Phonics is now the established method of teaching children to read in most English-speaking education systems.
Because they may never have heard of it before, or learned to read themselves another way, plenty of newer parents are a little confused about phonics and how to teach their child to read. Perhaps even a little worried that they won't be able to support their learning at home.
Worry not! Whether you're supporting their in-school phonics learning or following an at-home phonics reading programme, there are plenty of activities you can do at home with your child to help them learn how to read.
First, though, what is phonics?
Table Of Contents
Every product on DaddiLife is independently selected by our editors, writers, and experts. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission, but this never influences our product choices.
What is phonics?
Phonics is considered to be the most effective method of teaching someone how to read in the English language.
Phonics instruction teaches children the relationship between letters and the sounds they make, providing them with the literacy skills required to decode words they don't recognise.
It starts with phonemic awareness at a basic level (the relationship between simple written letters and letter sounds), working their way up through alternative graphemes (when different letter combinations make the same sounds), eventually developing fluency in their reading.
An important factor in teaching phonics is to not add 'uh' to our letter sounds. For example, the letter M on its own makes a 'mmm' sound. It doesn't make a 'muh' sound. If we teach phonics in this way, there's a danger that children could learn to blend words incorrectly. For example, they might blend the letters 'd-o-g' and say 'duh-oh-guh' rather than 'dog'.
You can find much more detail about phonics for kids and how we teach phonics in our detailed guide.
Fun phonics activities to set your child on the path to reading success
If you want to help teach phonics but have no idea where to start, these fun phonics activities are a great idea.
They'll help you to make phonics fun, all while developing their phonics skills in the process.
You might be wondering 'when do children learn to read'. The answer is that it's different for each child. Most education systems start formal teaching at the start of school (or even foundation phase pre-school), but some children can pick it up even earlier.
We've decided not to group these activities by age because many of them can be scaled up or down in terms of difficulty depending on the age of your child.
Fun phonics games
Let's look at some phonics games first.
1. Flip the Pancake
Flip the Pancake is a really fun phonics activity for younger learners. Simply cut out some circles using brown paper, card or cardboard to create the 'pancakes' and write out some of the letters. Place the pancakes facing down and have your child flip over each pancake and read out the name of each letter and its letter sound.
If your child's care setting is already working on phonics, ask them with letter sounds they're currently working on so you can do the same at home. If they haven't started yet, the beginning sounds are typically 'S,A,T,P,I,N'.
2. Letter Pong
Much like the famed drinking game, Beer Pong, Letter Pong is a fun phonics game that will see your child throwing a ping pong ball into a group of plastic cups. Write letters or letter blends on each cup and have your child announce the letter sound or blended sound when they get a ball in a cup. To make that bit more fun, you could even compete against each other.
It's a great activity for early school children; perhaps 5-7 year olds, but you could adapt it for older children or more advanced readers by asking them to say some words beginning with the corresponding letter or blend sounds.
You'll also be developing their hand-eye coordination and throwing skills, so it's a win-win!
3. Phonics dice
Get a plain wooden block and write letters on each side. Have your child roll the dice and say the letter sound it lands on. We understand that game isn't going to last overly long. So, you could adapt this by making a second dice and challenging your child to blend the letter sounds (if it's possible) - the next step would be to ask them to come up with a word using that letter or blend.
With older children, you could incorporate these dice into regular board games and follow the above steps before your actual go in the game you're playing. Just make sure to give each letter a value so you know how make spaces you can move!
If you don't fancy making your own, you can always buy some!
Bingo is a classic game we all know and love, but it's also a really fun and effective phonics activity.
You should call out one letter or a word, but don't show your child. Instead, have them try to find the written letter or word based on what they've heard.
You can create your own bingo cards tailored to your child's exact skills or stage of learning, or, buy ready-made ones. Again, this can also be adapted in terms of difficulty depending on how old your child is or how advanced their reading skills are. Many products focus on CVC words - simple blended words made up of a consonant, vowel and a consonant (dog, cat, sit, pin etc).
5. I Spy
Yes, believe it or not but the classic game of I Spy that has been used to pass the time during long car journeys for generations can also be filed under 'fun phonics activities'.
There is a slight twist, however. Don't forget, we want to focus on letter sounds rather than the names of letters. So be sure to use the letter sounds at the end of the 'I spy with my little eye' line...
6. Scrabble
I spent many years playing Scrabble with my Nan when I was a child. With a little help for younger readers or independent play for older readers, it's a great way of getting them to think about words starting with different letter sounds, and using the letter tiles to blend words together.
Hasbro has even developed a junior version of the classic game!
Fun phonics activities with arts and crafts
Arts and crafts are always a great way of encouraging children to engage in a topic and learn new skills in fun ways. And it's no different if we want to teach phonics.
