Phonics refers to the sounds of the letters of the alphabet. These can be individual sounds, digraphs (two sounds) or trigraphs (three sounds). Parents and teachers may have to double check the sounds when put on the spot, especially for seamless examples and explanations of trigraphs. These sounds may not come natural for everyone, so I have included some free phonics resources that parents (or teachers!) may use for home-schooling. Remember, building phonics skills helps children’s emergent literacy. All children develop at different rates and learn in different ways. Make good use of the time at home by getting to know your child’s learning style.
- Alphablocks – A popular series available on YouTube for free. Children are introduced to the characters, who each have their own sound. A fun and engaging way to familiarise children with the sounds of English.
- PhonicsPlay – This website features different digital phonics games and resources. Perfect to scaffold those pre-reading skills.
- Phonicsbloom – My favourite activity on this website is “Match cards”. Children listen to a word and match it to the picture. Will save hours of flashcard making, and there are different levels as your child progresses.
- BBC Phonics – Ideal for KS1 learners, the BBC phonics site hosts fun videos which demonstrate the sounds and illustrate examples clearly for children.
- Phonics Hero – This site requires you to pay, but the resources are free for teachers, and parents get a seven day trial. There are some excellent resources available for synthetic phonics activities.
Thank you for reading and please check back in the future as I post more articles about up and coming resources!
Ms A Tutoring Services 