Are you looking for some fun and easy games and activities to help your kids with learning phonics, reading and spelling? If your kids are fed up with phonics, reluctant readers and sick of spelling, these games will save your sanity. Home learning doesn’t have to be hard with these super easy and low-pressure activities, so keep reading for the full details.
Table Of Contents
Resources You Will Need For These Activities
For the activities that I describe in this post, I am using the Melissa & Doug See & Spell Learning Letters. This set comes with double-sided puzzles with pictures and words on each side, but the loose letters are the parts that we will use today. The letters are great for little hands (just be careful with under 3s as they could be a choking hazard). They are brightly coloured and have a lovely smooth finish so are really nice to handle.
Another great resource for playing these games is this set of lacing letters. They come in upper and lower case, but I’d recommend getting the lower case letters if you are just getting the one set.
These letters in the Lacing Letters are much smaller than the wooden letters in the See & Spell set, but they have the added bonus of being able to be strung onto the strings (which are included), which makes a great fine motor activity. I like to challenge my children to string up all of the spelling words for upcoming spelling tests in Lacing Letters.
If you don’t have these resources…
… or if you are waiting for your wooden or lacing letters to arrive, you can always improvise. Tear up pieces of paper and write one sound on each. This won’t provide the full tactile experience, but when it comes to learning games with kids, it’s more about the game itself than the resources that you are using. Make it fun and your kid won’t care.
Activity 1: Guess The Sound
In this easy game, you just ask your little one to guess which sound that you are showing them. Get them to pick it up and handle the sound, encourage them to trace their finger over the shape. If they guess correctly, they “win” it, of not you do. See if they can increase the size of their pile each time they play.
Bonus tip
Start with the easier sounds and work up to the trickier ones. Check out the sounds below for the best order to work through them, or click the button to download it as a PDF to print.
Activity 2: Find Me The…
In this activity, spread the letters out on the table and ask your child to find you a certain sound. You could add more excitement to this activity by adding a timer if you wish.
Activity 3: Read This
Arrange the letters into a basic word and ask your child to sound it out. Start with basic words consisting of the letters from sound group 1 only. As they master these, start including words from the next sound group.
These Jolly Phonics flashcards are a great resource for games like these. The not only have flashcards for each of the sounds, but they also have all of the words that your child needs to learn arranged by sound group.
Bonus tip
Punch a hole in the corner of your flashcards and hold them together with a carabiner to keep each set of words neatly together.
Activity 4: Spell This
Say a word and challenge your child to find the letters and spell it out. Again, start with words consisting only of letters from sound group 1 and work up from there. If you are using the flashcards, don’t show them the card until they have had a go at the spelling.
Your child “wins” every card that they are able to spell correctly. If they struggle with the word, place the card on the table and let them look at it as they find the letters to spell the word. The act of looking at the card and then finding and spelling out the letters will help to implant the word into their brains.
Place any words that they have struggled with into a separate pile and make sure that you use them next time you play.
Bonus Tip
Try taking pictures of the words that your child has created. This will make a great record of their achievement and give them pride in what they have learned. Send the picture to a family member to show them how well your child is doing, y children love doing this.
Activity 5: Correct This
Spell out some words the wrong way, wither with too many letters, not enough letters or some of the letters in the wrong order. Tell your child what the word is supposed to say and see if they can correct the spelling.
More Educational Resources
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