Letters and Sounds Phase 1 alternative activities that actually work!

Do you work with 2, 3, or 4-year-olds or have a preschooler at home? If the answer is yes, then these super simple letters and sounds phase 1 activities are just what you need.

What are letters and sounds phase 1 games?

Letters and sounds phase 1 games were originally introduced for preschoolers in the Letters and Sounds document (2007).

The intention of this document was to identify and nurture the prephonic skills all children need to prepare them for formal phonics teaching in school.

Letters and Sounds Phase 1 - lessons learnt

The games in Phase 1 phonics have been popular with preschool practitioners ever since.

However, this approach had limitations. There was little information about how to organise the teaching of this critical foundation for phonics, and prephonics planning wasn’t included. This left a lot open to interpretation.

As a result, teaching wasn’t always as systematic or developmental as it could have been.

Many of the original Letters and Sounds Phase 1 games have now been overused and become tired.

New practitioners are not aware of the original content and can be unsure about what Letters and Sounds Phase 1 entails.

There could not be a better time to look at Phonics Phase 1 with a fresh pair of eyes.

Why are phonics games phase 1 so important for preschoolers?

Phonics games phase 1 are vital for preschoolers. The prephonic skills they develop lay the foundations for all future learning in phonics and reading.

A prephonic progression

Phase 1 phonics must prepare all 2, 3 and 4 year-olds to be able to

Hear and remember sounds
Say sounds
Sequence sounds and words
Recognise and remember differences in letter shapes

These skills develop slowly over time. They are enhanced by the stories children join in with, the songs they sing, and the phase 1 phonics games they play.

When children have gaps in this prephonics stage, learning to read and write can be more challenging.

A step-by-step approach to prephonic development is therefore vital.

Phase 1 Phonics | A step by step approach

How do phase 1 phonics activities prepare 2-year-olds for reading?

Phase 1 phonics activities for 2-year-olds focus primarily on:

Phonics for 2 year olds begins with hearing the similarities and differences between everyday sounds and then describing those differences in simple terms.

This is important because words like ‘loud and quiet, fast and slow’ will be needed to describe the differences between letter sounds later.

It’s a prephonics stage of exploring, talking about, and remembering sounds. The more opportunities preschoolers have to do this the better!

Fun Phonics for 2-year-olds!

How do phase 1 games prepare 3-year-olds for phonics?

Phase 1 games for 3-year-olds develop phonological and phonemic awareness. These skills critically move children beyond an understanding that words are labels for objects and actions, to hearing spoken sounds in words.

Phonological awareness involves developing an awareness of:

Syllables through rhythmic play
Rhyming words by exploring patterned and repetitive language
Hearing and saying similar sounds at the beginning of words using alliteration
Making and breaking up words through the processes of oral blending and segmenting.

Phonics for 3-year-olds at home and nursery

A fun phase 1 phonics game for 3-year-olds

Where to start with phonics activities phase 1

The success of phonics activities phase 1 is how well matched these are to the developmental level of the children.

If an activity is too easy, prephonic skills won’t be developed and children quickly become bored.

If an activity is too challenging, frustration can set in and again, engagement and learning are less likely.

This instant assessment tool is super useful to make sure that phase 1 phonics activities are perfectly pitched.

Use these step-by-step statements to instantly pinpoint what your children can do straight away. You’ll instantly identify the gaps in prephonic development they need to acquire.

This makes matching the right prephonics activities to the children super successful.

Top tips for resourcing phase 1 phonics sounds activities

The best resources to use for phase 1 phonics sounds activities are everyday objects found in the home or preschool setting.

Using familiar objects that children already know is beneficial on a few levels.

Knowing how to name and describe everyday objects clears space in the working memory for children to focus on the prephonic skills they’re developing.
Objects available throughout the day encourage continued play and practise.
Real objects provide clarity, whereas pictures or representations may not look like the real objects that the children know.

Using real objects reduces adult preparation time and workload too, making this a super sustainable and easy peasy option for everyone.

Letters and Sounds Phase 1 games made easy

Once you know which prephonics skills your children need to work on, playing phase 1 phonics games is easy.

Simple repetitive games that involve singing, joining in, and taking turns are perfect for lots of repetition and repeated practise.

Here are six super simple phase 1 phonics activities that your children can play today.

Letters and Sounds Phase 1 | Step 1

For children at the very beginning of the prephonics journey, using animal sounds to explore similarities and differences in sounds is the perfect starting point.

What you need

A box
Toys or objects matched to the sounds you want the children to make

For example, Farm Animals, Jungle Animals, Vehicles.

You could use pictures or photos if you don’t have the toys.

How to play

Explain that the children are going to be playing a game by making noises matched to the objects.

Show the children each of the toys / pictures you’ll be using for the game.

