Phonics in Nursery (F1)

Phase 1

In Nursery (F1) children start Phase 1 phonics. Phase 1 is split into 7 aspects of learning.

Aspect 1- General sound discrimination - listening to environmental sounds

Aspect 2- General sound discrimination - instrumental sounds

Aspect 3- General sound discrimination - body percussion

Aspect 4- Rhythm and rhyme

Aspect 5- Alliteration

Aspect 6- Voice sounds

Aspect 7- Oral blending and segmenting

Games You Can Play At Home

Aspect 1- Environmental Sounds

What your child will be learning - to listen and become more aware of the sounds around them. Children need to learn to listen carefully so that they can identify what is making a particular noise. Your child will also learn to be able to talk about and describe what is making a sound.

• Go on a sound walk. What can you hear inside your home? At the park? In the garden? Talk about the sounds you heard and what made them. Are they close or far away? Can you copy the sounds? 
• Play hide the sound. Make a sound with something from your home, such as an egg timer or musical toy. Ask your child to close their eyes whilst you hide the item that is making a sound. Challenge your child to find it as soon as possible.
• Go around your home with your child and collect a box of items that make a sound when you move them. This could be a bunch of keys, a jar or rice, a packet of crisps, a squeaky pet toy etc. Once your child has seen has seen all of the sound makers and had the chance to create the sounds, ask them to make a sound whilst you close your eyes. You have to describe what you can hear and guess which item made the sound. Once your child has understood the game you can change roles.
• Play Sound Lotto. You can make your own by taking photographs and recording sounds or a complete game can be bought from most children’s toy shops.

Aspect 2- Instrumental Sounds

What your child will be learning – to listen to and have fun with the sounds made by instruments. They will again be learning how to talk about and describe the sounds that they can hear.

• Shakers -Make some simple shakers by pouring a small amount of rice into a milk carton. Have fun making noises with instruments and dancing! If you make some sounds with an instrument, ask your child to copy you.
• Stories- Make stories even more exciting by using the instruments with a story. For example when the Billy Goat is crossing the bridge, tap 2 building blocks together as you say the words ‘trip trap trip trap.’ Shake household keys as the fairy in the story waves her wand.
• Play match the sounds -Place instruments or items that make a noise in front of your child. Ask them to close their eyes whilst you make a noise with one of them. Ask them to open their eyes and point to the item that made the noise.
• Play find the instrument -Hide your child’s favourite instruments around your home and ask them to find them. When they have found them all, use the whole family to make your own band!
• Sing songs- Sing your child’s favourite songs and use actions or instruments to make the activity as much fun as possible. Nursery rhymes are a great way to encourage your child to join in, as they will hopefully hear them often. Try missing a word and see if your child can fill in it in. Humpty Dumpty sat on a...

Aspect 3 - Body Percusssion

What your child will be learning – to copy and make rhythm and sounds and to be able to talk about the sounds that we can make with our bodies.

• Sing songs- Sings songs that you and your child know, and together have fun singing loudly or quietly!
• Learn new songs -Listen to others singing a song on a song CD or use websites such as Singing Hands on Youtube or BBC Nursery Rhymes. Sing slowly as this will help your child to understand the words and give them time to join in with the words or sounds. 
• Sing songs with actions- Here are some great ones to start with; The wheels on the bus, Old MacDonald had a farm, If you’re happy and you know it, There were ten in the bed, Five little ducks went swimming one day, Head shoulders knees and toes. If you don’t feel confident singing on your own, then why not find out about a local music and rhyme time session in your area. They are often run in local libraries.
• Play around with songs- Sing them together as slowly as you can or as quickly as you can. Encourage your child to be in charge asking them ‘How shall we sing the song today? Slow? Fast? Quiet? Loud?

Aspect 4- Rhythm and Rhyme

What your child will be learning – to listen more closely to rhythm and rhyme in speech. They will also hear many new and exciting words. The more you rhyme, the more that your child will be able to produce their own rhyming words.

