What is Phonics?

It can seem a bit daunting when you’re encouraged to help support your child with their phonics. Many of us weren’t taught to read and write using phonics ourselves and the first time we come across it may be when our children started at nursery or school.

So what exactly is phonics? Simply put, phonics is a way that children can learn to read and write. It helps children listen out for and focus on the sounds that make up a word. Once they start learning these sounds that make up the words then can blend them together to read and write simple words. The Dfe’s Letters and Sounds programme is made up of various phases of phonics. Starting at phase 1 and going up to phase 6.

What resources are there to help my child with phonics?

Thankfully, there are a lot of brilliant resources out there to help support phonics at home and at school. These range from online programmes, specific reading books to flash cards and activity books. Here are our favourite phonics resources that we have tried out and would recommend and here’s everything on our site about phonics including home learning phonics activities.

What is Phase 1 Phonics?

Phase 1 Phonics is the first phase of the Dfe’s Letters and Sounds programme. Children are usually exposed to phase 1 phonics at nursery, preschool and the very start of reception. Phase 1 is all about developing a Child’s speaking and listening skills and helps build the foundations for the further phases. In Phase 1 children are introduced to environmental sounds, instrumental sounds, body sounds, rhythm and rhyme, alliteration, voice sounds and oral blending and segmenting.

How can I support my child with Phase 1 Phonics?

There are many ways that you are probably supporting your child’s phonics already without even realising. These could be through reading books together, reading rhyming stories and singing nursery rhymes. But if you are looking for further activities, I’ve created a whole activity pack of fun Phase 1 phonics activities suitable for nursery, preschool and reception level/age children. You can download it here now

What do other parents think to the phonics activity pack?

“I really enjoyed the SEN Resources Phase 1 Phonics Activity pack. There were loads of activities to do (more than I’d expected), most required very little (if any) preparation, and my child was genuinely responding to what I asked him to do and joining in! For example, I demonstrated the “feeding farm animals” role-play activity, and shortly after he mimicked what I’d done, putting a spoon to the animals mouths and saying “dinner!” as though he were feeding them! I only managed to get through a handful of the activities in one afternoon so will definitely be using this again on future rainy days!” Sally, Parent and Secondary School Teacher.

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