Name them and make their sounds all together. Put the toys or pictures into the box.

Explain that the children are going to be singing a song to begin the game.

As they sing, the children pass the box around the group. At the end of the song, the child holding the box will look inside the box.

Pass The Box Song

Pass, Pass, Pass the box,

Pass the box around.

When it stops, take a look,

Can you make the sound?

Sung to the tune of row row row your boat

The child holding the box should peep inside, choosing a toy.

This child shouldn’t take the toy out of the box or tell the children which one they have chosen. Instead, this child will give the other children a sound clue for the children to guess which toy they have picked.

For example, “choo choo” for the train, “mooooo” for the cow. This will need modelling by an adult first.

The other children in the group should guess the toy.

The child with the box can reveal whether they were right by holding up the toy as all the children to make the sound again, all together.

Repeat the game multiple times by singing the song, passing the box, and encouraging the children to make/ guess the sounds for further toys in the box.

Great prephonics game to share with families

Letters and Sounds Phase 1 | Step 2

In addition to hearing sounds, children also need to say sounds in speech before matching these to letters. These fun Letters and Sounds Phase 1 alternatives are an instant hit with 2 and 3 year olds.

Fun phonics phase 1 game to play at home

Letters and Sounds Phase 1 | Step 3

The first step to building phonological awareness is to build a sense of rhythm, so preschool games involving musical instruments are perfect. With no preparation and hours of preschool learning fun, get your tambourine ready and start developing a sense of rhythm together.

What you need

A tambourine

How to play

Explain that the children are going to take it in turns to play the tambourine. When it’s their turn they are going to use the tambourine to tap out the beats (syllables) in their names.

Practise clapping the syllables in some names as an example, with everybody joining in.

Remember, the syllables are the ‘beats’ in words, each syllable or ‘beat’ is created by a vowel.

For example

“Sam” (1 clap)

“Ash-an” (2 claps)

“Ell-a-Rose” (3 claps)

“Ram-a tou-li”(4 claps)

Sing the ‘Pass the tambourine song’ all together. As they sing, the children pass the tambourine around the group. .

“Pass the tambourine around,

-rine around, -rine around.

Pass the tambourine around,

Who will play it?

Sing to the tune of London Bridge is falling down.

As the song ends, one of the children will be holding the tambourine.

Encourage this child to tap out the beats (syllables) in their name. Initially, some children will need this modelling, with an adult clapping the beats before they have a go.

Encourage the remaining children to echo back the beats in this name by listening then clapping the syllables or ‘beats’ as you say it.

Sing the song again, encouraging participation in the singing and clapping a steady beat as the tambourine is passed.

Repeat the same process of tapping out the syllables and passing the instrument until all the children have had a turn.

Letters and Sounds Phase 1 | Step 4

Rhyming is a difficult prephonic skill for 3 and 4 year olds to master.

It’s the first experience they have for comparing similarities and differences in sounds at the end of words.

Getting this right takes lots of practise, so these letters and sounds phse 1 alternatives are just what you need.

Letters and Sounds Phase 1 | Step 5

Alliteration is a critical prereading step because it helps preschoolers to hear the similarities between sounds at the beginning of words, as well as continuing to develop speech sounds too.

Letters and Sounds Phase 1 | Step 6

Oral blending and segmenting are the final prephonic skills that preschoolers need to develop before formal phonics teaching begins.

These are essential skills for hearing and saying all the sounds in words just before letters are introduced.

What you need

A story with detailed and interesting pictures with lots of things to spot.

How to play

This game is like a classic game of I Spy. In this game though, the emphasis doesn’t focus on the first spoken sound in words.

The objective is to hear, then blend, all the separate spoken sounds in words, matching these with an object.

Begin by looking at the book together. Talk about the pictures, relating these to what the children already know.

Start the game by saying:

“I hear with my little ear, something that sounds like…. d-o-g”

Say each of the separate sounds in the word, beginning with a simple 3 letter (cvc) word in the picture.

Support the children by blending the sounds together, then matching the blended word with the corresponding object.

Follow this process with several items in each picture.

Remind the children to look closely at the illustrations as they listen to the spoken sounds in the chosen word.

If the children are confident, let them have a go at offering the clues by orally segmenting themselves.

Phase 1 Phonics Planning

If your 2, 3 and 4 year olds enjoyed playing these easy peasy letters and sounds phase 1 games, then keep playing!

Take a look at Super Sounds , a fun, tried and tested prephonics programme that is designed specifically for 2, 3 and 4 year-olds.

Perfect for using before any phonics programme, Super Sounds is uniquely written for a fun and engaging approach to teaching a progression of prephonic skills step by step.

Whether you want fresh ideas as an alternative to Phase 1 Phonics, or you’re new to phonics in nursery and don’t know where to start, Super Sounds is waiting for you!