Birthday Cake CVC Words Activity

Inside: a free printable CVC words activity with a birthday theme featuring paper cake, “candles”, and balloons.

Birthday CVC Words Activity

Birthday cakes and balloons are a big deal for kids, so I thought they would make a fun theme for beginning CVC word work. Even better, I turned it into a free printable for you!

Skills Addressed

You can set up this simple activity to work on the following early reading skills:

• Reading and spelling CVC words
• Handwriting

What’s Included in the Free Printable?

This 7-page free printable has three parts:

• Work Mat (1 page)
• 60 Letter Candles (3 pages)
• 20 Balloon Cards (3 pages)
• Recording Sheet (1 page)

Preparation & Materials

There’s a bit of cutting involved in prepping this activity. What a great excuse to settle down with your favorite podcast or TV show with ads you can work through! You will need to prepare the following:

• Cut apart the balloon cards
• Cut out each candle
• Optional: Cut out the cake if you prefer not to use the mat.

You can laminate the mat or simply insert it in a dry erase pocket. Finally, grab a dry erase marker for children to write with.

How to Use the Birthday CVC Words Activity

To start, students will select a balloon card and read the word. Then, they will find letter candles to spell out that word.

Then they can place the “candles” on the cake!

Next, they will use a dry-erase marker to write the words on the line underneath the cake.

Finally, if you want additional accountability, you can have students copy the words onto the included recording sheet, too.

Differentiation

If you want to make this activity more challenging, you can:

• Cut off or fold back the printed word on the balloon cards.
• Challenge students to create additional words with the candle letters.

To make it easier, try these ideas:

• Give students fewer words and letters at a time so that there is less to search through.
• Skip the handwriting step.
• Place two letters for the child and have them search for just one missing letter.

Related Activities

Do you have kids who are still working on spelling their names? Try this Birthday Name Activity too!