Caboose Sounds

Final consonant deletion is currently trending on my caseload. I created this activity with a certain little one in mind, but what preschooler doesn't love trains?

The purpose of the activity is to target minimal pairs. We talk about trains and how each one has a special car that always rides on the end: the caboose. Then I explain that some words have a special "caboose sound" too. If we forget the caboose sound, people might think we are talking about something else.

There are two sets of cards. Train Cards carry words that have caboose sounds...

... and Coal Cards carry words that do not. The object is to collect train cards to build a loooong train behind your engine (I draw or put a picture of the client in as the conductor), but you have to remember the caboose sound or you'll end up with a piece of coal in your rock pile instead - bummer!

There are other variations for the cards. Sometimes we work on auditory discrimination where I say the words and the student guesses whether they heard the "train" word or the "coal" word.

What language do you use to talk about final consonant deletion with little ones?