Do you ever find yourself comparing your child’s progress to other children their age, even though you know you shouldn’t? As a parent, you want the best for your little one so it’s only natural to worry if you think that they are not learning as quickly as other children their age. However, having worked as a primary school teacher for 10 years, I can reassure you that every child is unique; they all learn at their own pace and will inevitably all start school with with their own combination of strengths and interests. Just like adults, some will prefer to climb, explore or build whilst others enjoy games that involve talking and listening.

I’m often asked for advice by parents who are worried that their child is not making the progress that they expect with Phonics (letters and sounds). Please don’t worry if you feel you are in this position. Your child will learn when they are ready. However, below are a few activities that you might like to try to help your little one to start to hear and identify initial letter sounds.

Sound Walk

Go on a sound hunt. This could involve going for a walk or even exploring your own home.

• Ask your little one to describe the sounds that they can hear e.g. birds singing, cars, people talking…

This activity will help your child to learn to listen for sounds and to identify them. 

Eye Spy with colours

Play eye-spy, starting with colours e.g…

• “I spy with my little eye something green“ (Trees )

This activity will help your child to understand the rules of the game and will also build their confidence when they are able to succeed.   

Eye Spy with sounds

When your little one is ready and has grasped ‘Eye Spy with Colours’, play eye-spy describing sounds (not letter sounds). For example…

• “I spy with my little eye something that goes “zzz”? (Bee )
• “I spy with my little eye something that goes tick, tock?” (Clock )

Again, your child will grow in confidence as they realise that they are able to succeed. The game will also help them to think about different sounds and to identify the different sounds things make. 

Eye Spy something beginning with…

Again, when your child is ready, play eye-spy the traditional way, using objects you have identified in previous games. Repeating answers form previous games will help your child to have some ideas of what you might be spying as you are referring to their previous experiences.  

Phonics in the Bath

Put foam letters in the bath. Use a net or something similar to catch the letters.

• Ask your child to ‘catch’ a letter.
• Once they have caught their letter, identify it for them e.g. say “ Well done Amelia, you caught ‘c’ for cat”

Over time, start to ask your little one if they can identify something starting with the sound they have caught e.g. “Well done Sam, you caught a ‘c’ for cat. Can you think of something’s that starts with c?”

Sound talk

When doing routine things, such as going to bed, sound talk part of the instruction to your child, for example…

• “It’s time to go to b-e-d”
• “Can you put on your s-o-ck?”

This activity will help your child to hear the sounds and also introduces them to the idea of blending

Sound hunt

Challenge your little one to find something beginning with an identified sound.

• Start by giving extra clues
• As they gain confidence, give less clues, until you just use the initial sound
• e.g ‘Elsie can you find something in the garden that’s starts with “b”? You can kick it into a goal or throw it and catch it.” 

Spot the Odd One Out

Present four or five objects that all start with the same sound and one object that starts with a different sound e.g sock, snake , sponge , spade and a frog .

• Ask your little one to identify all the objects
• Can they spot the odd one out? 

I hope that you find some of my suggestions helpful. Children are like little sponges, slowly soaking up all the information that they are taught. Repetition, and doing the activities ‘little and often’, is the best way to learn. Most importantly, try to focus on learning together in a fun way!

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Keeping little ones busy is a challenge, especially when you want to make sure that they are learning at the same time. At First Steps Phonics, we want to support you by sharing free activities that will help your child to learn as they play. If you like this post, please like and share it. This will help us to learn what types of activity you find useful and we can write some more. Thank you!

Gloop is loads of fun! It also gives your child the opportunity to explore their creativity and learn as they play, developing their fine motor and mark making skills; these are the skills that children need in order to be able to hold a pencil and learn to write.

If you and your little one are taking part in our online sessions, you can also use gloop to practise writing our letter of the week in the gloop.

