Initial SH Cards
Eight printable flashcards for the SH sound
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What this is
Eight printable flashcards for practising the SH sound at the start of words: shoe, sheep, shirt, ship, shell, shapes, shop, shake.
What it helps with
SH needs two things at once: lips rounded forward (like a kiss shape) and the tongue narrowed into a groove. Children learning SH often swap it for S — saying “sip” for “ship” or “sue” for “shoe” — because they keep the tongue in place but skip the lip rounding.
How to use them
- Print, cut, and laminate if you want them to last.
- Model the lip shape first — pucker forward, no sound yet.
- Keep the lips rounded and make a long “shhhhh” (like shushing a baby).
- Stretch the sound at the start of the word: “shhhhh-ip”.
- For older children, contrast “sip” and “ship” back to back to feel the lip change.
When to seek support
SH often develops later than other sounds, so age three to four and a half is usually fine. If your child is five or older and still can’t produce SH even when copying you directly, it’s worth an assessment — sometimes this links to tongue posture or muscle coordination issues.