7. Play dough letters
This is a super simple but super fun way to teach phonics. Armed with a heap of play dough, ask your child to make different letters, letter blends or words. It's a great way of developing their fine motor skills, too!
If your child is struggling with making the letters, you could flip it. You make the letters, and have your child say what letter sounds you've made.
8. Painting phonics activities
There are a number of fun ways you can incorporate painting into learning about phonics. You could paint letters or words and ask your child to read them. Or, for something more creative, you could ask your child to paint something beginning with a particular letter sound. Or, you could paint a letter or word at the bottom of the paper, ask your child what is says, and then ask them to paint something starting with that letter or word.
9. Rainbow writing
If your little one has started practicing their writing skills, this is a simple but effective way of developing both their writing and phonics skills at the same time.
Use different coloured pens or pencils for different letter and words. For example, you could have your child write a selection of rhyming words or CVC words using different colours...
H O P
P O T
T O P
Interactive phonics activities
These phonics activities are all about interactivity and getting your child engaged with phonics.
10. Word walk
Time to go for a walk! Whether it's a walk to a local park or nature spot, or it's something you do around the house or at the supermarket, this is a great way to blend (no pun intended!) phonics activities with your day-to-day routine.
Wherever you're walking or whatever you're doing, ask your child to find things beginning with different letter sounds or CVC words.
11. Letter swat
Write words or letters on sticky notes and places them either on a table or around the house. If you have a fly swat, have you child use it to swat the letter or word that matches what you've said. Of course, you don't have to use a fly swat... they could just use their hands.
It's a great activity for younger readers, but you could make it harder by asking your child to create blended sounds by swatting more than one sticky note.
12. Pool Noodle Phonics
This activity encourages your child to explore rhyming words. In a nutshell, you write different letters on cut up pieces of pool noodle, place them on a tube and have your child spin the pieces to create different words.
Here's an video explainer from We Are Teachers
If you don't have any pool noodles or want to make use of materials you have at home, you could easily utilise the cardboard tube from kitchen roll or toilet roll instead of the pool noodle, and use a trousers hanger.
You could also make use of some stacking plastic cups. Simply write letters on the rim of each cup and twist to create words as shown here...
13. Popsicle stick rhymes
This activity is a bit like dominoes, and there are two ways of doing this. Get some popsicle sticks and lay them horizontally. Write 'START' on the left end of the first stick, and your first word on the other end. Corresponding rhyming words should be placed underneath to create a 'ladder' of sorts.
The idea is to use different rhyming word families. Keep going until you want to write 'END' on the right side of the final stick.
This is one of those activities that is really simple, but quite tricky to explain. So let's give an example, with some of our own 'popsicle sticks' below:
START
DOG
CAT
FROG
MAT
LEG
FUN
BEG
SUN
PIN
STOP
BIN
HOP
END
14. Popsicle stick questions
Alongside the development of phonics skills, your child will also develop stronger reading comprehension.
Write a comprehension question on each of the popsicle sticks, starting each one with either, 'who', 'what', 'where', 'when', 'why'.
After you or your child has read a book (or a chapter) have your child pick out a few sticks and allow them to answer the question.
Fun phonics activities with music and movement
Music and movement are great ways of teaching children all manner of skills. Why do you think the alphabet has a song? And how many songs can you remember the dance moves to from when you were a child yourself?
15. Sing a phonics song
Singing songs is a really fun and effective way to learn, making it a fantastic phonics activity. You child will love watching and singing along, and probably won't even realise they're learning.
There are loads of phonics songs on YouTube, for all different stages of learning.
16. Word chalk
If you have the space in your garden, use chalk to write words or letters on the patio, and encourage them to go to the correct space when you say it. To make it more and more of an active game, you could ask them to jump or hop on one leg to get to each space.
Reading programmes
At-home phonics programmes help you to introduce or support your child's reading skills through a variety of lessons and worksheets.
They're packed full of different phonics activities to help make teaching phonics in a fun way.
Check out our comparison of two of the leading phonics programmes for more information on which might be best for you.
FAQs
What is phonics?
Phonics is a method of teaching children how to read. It focuses on the relationship between written letters and the sounds they make, equipping readers with the skills needed to decode new words.
When do children learn to read?
Many pre-school childcare settings start to introduce basic phonics before children start school. However, there are some who believe children can be taught to read from as young as two-years old.
Learning to read is a process that takes time and can be influence by a range of factors.
What are the best phonics activities?
That's totally dependent on you, your child and your circumstances. Some children learn best through play or being active, while others through more structured instruction.
How much do phonics activities cost?
Most of the phonics activities on this list can be done for free. You will need some materials for some of the activities, but you may find you can make use of items you already have at home. Any purchases you need to make won't cost a lot.
