Phonics Sound for Letter D – How to Teach the /d/ Sound

Letter D and the /d/ sound

Letter D sound - phonics lesson

Following C, the alphabet letter D is another "short sound" consonant where it’s made by a quick puff of air coming from your mouth. Below is a short video showing a 3 year old boy demonstrating the letter /d/ sound:

You may see some spelling of the /d/ sound as "DUH", but you should not voice the ending "-UH" part of it. Otherwise, words might sound like:

BAD – "BADUH"

or,

BED – "BEDUH"

Obviously, these are not the proper ways to say those words. Isolate the /d/ sound from these words to get an idea of how it should be sounded:

DAD – /d/ /a/ /d/

DIP – /d/ /i/ /p/

DOG – /d/ /o/ /g/

Below are various activities, worksheets, and rhymes you can use to teach your child.

Learning Activity for /d/

Prepare a printout for the letter D and spend several minutes working on it. Repeat a few times during the day the /d/ sound.

Show the letter D to the child and explain that it makes the /d/ sound. Say it a few times, and ask your child to repeat after you.
"Let’s say /d/, /d/, ding dong!" – See the rhyme at end of this page.
Practice the /d/ sound with different words including: DAD, DOG, DAY, BAD, DID. You can include any other words you like.
Do some random "pop quiz" by pointing to the letter D and asking your child "what sound does this make?"
Lower case spellings of "b" and "d" are often confused by younger children. You may wish to spend a little time working on helping your child distinguish between the two letters and their sounds.
Printout and let you child work on the worksheet provided below.