• Sing Nursery rhymes or songs together. Some great ones to try are: Humpty Dumpty, Row Row Row your Boat, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Incy Wincy Spider, 5 Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed. Use actions and say the words that rhyme in a louder voice eg: Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are, Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky.
• Stories -Read stories with rhyming words in them saying the rhyming words clearly so that your child has chance to hear the words sounding similar. Encourage your child to join in with repetitive phrases. For example; Run, run, as fast as you can, You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man.
• Play the marching game - You tap out a steady beat with an instrument or a couple of building blocks and ask your child to march to the beat. Play the beat faster and then slower and help your child to change the speed of their march.
• Play record me -Ask your child to choose their favourite rhyme and encourage them to let you record them. Play it back to them and talk to them about why they like this rhyme so much. You could send a video clip to another family member who could then join in with them next time they meet.
• Bedtime rhyme -Sing the same rhyme each night as you go up the stairs to bed. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your child will learn many new rhymes! When your child knows a rhyme well, stop as you come to the final word and encourage them to finish the rhyme. 
• Play odd one out -Put out three items that your child recognises, two with names that rhyme and one with a name that does not. Ask your child to point to the ‘odd one out’: the name that does not rhyme. For example, cat, hat, umbrella. Cat and hat sound similar and rhyme so your child would need to point to the umbrella.
• Play I Hear -Say “I hear with my little ear.. something that rhymes with…” Help your child to find words that rhyme. The more you play, the more confident they will become!
• Puppet fun- Use a puppet and ask the puppet to put items on a tray that rhyme with a words that you say. Ask your child to help the puppet who keeps getting it wrong! “Daisy duck is looking for something that rhymes with d-a-t dat” Help your child to find the cat toy.
• Clap Use every opportunity to count the syllables (beat in words) whenever you can. “Shall we go to the p-ar-k?” Clap 3 times in total matching your clap to the beat. You could clap the items that you put in your shopping basket. "j a m jam!" 

Aspect 5 - Alliteration

What your child will be learning - to focus on the sounds that words begin with. For example, Tom, teapot and tiger all begin with a ‘t’ sound. Your child will also learn to move their tongue and mouth to make sounds correctly.

• I spy -Start the game by saying I spy with my little eye something beginning with… and give the sound of the first letter, for example ‘s’. Show your child a tray of ‘I spy’ items. (These can be anything from around the home such as a dinosaur, cup, ball, hat etc...) Then ask: Which one can it be? Do not worry if your child struggles with this game at first. Children find it difficult to hear the sound at the beginning of a word. Try saying the name of each item on the tray slowly and making the first sound really clear and loud. The more you play this game the easier it will become. You can make the game harder by adding more items to the tray.
• Play name the toy- Help your child to give their toys names that begin with the same sound as the item. Daisy doll Sammy spider Dave the dinosaur Holly hamster (Write them down so that you don’t forget their names!)
• Bath time fun  -Sort the toys in the bath encouraging your child to scoop up all of the toys that start with the same sound. Each time they scoop a toy to add to the group repeat what they have collected so far. “That’s great. We now have a seahorse a snake and a sausage.” Talk about why they sound the same. Whilst getting dry from the bath, look in the mirror together and say the words again watching what shapes your mouths make as you say them!
• Play Simon says- In this game for each action that you want your child to copy, repeat the first sound several times. Simon says sss stand up. Simon says jjj jump. Simon says hhh hop.

Aspect 6 - Voice Sounds

What your child will be learning – to listen and become more aware of the sounds around them and to say sounds clearly by making the correct shapes with their mouth and tongue.

•  Talk like a robot Have a bag of familiar toys from around your home (e.g. cat, dog, mug, sock) Talk like a robot (e.g. ‘c-a-t’). Ask your child what they think you are saying explaining that it’s a toy from in the bag! When your child can hear the words that you are saying encourage them to be the robot. Have fun taking turns and changing the toys in the bag.
• Make sounds -Have fun making lots of sounds and words that encourage your child to move their mouth and tongue. For example: • Make your voice go down a slide – wheee! • Make your voice bounce like a ball – boing, boing • Sound really disappointed – oh • Hiss like a snake – ssssss • Keep everyone quiet – shshshsh • Gently moo like a cow – mmmoooo • Look astonished – oooooo! • Be a steam train – chchchchch • Buzz like a bumble bee – zzzzzzz • Be a clock – tick tock. (Taken from Letters and sounds document p37)
• Stories- Read lots of stories together and whenever you can! Encourage your child to join in wherever possible making animal or train noises. Have lots of fun reading in whispers or different voices. Children love to hear the same story again and again so get comfy with them, and enjoy watching them confidently telling you what will happen on the next page! If your child wants to, let them tell you the story, turning the pages as they go. Give them lots of smiles and encouragements. 

Aspect 7- Oral Blending and Segmenting

All of the other aspects can be taught at the same time but Aspect 7 should only be taught when children have understood the first 6 aspects. 

