Elkonin Boxes: How to Use Them at Home

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-21

How to use Elkonin boxes

Sound boxes are also called Elkonin boxes.

The guide describes sound boxes. You draw one box for each sound in a word. Your child pushes a counter into a box for each sound. Then they blend the sounds into the word.

So the boxes ask for two things. First your child pulls a word apart into its sounds. Then they put the sounds back together.

Our own step-by-step routine comes later on this page.

Where sound boxes sit in the federal guide

A US federal guide on early reading came out in 2016 (Foorman and colleagues). It was written for classroom teachers, from kindergarten to third grade. It is not a guide to dyslexia. It left out studies where most children had an identified disability. Almost all its studies were done in schools, not at home. Nothing in it tests Learning Success.

The guide's steps for hearing sounds go from big parts to small ones. First come the words in a sentence. Next come syllables, with clapping or a hand under the chin. Then comes the first sound and the rest of a word, like c-ool. Rhyming fits here too. Last come single sounds. Children pick out each sound and split a word into its sounds. The guide uses sound boxes and picture sorts for this last step. That order is the panel's advice. Our page on phonemic awareness activities covers hearing sounds by ear. That page uses our own working order.

The guide rates teaching the sounds in words and their letters as strong. It counted 17 studies of that teaching, in kindergarten and first grade. All found gains in knowing letters and their sounds, or in hearing sounds in words. Twelve of the studies taught small groups of two to eight children, alongside regular class teaching.

The guide grades the whole recommendation, not each step in it. The guide uses sound boxes in one of those steps.

Choosing words

The guide's panel starts blending and word building with CVC words. These are short words like sun, map and dig. CVC stands for consonant, vowel, consonant. Starting with CVC words is the panel's advice.

Each of these words has three sounds. So each gets three boxes. For more word ideas, see our CVC word activities.

Our routine, step by step

The home routines on this page are ours. We hold no home study that names these routines.

1. Draw the boxes. Draw three boxes in a row on paper.
2. Set out counters. Put three counters under the boxes. Coins, buttons or beans all work.
3. Say the word. Say a word slowly, like sun. Your child says it back.
4. Push and say. Your child pushes one counter into a box for each sound: /s/, /u/, /n/.
5. Blend it. Your child runs a finger under the boxes. Then they say the whole word.

In our view, keep each sound as short as you can. Say /s/, not suh. Say the sound, not the letter name.

In our view, a few words at a time is plenty. Each round can be played as a game. To us, that is how practice gets done often.

Boxes for digraphs and blends

A digraph is two letters that make one sound, like sh in ship. A blend is two or more consonants side by side. Each consonant keeps its own sound, like st in stop.

The guide's panel advises teaching a blend as separate sounds, blended together. The panel advises teaching a digraph as one unit. That is the panel's advice.

Here is how we use the boxes for these patterns. A digraph takes one box, because it is one sound. Ship has three sounds, /sh/ /i/ /p/. So it gets three boxes. A blend takes one box for each of its sounds. Stop has four sounds. So it gets four boxes. There is more on our page about digraph and blend activities.

From counters to letters

After the sound steps, the guide teaches each letter and its sound. Then it links sounds and letters with word building. Its example changes one letter tile to make a new word: fat, fan, can.

Putting letters in the boxes is our routine. Once the counters come easily, swap them for letter tiles. You can also write letters on small squares of paper. Your child puts each letter in the box for its sound. Then they read the word. Change one letter, and they read the new word.

In our view, change only one sound at a time.

Drawing your own boxes

This page has no download. In our view, you can draw the boxes yourself.

Use any paper, or a whiteboard. In our view, make each box big enough for a coin. Draw one box for each sound, not each letter. Ship has four letters but three sounds. So it gets three boxes.

How to correct a mistake

When your child misreads a word, point back to the sounds. Do not just say the word. Teachers correct this way. We hold no study of this correction on its own.

Here is how it can go. Your child reads fan as fat. Point to the last box. Ask what sound that letter makes. Then ask them to sound out the word again.

Stay calm and keep it quick. In our view, one fix at a time is enough.

When to ask for help

For a child who keeps struggling with sounds, the guide's panel advises extra help. That means one-on-one or in a small group.

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Reading well below what school expects.
• A teacher who raises a concern about reading.
• Extreme upset about reading.
• Complete avoidance of reading.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

Start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.