the alphabet version, and it’s such a simple, low-prep option. Plus, it encourages teamwork among the kiddos! You can grab these for free by clicking here or using the button below:

9. CVC Blend & Clip

I originally made this for my then Kindergartener who was getting into the bad habit of looking at the first letter and guessing the word😅 With these, the picture all start with the same letter and sometimes even the second letter would be the same, so students really need to look closely at each word to figure it out! I hope these help your students who need practice slowing down/looking more carefully at words!

10. CVC Read, Make & Trace (or Write!)

This was another classroom staple, since it’s low prep and uses materials we already (usually) have! Just print the mats, laminate them (I like to laminate them double sided so one side is tracing and the other side is printing; this way students can flip to the side that works best for them easily!) and set them out with magnetic letters and dry erase markers! A simple activity that gets students practicing reading and writing CVC words✨

11. CVC Build & Check

A twist on the “Build, Make & Trace” above. This one also uses magnetic letters but I wanted something where students had to encode on their own and can check their answers after!

I put these mats on cookie sheets and put magnetic dots on the backs for the checkmark circles and place them over the answers. Then students say the word, build it and lift the checkmark to check their answer!

Two versions included. The bottom one is a little easier, as it gives students the letters they need to build the two words.

12. CVC Flash Cards

These super simple flash cards can be used many ways: with blank paper, with whiteboards… but my favourite is setting them out with old keyboards! Students love “typing” the words. I found some cheap keyboard at Dollarama (I think they were like $2-4 each) when I first started putting this centre out (almost 10 years ago😳) but I haven’t seen them in years.. but I would just ask around! Someone is bound to have old or broken keyboards lying around that they’re dying to get rid of!

13. CVC BINGO

Another favourite in our class is small group BINGO! I used to leave this alphabet one with supply teachers and volunteers all the time so I knew I needed to make a CVC version for the kiddos who needed a challenge! It’s also a great game to pull out with big buddies too!

14. CVC Read & Connect

Last year, Kimberly (@playexplorelearn) reached out to me to say that her son LOVED the CVC read and connect portion of the Winter Break Challenge and asked if it would be possible to make more. For Kimberly’s little guy? Of course I said “Say less! It’s on the way!” And that’s how these worksheets were born! It can be used as practice or even for a quick assessment piece!

15. CVC Trace, Read & Circle Mini Books

I made these for my oldest when he was in JK. He knew all his letter names and sounds and was ready to move on to CVC words but was still mastering letter formation so I made these up so we could practice both skills!

There is a trace and write version also included for each word, for your students who are ready for that step!

16. Short Vowel Mini Books: Decode, Encode & Read a Sentence!

I just made these to use with my youngest, who is ready for a bit more than the first set of mini books! These mini books are aligned to the UFLI Scope & Sequence and would be perfect after completing the alphabet lessons (Lesson 34).

Do your kids prefer to colour? There is a “Read, find and colour/color” option for the top right page!

Are they not quite ready to encode on their own? There is a tracing option for the bottom left page too!

Want to grab all these centres? Check out my “CVC Mega Bundle,” which includes all 15 centres featured in this post—plus, you’ll save 30% compared to buying them individually! If you only need 1 or 2, don’t worry—each resource is also linked individually on this page under “Products in this Bundle.”