What your child will learn- to blend words by taking sounds eg: c-a-t and turning it back into a whole word cat. Before children learn to read words, they need to orally blend so that when they begin to sound out words to read, they can hear which word the sounds will make . It is important that the children have plenty of experience of listening to adults modelling oral blending.

• When giving children instructions or asking questions the adult can segment the last word into separate phonemes and then immediately blend the sounds together to say the word (e.g. It’s time to get your c-oa-t, coat! Or Touch your t-oe-s, toes! Who can touch their f-ee-t, feet?) Use only single syllable words for oral blending.
• Oral blending can also be modelled from time to time when books are being shared, particularly rhyming books where the last word in a rhyming couplet could be segmented into separate sounds and then blended by the adult.
• Toy Talk- choose a puppet or toy who likes to talk in toy talk. The toy whispers into the adults ear. The adult says a statement eg: Charlie would like to eat some ch-ee-se. See if the children can blend the sounds to work out what you said. Repeat.
• Pack a bag- Have a toy and a bag and a selection of objects. Tell your child that your toy wants to pack his bag and needs their help! Ask the toy to whisper a word in your ear then sound talk it for your child eg: he needs his h-a-t. Ask your child to find the h-a-t and put it in the bag.
• I spy - Play I spy by sound talking words and asking your child to blend them together to find the object eg: I spy with my little eye a l-igh-t. Ask your child to find the l-igh-t.
• Which one- Lay out a selection of objects with names that contain three sounds (phonemes) e.g. leaf, sheep, soap, fish, sock, bus. Check they recognise and can name each object. Bring out the sound-talking toy and ask them to listen carefully while it says the names of one of the objects in sound-talk so they can help it to put the sounds together and say the word. The toy then sound-talks the word. Encourage your child to say the word and identify the object. All the children can then repeat the sounds and blend them together – it is important that they do this and don’t simply listen to the adult doing so. 

What your child will learn- To segment words by taking a whole word eg: cat and splitting it into sounds c-a-t. Before children learn to write words, they need to orally segment so that they understand how to split a word into sounds that can then be written down.  It does not matter how the word is written. You are splitting up the sounds not the letters. So ‘chain’ would be split into three – ‘ch-ai-n.’ 

• Robot game- You need a robot for this. A simple box or piece of cardboard covered in tinfoil or silver paper with a few eyes and buttons stuck on will work fine. It’s good to give it a name like ‘Robot Rob’ or ‘Metal Mike’. I also like to ‘switch it on’. Get your child to press a button and the robot activates. Practise moving their arms one at a time like a robot. Give them a word, and ask them to segment it into three sounds, using one robot arm movement for each sound. Repeat the word you want them to segment several times before you ask them to segment it. For example say ‘p-o-t. Pot!’

• Action phonics - Give your child a word and ask them to do an action as they sound it out eg: jumping, clapping, stamping. 

• Fingers game - Get the children to show you three fingers. Repeat the word you want them to segment several times before you ask them to segment it. Now get them to ‘put’ a three-sound word onto their fingers, e.g. pot. For example, they put ‘p’ onto their second finger, ‘o’ onto their middle finger, and ‘t’ onto their fourth finger. They point to each in turn, saying ‘p-o-t’, and then go back to their ring finger and sweep over the three fingers whilst saying ‘pot’.  

• Use a sound puppet to say words in sound talk -Have a puppet and a bag of simple objects, each with three sounds in their word, e.g. a pin, a dog and a pig. The puppet picks out an object and the children try to say the name of the item in sound talk. For example, the pin would be ‘p-i-n. 

• Robber Game- Have some objects in the middle of the circle, for example a box, a dog, a tin etc. Start with 3-5, but you can increase the number when your child gets get good at it. Ask your child to close their eyes, and take something from the circle. Ask your child to open their eyes and tell you what's missing in sound talk eg: the d-o-g dog is missing. 

Phase 2

If children are ready, they move on to Phase 2 and learn how to link sounds (phonemes) to letters (graphemes). If your child is in Nursery, please speak to your child's teacher before starting Phase 2, as your child will need to be secure in Phase 1 before they are ready to start Phase 2. Although these are typically taught in F2, some children will be ready to start early reading and writing in Nursery so please see the guides below that show the order we teach letters/sounds, explain how to pronounce each sound and what to say when writing the corresponding letter. We also have a guide for how to write capital letters although we always teach lower case letters first.