Phonics Fun

Phonics really help a lot of kids to read.

But you don't need to wait until children are ready to read to build deep phonics skills.

Phonics helps children to recognise the patterns in groups of letters.

These patterns are pretty tricky in English.

Unlike some other languages, we use groups of vowels and groups of consonants to make different sounds e.g. the ai in sail or the ght in bought.

And even more confusingly the sound of a vowel can be changed by whether or not another vowel follows after a consonant e.g. hat and hate!

Fun rhyming games help children hear and recognise the sound patterns in words.

Unfortunately, when they start reading they will also have to grapple with inconsistent sound groups but if you make time for rhyme every single day when they are little they will be brilliant at recognising sound patterns by the time they start to read.

So here are some ideas for making phonics fun with time for rhyme every day.

And if you're looking for more great learning to read ideas check out the links from lots of other bloggers at the bottom of this post ... and feel free to share your own.

1. Read Rhymes Daily

OK this is an obvious one but do you really read rhymes every single day to your children?

Try to read some every night whether it's ...

• Traditional nursery rhymes with great pictures as in Mother Goose
• Brilliant rhyming stories from Lynley Dodd and Julia Donaldson (we love Highway Rat and What the Ladybird Heard)
• Classic poems such as those of AA Milne and Robert Louis Stevenson
• Fabulous fun rhymes like Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes
• Contemporary children's poetry collections 

2. Make Up Your Own Revolting Rhymes

And when you've got everyone in the rhyming spirit try creating your own revolting ... or at least ever so slightly rude ... rhymes.

Adapting nursery rhymes or songs with funny bits about members of the family is always good. Or just take a basic tune everyone knows and make up your own daft songs from scratch. We had lots of giggles making up funny songs about grandma ... grandpa thought they were very funny :-)

3. Match Rhyming Pictures

Create some picture cards of things that rhyme and play rhyming snap or pairs. Little ones may struggle initially but as long as it's fun and there's no pressure they will love it.

You could also make picture cards that match with your family's name to make it easier for the little ones to make up funny rhymes.

But if you don't want to make your own check out the fabulous Slug in a Jug Game from Orchard Toys

4. Rhyming Scavenger Hunt

You might have to do a bit of prep for this to make sure suitably rhyming things are easily in sight around the house but then give either individual children or teams one object and send them off to find rhyming objects.

5. Sound of the Week

There are lots of fun ideas around for doing letter of the week but you could do something similar with sound of the week creating pictures and crafts involving some of the first phonic sounds.

More Learning to Read Ideas