6 fun eyfs phonics ideas for developing alliteration in nursery

Looking for EYFS phonics ideas to get your preschoolers ready for school?

Alliteration activities are the perfect way to introduce listening, making, and matching sounds at the beginning of words, before letters are introduced.

These are more than just initial sound activities using collections of objects beginning with the same sound. They are more than that.

Developing alliteration is a vital prephonics skill that also develops clarity of speech, vocabulary, memory, and more! Here’s how…

What is alliteration?

Alliteration is simply when there are two words next to each other, in a spoken phrase or sentence, that begin with the same spoken sound. The beginning sound in these words sounds the same, but they aren’t necessarily spelled the same.

Focussing on two words next to each other like this really helps preschoolers focus on matching and isolate spoken sounds. This is part of what is known as phonemic awareness.

Phonemic awareness made easy

Phonemic awareness helps 3- and 4-year-olds notice, hear, and say single-spoken sounds in words.

It’s the final step in being ready for reading.

Activities that build phonemic awareness help preschoolers understand how sounds are used in spoken and written words.

Why EYFS phonics games that develop alliteration are so important?

Eyfs phonics games involving alliteration really help 3- and 4-year-olds hear similarities in sounds. This is essential practise because many letters matched to spoken sounds are similar.

Struggling with starting sounds

For example, the spoken sounds for m and n, or f and th, sound almost the same to children at the beginning of this journey.

Preschoolers who bypass the alliteration stage will not be attuned to hearing or remembering these subtle differences in sound.

This makes them more likely to struggle with blending to read words later.

Acquiring prephonic skills is a developmental process

When 3 and 4 year olds are unable to hear, say, and isolate one sound at the start of words, they find it much harder to hear, say and isolate all the sounds in whole words when they begin reading.

Alliteration phonics ideas for EYFS that develop speech

As phonics is a sounds-based system, saying sounds clearly in speech is essential for accurately matching sounds to letters.

Phonics ideas eyfs that develop alliteration play can be super successful at developing these speech sounds.

Mouth muscles must work much harder to articulate sounds when two words next to each other begin with the same spoken sound.

This is why saying alliterative two-word alliterative phrases can feel like a bit of a mouthful!

The shapes the mouth is being tasked to make, even fleetingly, can feel challenging.

This is particularly true for preschoolers who are still developing clear speech.

For example, “These gloves are the same”, “That doorbell sounds the same as ours”, or “You had the same sandwiches yesterday”.

How to get started with alliteration activities

Alliteration activities require refined listening skills and the ability to recognise different parts of words. This means that it’s a good idea to check that preschoolers will cope with alliteration activities before you begin.

The Super Sounds Journey maps out all the skills preschoolers need before alliteration and beyond. It’s a super useful download for everyone working with 2, 3 or 4 year olds and it’s FREE to download here.

Nursery alliteration made easy!

Thinking up alliterative phrases is easy-peasy. Simply think of an object, then add a descriptive word, a colour word, or a character name.

An easy phonics activity for EYFS

For example, you can pack an alliteration picnic with your preschoolers to explore alliteration through everyday talk. You could pack some…

Green grapes
Sweet strawberries
Cupcakes
Salad Sandwiches
Pork pie
Crunchy cucumber or carrots

By playing around with alliteration in everyday objects and daily conversations, 3 and 4 year olds grow their vocabulary and gain an awareness of similarities of spoken sounds fast.

Activities like this provide more opportunities for preschoolers to hear and use more descriptive words in real life contexts, making an awareness of alliteration an easily transferable skill.

Brilliant books for developing phonics ideas in EYFS

Alliteration is a common feature of books for preschoolers. Authors know that children of this age are becoming increasingly aware of their ability to manipulate sounds in words in a playful way.

There are plenty of characters and book titles where you’ll find some instant phonics ideas eyfs. Here are just a few…

A squash and a squeeze

The squirrels who squabbled

Sharing a shell

Pete the Cat’s Pizza Party

These are just a few of over 100 titles in the FREE Super Sounds pre-phonics booklist.

It’s the ultimate timesaver, crammed with super useful books to develop those all-important prephonic skills with your 2, 3- and 4-year-olds, and you can download it now.

Easy phonics activity for EYFS to develop alliteration at home

Developing an awareness of alliteration takes a lot of practise because preschoolers need to hear and say lots of words with the same starting sounds

These interactive phonics activity eyfs provide lots of alliteration practise and are the perfect recommendation for families or to share together in Nursery.

Fun phonics alliteration activities for EYFS

These fun phonics activities eyfs are an super speedy way to develop an awareness of alliteration with your preschoolers.

With next to no preparation, and everyday resources that are easy to find, you’ll be able to get going with alliteration straight away!

Fast and fun EYFS phonics ideas | Tongue Twisters

Tongue twisters are a great example of alliteration in action because they contain a series of words beginning with the same starting sound.

Not only are these perfect for raising the awareness of the starting sounds in words, but they’re also great for building memory.

Start simply with 3-word phrases like “snails slither slowly”, building to more complex ones like ‘Five fireworks flash and flicker”.

As the tongue twisters grow in length, the complexity of the words will increase, too. This means that tongue twisters are not only a beneficial prephonic skill, but also support memory and vocabulary development as well..

Fast and fun EYFS phonics ideas | When I get ready for bed...

It’s amazing how many everyday words can be used for alliterative play, simply by adding descriptive or colour words to everyday objects.

This super simple memory building game is a great demonstration of how effectively these can be used.

Other alternatives could include:

When I go on holiday, I need…. A rubber ring, flip flops, sunscreen

When I go the farm I see…. A pink pig, a greedy goat, a little lamb

When I went for a walk I saw….a see saw, slippy slide, a big bin

Fast and fun EYFS phonics ideas | Supermarket Sort

At the point that alliteration is introduced, preschoolers are beginning to develop curiosity about words in the world around them.

They start to spot similarities and differences in shapes and patterns, and this includes an interest in letters. This engaging everyday game develops a greater awareness of alliteration by tapping into this curiosity.

Fast and fun EYFS phonics ideas | Hippo Has a Hat

This game is always popular with preschoolers because it’s easy to play and the pictures can be switched to match the alliterative patterns you find in other similar stories.