What is Phonics?

Phonics resources are essential for helping kids learn to read. But first, what exactly is phonics? The National Literacy Trust explains it like this: “Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write. It helps children hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the English language.”

In simple terms, phonics is how we learn to read. It’s all about connecting sounds with letters. And teaching those skills early is key.

I started using phonics with C when she was just two. We began with letter sounds—learning the sound each letter makes, not just its name. Some letters don’t say their name at all, so this part is super important.

The next year, we went through the sounds again but added in writing the letters. This year, we’re starting to blend sounds to make simple words. The hope? That C will be reading on her own by the end of the year.

To me, the goal of phonics is clear: help your child look at a word and figure out how to read it using the sounds they’ve learned.

Now comes the fun part—teaching phonics in a way that sticks. I’ve gathered some of our favorite activities, along with other phonics resources that are perfect for teaching the basics.

Phonics Games and Activities

Letter Hunt

Alphabet Sensory Mat Bundle A-Z

This is a digital file with 26 mats and 26 cut out pages to create an alphabet sensory bin for your child.

$21.00

Shop now

We used these phonics resources a lot when C was little. One of our favorites? Letter hunts in sensory bins.

I’d print out letters and matching pictures, then hide them in a bin filled with rice or beans. I also made a board where she could match what she found. She absolutely loved it.

It turned into a fun, physical way to learn letters and their sounds. And that’s where phonics begins—recognizing each letter and what sound it makes.

As she got older, I started hiding letters in other creative ways. Once, we used plastic eggs and built an emu nest. Each egg had a letter inside. She opened it, said the letter, and matched it to a picture that started with that sound. We repeated it with different birds and nests. It was such a hit!

Letter hunts aren’t just for home, either. We did them in the car, too. Even when C was rear-facing, she’d look out the window for letters. She’d spot them on signs or stores and shout them out. A perfect on-the-go homeschool moment.

More recently, we reviewed all the letters again with a game we call the Orange Tree. I put a tree up on the wall and added paper oranges. When she said the right letter and sound, she picked an orange. Simple, fun, and it works! You can read about it here along with lots of fun variations. You can read about it here along with a ton of variations.

Letter Crafts

We also did letter crafts to help reinforce each sound.

For every letter, we picked an animal that started with that sound—except for X, which ended with it. Then we made a simple craft to match.

It gave C lots of chances to say the letter sound again and again while creating something fun. Repetition like that really helps it stick.

Blend Games

Now that C knows her letters, we’ve started blending sounds together.

Right now, we’re working on short vowel sounds with a consonant—just simple blends at the beginning of words. I’ve shown her how to read CVC words by blending the first two sounds and then adding the last one. We haven’t done a lot of full words yet, but these same games work great for that too!

One game we play often is jumping to the blend. We write blends with chalk outside, and she jumps to the one I say. It’s active, fun, and she’s learning without even realizing it.

Another idea is hopscotch. Write blends in the squares and have your child say each one as they hop. It’s a playful way to practice.

Last week, we used our board and a paper boat. C had to say a blend to move the boat closer to the water. She was totally into it!

You can do this with anything your child loves. A baby bear finding its mommy. A car driving to the road. Use whatever makes your child light up and turn it into learning.

Whole Word Games/Word Family Games

The next step in phonics is putting whole words together.

One of our favorite tools for this is a game from The Crafty Classroom. You roll blocks to make words—super fun and hands-on! You can find it here.

This game works really well for older kids who need extra support. They roll to build a word, then copy it down. It’s a great way to practice both decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) at the same time.

Another helpful phonics resource comes from File Folder Fun. It’s a word family game where kids read words and match them to the correct word family. You can check it out here.

This one is perfect if your child can already read simple CVC words. It’s also self-checking—since all the correct words rhyme, they’ll know if they’ve matched them correctly.

Phonices Games/Activities from Amazon

There are tons of activities and games you can buy ready to go to practice phonics with your child. Some of my favorite are below.

We love Bob Books. They are a great way to practice our reading. C has been moving through the sets very quickly.

See & Spell is a great game to help children practice their phonics skills. They can do it all on their own too! This is great if you have multiple ages to work with and you need something quiet for one child to do.

Letter stamps are awesome! I wish I had them when C was little. You can have them use them in playdough, in sand, in any sensory activity. When they are little they can just make letters and you can reinforce the sound. Then you can have them find a certain letter. Then they can write words before they can with their hand. They can just stamp out the word! So much fun!

Apps/Games for Tables and Computers

We also use a lot of our screen time to practice skills especially our phonics and reading skills. We have used a few programs over the last few years to help us learn to read.

ABC Mouse

This is one of our favorites especially when C was younger. There is a lot to do and she would play for her whole hour of screen time. She loves the pathway and has moved through it almost completely.

Khan Academy Kids

Khan Academy Kids is a free program that we love. It is also set up in game form which C loves. She doesn’t even really know she is reviewing her letters and letter sounds as she plays. In here, you can also “assign” activities that focus on skills you have been going over with your child. This is my favorite part of this program.

Homer

Another great app to use is Homer. We used it on my iPhone for a long time and C loved it. Now she uses it on her tablet and will have them read her stories all day. This is a great way for her to practice phonics because it is reading her the story and she can match the words with what is being said. She also loves the learning pathways on here as well. She does a great job playing this game all on her own.

Reading Unlocked

This is another web based game that C loved. You can click below to read all about it from our review a while ago.

MaxScholar

Another great reading program we were able to review was MaxScholar. This is a web based reading program that C did on her tablet. She had fun working through their program as well. You can click below for my full review.

Reading Eggs

The latest reading program we have reviewed has been our favorite so far. It is Reading Eggs. C still asks to play our “Egg Reading Game.” She loves it. She is at the stage of starting to not only read words, but sentences. This program not only teaches phonics, but also teaches sight words too. I believe sight words are very important to our phonics program because some words just have to be known.

Worksheets

There are also great things to be said of phonics worksheets. Some things just need to be practiced. I have found some great worksheets all over the internet. My favorite two programs I have reviewed for finding a wealth of worksheets are My Teaching Library and Super Teacher Worksheets. I still go to those websites right away when we need to practice a skill. The skill right now we are working on is rhyming words. Both of these websites have helped up with our phonics skills.

What are your favorite phonics games and activities?

Spread the love