Kindergarten ELA: Phonics Games

Introducing Phonics to Children

Letter sounds are critical to helping children form words and spell correctly. English relies entirely on phonetic concepts, and building a solid foundation is the best way to boost skills and confidence in children. Needless to say, an early start will help you find all the worms quickly! 

Fun Ways to Make Phonics Come Alive

• Hop and sound: Do you know any child who doesn’t enjoy hopping around? Well, we’re yet to see one. That’s why we’ve made hopping an essential part of learning! Write down letters randomly on the floor. You can even stick them or just place letter cards if cleaning up feels too tedious. Now ask your child to roll a die, and then hop the same number of times in any direction. They need to call out the letter they land on and stress on its phonic sound.
• Sound of the day: Set aside one sound for every day. You don’t need order or structure around this one. Remember that consonant sounds are easier and a safer start. 

Now you can stick letter magnets on your fridge and other places around the house. Just ensure your child sees it as often as they can. Each time they notice the letter, they need to read it aloud and bring it to you. Mix up the sounds and spots each day for a new adventure. 

• Smack the sound: Once your child has managed to familiarize themselves with a few sounds, you can play this fun game. Write out the letters randomly on a chart, and give your child a fly swatter. Each time you call out a sound, the child must smack the letter hard. You will notice that your child can go on for hours playing this game while you can pat yourself on the back for helping them relate letter names and sounds effectively.
• Sound games: When games, color, and action are involved, expect your child to learn a great deal! Try out some of our incredible sound games and watch your child grow like a pro!
• Letter name fun: These are some fantastic games that we have incorporated to help your child identify letters and shapes. Have a blast looking, matching, and learning here.  

Bringing Phonics to Your Reader

Kindergarten is the perfect grade to introduce your child to phonics. It may seem difficult, stressful, and even impossible when you think about little kids and big words, but it’s possible and easy when you know-how. We have some tricks that can help you practice well and make the journey easier:

• Start one sound at a time, and work slowly. Begin with consonant sounds and the more common letters that children see, and the sounds they hear. The learning journey will take off on a more optimistic note.
• Children make strong relations and work with associations. Pair words that rhyme or sound similar. Like lump and jump, for instance. They will work well with such phonic concepts.
• Use existing learning. Think of words and sounds they are familiar with, and relate your phonic sounds to them. Already, it seems like a concept they have learned before.
• Reading and sound. Children can read endlessly, and they love to re-read books. When you find sounds embedded in the text or story, children are happy to learn them and pick them up faster.
• Break it down. Motivate your child to spell phonetically so that they gain familiarity with letters and sounds. English is guided through phonetic rules, and the more children practice them, the better they will apply them through life.

Supporting Your Phonetic Reader

While we may feel that we need to support our children while they read, remember, they are already empowered. We only need to understand how to tap into their skills to build their confidence. 

Take turns learning, for instance. Ask your child to tell you a story while you write it down. Make your child the storyteller and give them a book they are familiar with. They can read it to you from memory and feel on top of the world! Encourage reading. Sit with a book, and give your child one too! Let them look through the pictures, feel the paper and texture, and pretend they are reading as they go along. This is probably the first step to helping them fall in love with the journey!

Phonetic sounds and reading come as a function of practice and exposure. You can explore a world of both through online educational learning resources for kids. Make it fun for them and you!

Is there something we missed out on? Write to us at help@splashlearn.com with your feedback and comments. We love to hear from you and improve the learning experience for your kids.