The best way for children to learn and confidently apply their phonic skills is by practicing little and often. All of these games are games I have played with my own child. They are easy to prepare and most importantly fun! 

Enjoy, Mrs. Jacombs-Clarke

This is Fred's hopscotch game! You need chalk, and you can also use a stone, stick or a cuddly toy to act as a bean bag. George worked on his tricky red words, but your child can work on their sounds, special friends or green words. Have fun!

To play you just need some envelopes which your child can decorate with numbers 1-10. You could extend this activity to include some writing by getting them to write what they find. To do this you would write numbers 1-10 down the side of your paper, and as they open the envelope they can write down the word or sound inside by the corresponding number. 

I've also attached a PDF version of the wheel if your child wanted to write the words on the wheel to match.

Don't forget, if you want to get your child moving, place the envelopes around the room or house so they've got to hunt to find them.

All you need is a pen or 'counters', a grown up to be the bingo caller, and some friends to play with! This could be siblings, another parent, or set up a teddy like George and I did with Fred!

I've attached the bingo cards PDF for you to either print or copy out on to a piece of paper or on a whiteboard. There are boards for set 1, set 2 and set 3, so there's something for everyone from Nursery to Year 2.  I've also attached a Word document with the sounds and prompts for each set which you can scroll down and use as the bingo caller. 

Once someone fills in the grid, they shout, "Bingo!" Maybe you'll have a prize for the winner? Perhaps they can choose a film to watch later, or what's for pudding!

Set your chairs up (or you could use cushions/ pillows if you didn't want to rearrange all the furniture!) and then place your sounds/ cvc words/ greens words/ red words on each chair. When the music stops, sit and read what's on the card! Your child could play on their own or with siblings and family members.

If you have an Alexa, you can ask her to play 'musical chairs' and she'll start and stop some music for you!

Hide the words all around the house or/and the garden (make them tricky to find so you can have a cup of tea!) When your child finds the word, they write it on a piece of paper against the matching number. At the end, it should spell out a 'secret sentence', E.G. Fred is the best.  You can make the 'secret sentence' match the sort of words your child is able to read (so make it more challenging with red words, or words with set 2/3 sounds in them). For Nursery / Reception you could make this easier by finding single letters that perhaps spell out their name, or simple cvc words. It also sneaks in a little maths with the number recognition!

George and I played this game matching red words. For a simpler version of this game, the child could match two initial sounds together E.G. m with m, s with s.  For a slightly trickier  version, you could create a game matching initial sounds with pictures which start with that initial sound or a game matching cvc words with pictures. You could also match words with set 2 /3  sounds in them. See the photograph for the different possibilities. 

This game can be played with red words, green words or sounds. Maybe start with a few key ones and build up rather than using all of them in one go. Once you've finished playing the High-Five game, you can use your hand print cut outs and put them on the doors around your house- each time you go into a room you can give it a high-five and say the words/sounds. Or you can get a grown up to hide them around your house- take a piece of paper round and write down the words as you find them!

This game can be used for practicing red words, green words or sounds. You just need a baking tray and either flour/ icing sugar/ talc/ glitter. If you don't mind getting really messy, then shaving foam also works! If you want a totally mess free version, use a whiteboard and pen or a chalkboard. This can be done as just a reading task i.e. just read the word and don't write it.

This website has many free interactive phonic based games- lots of fun and great practice.