Everyone can’t stress how important language and learning how to read actually is. Learning how to read starts with phonics, and learning how to relate the sound to the letter it’s connected to. When you’re teaching kids, it’s important to make learning fun, and to reinforce their learning at home. Today, we’re sharing phonics activities for preschoolers.
This is one of the tried-and-true methods for building strong literacy skills, and then vocabulary skills as they progress further. We’ll delve into the basic concept of phonics, and then some phonics activities for preschoolers that they would love.
All About Phonics
The concept of phonics are pretty straightforward. Phonics are the relationships between the sounds the letters make. Take for instance, the letter ‘b’ is sounded out as /b/, and the letter combination of “tion” makes the sound /shun/. The latter sound may be more complex, knowing this can help preschoolers get a headstart in learning English and recognizing simple letter sounds.
As kids learn about phonics, they learn to decode work and find out how they’re pronounced and figure out what they mean. This gives them a leg up on spelling and writing. Kids can usually learn this between kindergarten and second grade, but phonics activities for preschoolers are available for kids of every age.
Fun Phonics Activities for Preschoolers
The internet is full to the brim with great ideas. And today, we’ve gathered the best ideas for phonics activities for preschoolers available on the web.
#1 The Alphabet Ball
This activity is best-played outdoors, when you’re in the gym. This simple active game is from Hands On As We Grow, and it keeps an energetic preschooler moving, active, and learning.
How it goes:
- Adult calls out a letter, and your child responds with a word that begins with that letter.
- The adult throws the ball to the child.
- Child gives the adult a letter to find a word for.
This goes back and forth, on and on. To step up the fun level of the game, try kicking a ball or chasing each other in a game of tag with the ball. You can also play rhyming the ball, and the thrower gives a word for the catcher to rhyme with.
#2 Four in a Row
This is a game recommended by The Measured Mom. It’s for older preschoolers who are able to count to four and already know most of their letters, but still need a bit of review. You can print simple sheets from the given site and take turns naming and pronouncing a particular letter. When your or your kid names a letter correctly, color the letter in and cover it with small objects or game pieces.
The first person to get four in a row wins the game!
#3 Rainbow Hop Game
This is a kinetic phonics game, from Fun Learning for Kids. You can literally transform your living room into your very own life-sized board game. It’s as easy as using color paper, getting one die, and a marker for creating stepping stones for every letter of the alphabet.
- Kids roll the die, and take the number of hops.
- Pronounce and identify the letter that they land on.
It’s perfect if you’re looking for a game to play with siblings or both parents. It’s also a very active game, and can help your preschooler learn all about phonics through sounds and counting.
#4 The Letter Sounds Race
This particular game is from Inspiration Laboratories. If your kid loves to sprint, then this game is perfect for them.
- Place letter magnets opposite of any magnetic surface (magnet board, the fridge, a metal easel, etc).
- Let your child stand near the magnet board, and pronounce a letter sound.
- Have them run to the letter magnets and pick the corresponding letter.
- Place it on the magnet board.
This game is great for helping younger children learn new letter sounds when you ask them to find and place the letter, pronounce the letter sound, and ask them to repeat it.
#5 Spin & Rhyme Game
No Time for Flash Cards suggests a creative alternative to boring worksheets. You can use paper towel rolls and a clothes hanger to easily create rhyming words, like mat, sat, cat, pat, etc. An exercise like this also helps your preschooler break down words and identify word families. A simple setup like this is really easy to transport and gives a kinetic twist to what can be a basic phonics activity.
Make Phonics Activities For Preschoolers Fun!
The Dicker Reading Method is a reading program for kids that advocates fun in learning how to read. Learning never stops too, and in this time of pandemics and viruses, the revolutionary reading program has also moved online.Take part in the live one-on-one tutoring sessions that teach your child the love of reading, and that includes fun virtual phonics activities for preschoolers as well.
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