Insights | Games to play with your child to support Phonics

Phonics teaches children to be able to listen carefully and identify the sounds (phonemes) that make up each word.  Phonics connects sounds (phonemes) and letter pictures (graphemes).  Children are taught how to write the letters, in the correct direction and can use their phonics knowledge to accurately read familiar words and decode and sound out new words.  Phonics starts with the easiest sounds, progressing through to the most complex.  The phonics programme engages children in a range of activities and experiences to develop their speaking and listening skills and phonological awareness.  It is multisensory and is systematic, with reinforcement and repetition being important to consolidate children's knowledge and ability to apply their knowledge.  Phonics is an individual journey as we all learn at our own pace and this is at the centre of how we teach phonics within the setting. Phonics is taught in phases, starting at phase 1 to phase 6. Phonics starts in EY1 with listening walks and develops with the children's ability.  By the end of EY4, if children have built up the necessary knowledge they will be secure in Phase 3 or beyond.  Our aim is to build up children's confidence to be able to read and understanding what they are reading and also write using their phonics knowledge.

How to support your children at home

Getting Started

Sharing books – Always remember that we teach phonics to help our children learn to read and write and to do this successfully they need to love books! The best way to help your child is to read as many books as possible in both English and Chinese. Read anything that your child is interested in (including magazines, menus, etc.) and read it more than once! Allow your child to read the same book as many times as they wish for as long as they wish until they feel they are ready to move on. You don't have to read all (or any) of the words each time. Remember to use silly voices, make sound effects, pull faces, act things out, talk about what you can see, talk about what you both think and feel and have fun! Give everything a name – Build your child's vocabulary in both English and Chinese by talking about interesting words and objects. For example, "Look at that aeroplane! Those are the wings of the plane. Why do you think they are called wings?"

General tips to support reading

• Once is never enough! - Encourage your child to re-read favourite books and poems as well as their school reading scheme book. Re-reading helps children read more quickly and accurately.
• Dig deeper into the story - Ask your child questions about the story you've just read. Say something like, "Why do you think he did that?" (you could use the 'questions to get more form your child's reading book' for some varied ideas.
• Be patient - When your child is trying to sound out an unfamiliar word, give him or her time to do so. Remind to child to look closely at the first letter or letters of the word.
• Pick books that are at the right level - Help your child pick books that are not too difficult. The aim is to give your child lots of successful reading experiences.
• I read to you, you read to me - Take turns reading aloud at bedtime. Kids enjoy this special time with their parents.
• One more time with feeling - When your child has sounded out an unfamiliar word, have him or her re-read that sentence. Often kids are so busy figuring out a word they lose the meaning of what they've just read.

Games to play with your child to support Phase 1

• Toy sounds When your child is playing with their toys encourage them to make the right sounds. Farm animals, train sets, vehicles, dolls etc are great for this. Help your child to notice these sounds around and about, e.g. Listen to the sound that cars, trucks and fire engines make in the street. Practise making these noises, then use them with car, truck and fire engine toys.
• Big ears Cup your hands around your ears and listen to sounds all around. Talk about what sounds you can hear. Try doing this in the house, in the street, in the park, on the beach etc. Talk about the sounds:Are they loud or quiet? Are they short or long? Can you make a similar sound with your voice?
• Shake it all about Make simple shakers by filling plastic bottles or tubs with rice, pasta, pebbles etc. Play with them and talk about the sounds that they make. Are the sounds soft, sharp, smooth, jiggly, scratchy?
• Tap it out Use the shakers above or use drums (pots and pans and wooden spoons are perfect) to play along with songs and rhymes. Try making the loudest sounds that you can then the quietest sounds that you can. Tap out simple rhythms. Can your child repeat the rhythm back to you?
• Song time Sing your child's favourite songs, ones they have learnt at school, songs you remember from childhood or songs on CDs you have at home. Encourage children to use their bodies to make sounds to go along with their singing - stamping, clapping, patting knees etc.
• Sound effects Read stories and encourage children to make sound effects with their body - stomping, knocking, clapping, scratching etc.
• Quick draw When drawing together, try drawing a snake and a sock. Point out that these things both begin with a 's' sound. Make the hissing s sound. Add some more 's' pictures e.g. snail, spider etc. Your child may be able to suggest some ideas as well.

Games to play with your child to support Phase 2

Oral Blending games

• Robotic talking Words are made up from sounds and children need to be able to hear these sounds individually. Sometimes when you are playing you can say words as if you were a robot (saying the sounds separately) and see if your child can work out what you are saying. Stick to short simple words that only have a few sounds in them. Make sure you are saying the letter sounds (p-i-g) not the letter names (peeeye-gee).E.g. Pass that p-i-g to me. Sit d-ow-n. Point to your t-ee-th. Hop like a f-r-o-g. As your child becomes familiar with this robot talking, see if they can say words in robot talk themselves?
• I spy Say the rhyme 'I spy with my little eye something beginning with ______' allow your child plenty of opportunities to guess what you have chosen, for example, 'something beginning with t' could be a tree, toy, tent or train.
• Point out print everywhere Talk about the written words you see in the world around you. Ask your child to find familiar words on each outing.

Phoneme recognition games

• Looking for letters
• Ask your child to look for English letters whilst you are out and about. Can they find letters from their own name, letters they have learnt in school or letters that specific words begin with?
• Fast letter sorting You will need:
• A large piece of paper with three hoops drawn on
• 12 small pieces of card with letters written on (4 sets of 3 letters)
• Choose 3 letters
• 2 which the child knows and one new one. Spread the letter tiles out on the table making sure they are all the correct way up. Encourage your child to sort the letters into the correct hoop using both hands, saying each letter as they move it.
• Letter sound bingo You will need: A 3x3 grid for each player and counters or coinsWrite some of the letters into the spaces on each card, making each card slightly different. The 'bingo caller' says each letter in turn and the players cover the letter up. The winner is first to fill their board. To make this game easier for new readers, show them the letter for them to match.

Tricky word games

• Bingo You will need: A board for each player (see example) and counters or coinsWrite some of the words into the spaces on each card, making each card slightly different. The 'bingo caller' says each word in turn and the players cover the words up. The winner is first to fill their board. To make this game easier for new readers, show them the word for them to match.
• Matching pairs You will need: Small pieces of card or paper with the words your child is currently learning written on each.Each word will need to be written twice so you can search for a matching pair. Turn all the cards face down on the table. And take turns to turn over two. When a matching pair is found that player can keep them. The winner is the person with the most pairs at the end of the game.
• Snap Make a set of cards with words your child is learning written on. Ensure that each word is written on two separate cards. Shuffle up the cards and share them out. Each player takes turns to turn over their card, put it down and read the word. If it matches the previous card played, the first person to notice shouts 'snap!' and wins the pile. This game is best used to practise words your child knows well, rather than new ones, as it's quite fast-paced.Once your child knows a word reliably, you can take it out of the current pack of cards and bring in a new word. Every so often, play a game with the 'old' cards, so that your child doesn't forget them. It's a good idea to try and discard a known word and add a new word every day, once your child is getting the hang of learning new words.

Further ideas…

• Create a book together Fold pieces of paper in half and staple them to make a book. Ask your child to write words or sentences on each page and add his or her own illustrations.
• Make up stories on the go Take turns adding to a story the two of you make up while riding in a car or bus. Try making the story funny and imaginative.