ade readers

Print at home

No screen needed. The same letter pictures and the same first words the app uses — on paper, in your hands.

Two sheets: the alphabet, then the word cards.

The alphabet

Every letter drawn as something that starts with it. Say the sound, never the letter's name — mmm, not "em". Names get in the way of blending a word.

apple
bee
cat
deer
egg
fox
goose
horse
igloo
jellyfish
koala
lion
mouse
ninja
octopus
pig
quail
rainbow
snake
tiger
umbrella
volcano
watermelon
x-ray
yo-yo
zebra

First words

The words from the first five books. Cut along the dashed lines if you like. Point at each letter, make its sound, then say them faster and faster until the word falls out. Let them be wrong — the pictures are the clue, and they'll get there.

Using these without the app

Ten minutes is plenty, and the order doesn't matter. Some things that help:

  • Start with the words, not the alphabet. A child who reads cat on the first day has no reason to learn letters first — that's the whole idea.
  • If a letter stumps them, name the picture, not the letter: "that's the cat one" — then make the sound.
  • Stop while they still want more.

If you'd rather see how the fading works, that's on the how it works page — on paper the pictures never fade, so this is the first step of the same idea rather than all of it.


Print freely, at home or in a classroom — see the terms. If a sheet prints badly on your setup, tell us.