What is Phonics? How do I Teach my Child Phonics?

Teaching Phonics

What is phonics? Phonics is the way of teaching kids to read by correlating specific sounds to each letter in the alphabet. Phonics helps children to read and at the same time it gives them the chance to spell the words in the correct manner, which is considered very important at the beginning so that they could start the journey correctly. How to teach phonics to your kids?

A lot of people start the journey of teaching their kids phonics through teaching them to read and this is not the best way to follow, but instead there are some phonics games that could teach the kids the sounds produced by every single letter before they could link these sounds together to bring out a word.

There are several phonics games which we have tried, those with the flash cards, the Lego letters’ pieces, the kids magazine of words as well as the white board and the words and letters written on it. Every single game might lead to the same outcome but playing different ones with different ideas will trick your kids and thus will open their minds to different questions and help them get better at the whole idea of spelling the words correctly.

Colour in the Beginning Sounds

Most kids start learning phonics by understanding the beginning sounds of words. This is one of the most effective phonics games for kids. They have a big uppercase letter written on an A4 paper. Inside this letter, there are a number of pictures of different words. Kids have to colour the pictures for the words that start with this uppercase letter.

Walk the Sounds

You can write the sounds on pieces of coloured paper and put them on the ground randomly. You can ask the kids to hip or walk the sound you’ll pronounce. It can be applied on the word level as well. Kids can walk the word while saying the sound. It is an amazing game for active kids too.

Sounds Ball

The teacher or the parent says out a sound and then throws the ball to the kid. The kid has to say a word that starts with the sound and gives the ball back. The adult repeats the same steps with all the other kids. It can be played in the playground or if there is a space in the class. 

Magnet Sound Race

Put a letter magnet opposite a magnet board. Ask the kids to stand near the magnet board. You can say the sound out loud, the kids run to pick out the correct letter magnet and place it on the board magnet. This is a fun game for the kids to learn while playing.

Phonic Photo Hunter

You can ask the kids to create a photo album with photos of some items for each sound. It can be a digital album or a hard copy one. Kids can add photos of the new words to the album every now and then. This is an amazing way to memorize the sounds and practice them any time. 

Erase the Item

You draw a picture on the board or a chart. You pronounce the letter sound and the kids have to erase the item that starts with the letter sound. For example, you draw a picture of a house with windows, doors, stairs and trees. You utter out the sound of the letter “D”. So, the kid has to erase the door from the picture.

Mystery Box

It is a very simple and nice game. You can get a box containing some items starting with the same letter sound. You ask the kids to pick out items, say the name of the items and figure out the relation between them. They need to identify that they start with the letter sound.

For example, there are cards for a car, a cat, a camera, and a carrot. The kids pick up some of the cards from the box and mention their names. They have to know that all the words start with the same letter sound.