Teach your students to read with phonics worksheets, activities, and games. Build strong reading foundations in kinder, first grade, and second grade students.
Phonics instruction plays a key role in teaching students to understand the sounds of letters and that certain letter combinations make specific sounds. Practicing phonemic awareness helps students decode words and increases their word recognition, which ultimately increases their reading fluency.
Here are a few fun phonics activities and resources to include in your daily lessons.
1. Rhyming Phonics Game
Gather sets of rhyming objects to play the game “rhyme in a bag.” Place half in a paper bag and half on a table. Have students reach into the bag, pull out an object, and match it to an item on the table that rhymes.
- Pen, hen
- Sock, rock
- Fan, can
- Boat, coat
Rhyming can help children understand that words that share common sounds often share common letters.
2. Phonics Flip Book
Phonics flip books can be a fun way to teach sound and letter combinations. All you need is a wire-bound index card notebook, scissors, tape, and markers. You may design your flip book to practice three-letter words and sounds, blends, or word families. Word families help children identify common spellings and sounds in word.
To make a blending flip book:
- Divide and cut the notebook into three sections.
- Label the first, second, and last paper with letters A–Z.
- It is OK if your combinations don’t all make words. The purpose of this technique is to teach blending of sounds.
To make a word family flip book:
- Divide and cut the notebook into two sections.
- Write your word family in the last section.
- Choose letters that form words with your word families.
3. Phonics Hopscotch
Count word syllables with a hopscotch game. Using chalk or blue tape on carpet, outline the numbers 1–4 in the squares. Have children take turns counting out the syllables of a word using their feet. Understanding that words can be broken apart into syllables makes it easier for readers to decode as well as spell correctly.
4. Phonics Games
Practice common phonics patterns with fun games like BINGO. The auditory and visual practice with these word patterns are a great way to get students recognizing the word patterns.
If you don’t want to make your own center activities, a great resource is Take It to Your Seat Phonics Centers.
5. Alphabet Hunt
An alphabet hunt is a fun and interactive way to teach letter and sound combinations. For beginning readers, matching objects with the same beginning and ending sounds reinforces this concept. Assign a letter of the week and have students find objects within the classroom that have the same beginning sound as the weekly letter. Depending on your class, you could assign more than one letter per week. (Students could also bring objects from home to share as well.)
6. Phonics Worksheets
Including fun phonics worksheets in your daily lessons will help students connect their learning from activities into practical application. This free downloadable lesson from Basic Phonics Skills Grades K–1 (Level B) gives students practice with beginning and ending sounds.
Free phonics worksheet: Review Beginning and Ending Sounds of /b/, /s/, and /m/
Teachers’ Recommended Resources
Basic Phonics Skills (PreK–3)
Take It to Your Seat Phonics Centers (K–3)
Daily Phonics (1–6)
Phonics Games: Centers for up to 6 Players(K–3)
Phonics Intervention Centers (1-3)
Parents’ Recommended Resources
Learning Line: Short Vowels
Learning Line: Word Families
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Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.