Phonics at home: 10 five-minute games for ages 4–7

How do you make phonics fun at home?

Make it a game, keep it short and let your child win often. Young children are most willing to have a go when they're relaxed and curious, so the aim is a few minutes of play that happens to practise sounds, not a lesson at the kitchen table. Four simple rules help:

• Little and often. Five minutes on most days is enough.
• Sounds, not names. Say /s/ rather than “ess”, so blending works.
• Crisp sounds. Say /m/ and /s/ without an extra “uh” on the end.
• Follow their lead. If a game isn't working today, switch to another or stop.

Which phonics games help children hear sounds?

These listening games suit children who are just starting out. They need no letters at all, which makes them perfect for car journeys and queues.

1. Sound I spy

Play I spy using the first sound instead of the letter name: “I spy with my little eye something beginning with /b/.” Once that's easy, try the last sound: “something that ends with /t/.” Let your child be the spy too; choosing a word and its sound is great practice.

2. Sound hunt

Pick a sound and give your child two minutes to find things around the room or garden that start with it. Line up what they find and say each word together, stretching the first sound: “ssssock, sssspoon.” Swap roles and let your child choose the next sound.

3. Rhyme time

Say a word and take turns finding words that rhyme with it: cat, hat, mat, bat. Made-up rhymes such as zat count too, because they show your child is hearing the pattern. Rhyming helps children notice that words share parts, which leads straight into reading word families.

Which games help children blend sounds to read?

Blending means putting sounds together to make a word. These games give lots of blending practice without any pressure to read from a book.

4. Robot talk

Talk like a robot, saying words sound by sound: “Pass me the /c/ /u/ /p/.” Your child works out the word and does the action. Then swap, so they give the robot instructions. Start with short words of three sounds, such as cup, hat and bed.

5. Treasure bag

Put a few small objects in a bag or pillowcase: a pen, a cup, a toy pig. Say the name of one in sounds, /p/ /e/ /n/, and your child blends the sounds and pulls out the right object. It's a calm game that works well before bed.

6. Word family slide

Write a word ending such as -at on a strip of paper and a few single letters on small cards. Your child slides each letter in front of the ending and reads the new word: s-at, m-at, h-at. Add a made-up word now and then (lat, zat) and ask whether it's a real word; it keeps children reading rather than guessing.

Which games help children spell and write words?

Segmenting means splitting a word into its sounds so you can spell it. These games practise that skill, along with recognising and forming letters.

7. Sound buttons

Write a word and draw a dot, a “sound button”, under each sound as your child says it: one dot each under c, a and t, and a short line under sh or ch, because those two letters make one sound. Your child then presses each button with a finger, says the sound and blends the word.

8. Magnetic letter swap

Build a word with magnetic letters or letter cards, such as hot. Ask your child to change one letter to make a new word: hot to hop, hop to top, top to tip. Each change makes them listen carefully for which sound is different and where it is in the word.

9. Finger spelling in the air

Say a short word. Your child says its sounds, holding up a finger for each one, then writes the word in the air, on your back or in a tray of sand or rice. Writing letters on each other's backs and guessing the word usually ends in giggles.

Which phonics game helps children read whole sentences?

10. Silly sentence builder

Write a handful of words your child can read on scraps of paper: the, a, big, red, dog, cat, sat, on, hat. Take turns building sentences and reading them aloud: the big dog sat on a hat. The sillier, the better. This game mixes tricky words such as the with words your child can sound out, and gets them reading a whole sentence from left to right.

How often should we play phonics games?

A few minutes on most days tends to work better than one long session a week. Short, frequent practice gives your child many chances to meet the same sounds, which helps them stick, and it keeps phonics feeling like play. Good moments include the walk to school, bath time, waiting at the doctor's and the few minutes before a bedtime story.

Keep a list of the sounds and words your child is working on, perhaps from their teacher or school, and use those in the games. Practising the same sounds that come up in lessons makes each game more useful.

What if my child gets frustrated?

Stop, and end on something they can do. Frustration usually means the game is a step too hard, too long or at the wrong time of day. Go back to an easier game for a while, say the sounds together rather than waiting, and keep it light. Children move through phonics at different speeds, and that's normal.

If you're worried about your child's progress, talk to their teacher. For a clear explanation of how phonics works, read what phonics is and how children learn to read. If school is coming up, our Primary 1 English checklist shows which skills to focus on.

How do CurioKids lessons practise phonics?

Every CurioKids lesson is live and 1-to-1, 25 minutes long, with a real teacher in the CurioKids online classroom, where they share video, an interactive whiteboard, lesson slides and games. Children start with Phonics Starter, 52 lessons in 10 units. Read about the curriculum, or book a free first lesson from our Singapore or Malaysia page.