10 great Letters and Sounds activities

10 Letter and sounds activities to use in your setting

Many people are still confused as to how they should be teaching children letters and sounds. Practitioners need to understand that they don’t have to necessarily teach children about these. Within the learning environment, there should be a balance of child led opportunities as well as adult planned activities that support speaking and listening skills.

There may be times during the day eg during circle time where adults can plan a speaking and listening activity which has a particular focus. It is recommended that these activities are matched to children’s developing abilities and include children’s interests. Adult-led activities are ideal for practitioners to focus on a particular skill. These activities should still be fun and engaging. The environment is a powerful learning tool and practitioners needs to ensure opportunities are available for children to initiate their own play whilst also developing their speaking and listening skills.

It is important to ensure children are provided with the opportunities to learn those vital speaking and listening skills, by learning these it will help develop early phonic skills. Some settings follow the Letters and Sounds document as well as offering a rich learning environment. The Letters and Sounds document provides practitioners with activities that concentrate on certain aspects. Not only does it help build children’s speaking and listening skills but it helps prepare them to read as it develops their phonic knowledge and skills. To read more the aspects within the Letters and Sounds document click here

The seven aspects within Phase 1 are;

• General Sound Discrimination: Environmental Sounds,
• General Sound Discrimination: Instrumental Sounds
• General Sound Discrimination: Body Percussion
• Rhythm and Rhyme
• Alliteration
• Voice sounds
• Oral blending and segmenting

Activities relating to these aspects can be carried out indoors and outdoors and they are very much linked to the two EYFS areas Communication and Language and Literacy.

Here are ten letters and sounds activities;

• Story sack using props and puppets. Choose a story that contains repeated phases as children will enjoy joining in with these. These opportunities are great for developing children awareness of alliteration and rhyme.

• Rhyming game. Collect resources that rhyme with each other eg cat and rat, fish and dish etc place these in the middle of the circle. During circle time show the children each object and ask them if they can find the other object that rhymes with it.
• Which musical instrument was it? Find two sets of musical instrument eg two shakes, two triangles. Sit a child back to back with another child in the middle of the circle and place one set of instruments in front of each child. One child plays an instrument and the other child has to guess which one it is.
• Add a CD player to your book area. Place a CD player with headphones and various stories on a CD in your book area. This will provide children with different means of listening to stories whilst developing their listening and attention skills.
• Feed the monster. Why not make a monster that has an opening for it’s mouth, then create pictures of objects that children can recognise. This circle time activity is great for helping children break down the word eg c a r, c a t. Children will enjoy feed the monster as they post the cards in his mouth.
• What’s in the box. Find yourself a box and collect objects that make a noise eg musical toys, a bunch of keys etc . Show the children what is in the box and then place your hand in the box and choose one of the objects to make a noise. The children have to guess what object it is.
• Foam letters in the water. Why not add foam letters to your water area as well as a fishing net. Children will enjoying catching the different letters in their net. Instead of foam letters use ping pong balls, write a letter of the alphabet on each ball and add these to your water tray.
• Song bag . As singing should be incorporated into everyday practice song time is an ideal opportunity to develop children’s speaking and listening skills. Why not add objects to a bag that represent a song and let the children choose from the bag.
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• Silly soup. Instead of using a bowl for this activity why not use a tuff spot. Fill the tuff spot with lentils, you will also need a wooden spoon and a selection of rhyming objects or pictures. If you don’t know the words to this song click here and as the children add an object to the tray ask them what it is called. This fun activity helps children learn about rhyming.
• Listening walk. Why not go on a listening walk around your nursery.  Explain to the children that they are listening to the different noises in the environment. This can also be carried out outside as there are many different sounds that can be heard in the garden.

These are just some activities that can help children develop their speaking, listening and attentions skills. All of these skills will help children develop early phonic skills.

If you would like a copy of 7 weeks worth of letters and sounds planning then click here

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