12 Fun Phonics Activities and Games for Early Readers

  1. Letter Hunt: Hide a set of alphabet letters around the room and ask the children to find them. As they find each letter, they can identify the corresponding sound and word that starts with that letter.
  2. Phonics Bingo: Create a phonics bingo game by making bingo cards with different phonetic sounds. Call out words that include those sounds and have the children mark off the corresponding sound on their bingo cards.
  3. Word Building: Provide a set of letter cards and ask the children to build simple words by arranging the letters. Encourage them to sound out each letter and blend them together to form words.
  4. Rhyme Time: Have the children come up with words that rhyme with a given word. This activity helps them develop their phonemic awareness and ability to recognize similar sounds in words.
  5. Phonics Scavenger Hunt: Create a list of objects or pictures that represent different phonetic sounds. Hide them around the room and have the children find each object and identify the corresponding sound.
  6. Sound Sort: Give the children a variety of picture cards representing different phonetic sounds. Ask them to sort the cards into groups based on the sound they hear at the beginning, middle, or end of each word.
  7. Blend and Read: Provide the children with a set of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) word cards. Ask them to blend the sounds together and read the word aloud. This helps them practice blending and decoding skills.
  8. Letter Sound Hopscotch: Create a hopscotch grid with letters written in each square. Instead of hopping on numbers, the children jump on the squares while saying the sound of the letter.
  9. Word Family Match: Provide the children with word family cards (e.g., -at, -an, -in) and a set of picture cards. They must match the picture cards to the correct word family by identifying the ending sound.
  10. Phonics Memory Game: Create a memory game using pairs of cards with words and corresponding pictures. The children must match the word with its corresponding picture while practicing their phonics skills.
  11. Word Hunt: Give the children a list of words with specific phonetic patterns or sounds. Ask them to find words in books or around the classroom that contain those patterns or sounds.
  12. Story Starters: Provide the children with story starter cards that contain words with specific phonetic sounds. They must use those words to create their own stories, incorporating the phonetic sounds they have learned. These 12 phonics activities and games are engaging and interactive ways to help early readers develop their phonics skills. Incorporate them into your teaching or homeschooling routine to make learning phonics fun and enjoyable for young learners.