How To Teach The P Sound
To make the /p/ sound bring the two lips together with tension, allowing air to build behind them. Then release the lips quickly with an exhale allowing the air to explode out. This puff of air creates the /p/ sound. The voice is turned off.
Tip- When helping your child say this sound don’t add a vowel after the /p/, “puh”. Make the /p/ sound by itself with a short and quick movement.
At What Age Should a Child Say the P Sound?
Most English speaking children can say the P sound around age two.*
What is the Difference Between p and /p/?
The written symbols, P and p, refer to the name of the letter “P”. When you see the p between diagonal lines /p/ that refers to the sound the letter p makes, /p/.
P is a letter name.
/p/ is the sound it makes.
What Are B and P Sounds?
B and P are paired together because they are made the same way, with one difference, our voice. The muscles in our mouth move the same way to make both sounds except our voice is “turned on” for the B and not the P. This means we vibrate or move our vocal folds as air passes through them to make a sound.
B is voiced.
P is unvoiced.
Try it!
Hold your hand to your throat and say /b/. Can you feel the vibration?
Now say the /p/ sound. Just air, no vibration.
(Learn more voiced and voiceless pairs of sounds here.)
How Do You Practice the P Sound?
It depends.
Understanding why your child is having difficulty making this sound is important. A speech therapist can do an evaluation to make a diagnosis. What words you choose and activities will vary depending on the cause.
Click here to read more about types of speech sound disorders and treatment
Initial P Word List
pajamas
pancakes
panda
pants
party
paw
peach
pear
pencil
penguin
penny
piano
picture
pie
pig
pillow
pizza
pony
popcorn
potato
pumpkin
puppy
puzzle
Medial P Word List
apple
camper
copy
cupcake
grandpa
grapes
happy
hippo
napkin
open
paper
people
pepper
puppy
shampoo
sleepy
super
teapot
toothpaste
zipper
Final P Word List
clip
cup
drop
flap
flip
jeep
jump
ketchup
lamp
pop
rope
sheep
ship
shop
soap
soup
step
stop
syrup
tape
teacup
tulip
up
zip
Activity Ideas for Practicing the P Sound
Practice Common Words
Write down a list of words with p that your child uses. Think of as many things (nouns), actions (verbs), and descriptive words (adjectives) as you can.
Nouns: PJs, lamp, cup…
Verbs: up, stop, hop…
Adjectives: purple, proud, sharp…
Games and Toys
Look for games and toys that include a lot of P words.
Pop-up pirate
Ball poppers
Books
Find books that have P words in them.
Think about characters, places, and objects (nouns)
What P action words does it have?
Does the book use descriptive words (adjectives with P words?
Make your own P word book!
Speech Therapy Materials
Check out the resources on the right side of the page for ideas.
Or Shop Here.
* Resource
McLeod, S. & Crowe, K. (2018). Children’s consonant acquisition in 27 languages: A cross-linguistic review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. doi:10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0100. Available from: https://ajslp.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2701897