If you would like to try one of our online sessions for free, please click here

How to make Gloop

It’s really easy to make gloop. All you need is:

• A bowl or box
• Water (1 cup)
• Cornflour (2 cups)
• Food colouring (optional)

Your child will enjoy the process of making the gloop as well as playing with it afterwards. Try doing the following:

1. Tip the cornfour into the box or bowl
2. Add a few drops of food colouring (optional)
3. Mix in the water
4. Slowly mix in more cornflour or water to change the consistency

It takes time to completely mix the ingredients together. Let your child play with the mixture whilst this happens. Encourage them to explore the different textures as they mix. Try asking them ‘What does it feels like?‘ ‘Does it change as you keep mixing?’

Learning through Gloop

Once your gloop is ready, the opportunities are endless. Why not try some of the following ideas:

• Encourage your child to draw patterns and pictures in the gloop. This is called ‘Mark Making‘ and is an important skill.
• Can they pick the gloop up?
• What happens if they poke the gloop quickly?
• What happens if they poke the gloop slowly?
• Can they write the letter of the week in the gloop?
• Can they make the gloop run between their fingers?

The gloop mixture has a fascinating property; it behaves as both a solid and a liquid depending on what you do with it. Trying squashing the gloop. Try letting it run through your fingers. If your child is older, you could use talk about solids and liquids with them and explore the features of each.

Have fun!

How can we support you?

At First Steps Phonics, we are passionate about supporting you by introducing simple, fun activities that you can use with your child. The activities we suggest help your child to learn as they play, developing key skills that will help them to be better prepared for school. We are currently running daily online sessions. The sessions engage and educate your child, whilst introducing you to Phonics, the technique used by schools to teach reading. If you sign up, each weekday, you will receive an engaging video to watch with your chid and free follow-up activities that you can easily do at home to develop their learning. Click here to sign up today!

If you would like to try one of our online sessions for free, please click here

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What is Mark Making?

Mark making describes the scribbles that young children make. As children grow and develop, they begin to learn to better control their movements. They practise using the muscles in their hand in order to draw and their hand-eye coordination develops. These are essential skills for learning to write.

Mark making also gives children the opportunity to express themselves, communicate their feelings and explore their environment. Through making patterns and swirls, children develop their creativity and imagination.

Children can mark make using a variety of tools, including pens, pencils, paint brushes, sticks or just their finger tips. You don’t even need paint; water can be just as fun!

Try this with your little one

Take your little one into the garden, give them a paintbrush and a cup of water and encourage them to draw on the path. After giving them time to play and explore, encourage them to try the following:

• Can they use the brush to paint up and down?
• Can they use the brush to paint from side to side?
• Can they use the brush to paint round and round?
• Can they use the brush to paint dots?
• Can they use the brush to paint lines?

If your child is older, try encouraging them to draw:

• a square
• a circle
• a triangle
• a house
• a person

Older children could even practise writing their names.

It doesn’t matter what your child decides to draw, the important things is that they have fun doing it. As they explore, they will be learning and developing their skills and their self confidence.

Find out more

First Steps Phonics is passionate about supporting parents, helping you to inspire your child to develop a love of learning. If you would like more tips on how you can support your child to develop key skills, why not follow us on facebook or visit our website www.firststepsphonics.co.uk to try our online sessions?

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When you are social distancing, keeping your little one entertained all day can seem like a daunting prospect. At First Steps Phonics, we are keen to support parents through this challenging time so we will be posting regular suggestions of activities that you and your little one may enjoy.

This activity works really well if you go for a family walk, getting some much needed exercise whilst you learn. However, if you are currently self-isolating at home, your could also do the activities in your garden, or even through your window or around your home.

Learning through play

The first steps in learning to communicate involve listening to, and identifying, different sounds. With its emerging buds and singing birds, Spring is the perfect time to take your little one on a ‘Listening Walk‘ to help them to practise these important skills.

Try this with your little one

Sometime this week, as you venture outside and explore your local area or garden, encourage your little one to listen to the sounds around them.

Can they hear…

• the crunch of the gravel beneath their feet?
• the tweet of the birds as they sing their songs?
• the beep of the cars as they drive up the road?
• the swoosh of the wind as it blows through the trees?
• the snap of the twigs when they walk through the woods?
• the buzz of the bees as they explore the flowers?
• the plop of the stone as it lands in the water

Depending on your child’s stage of development, you could try the following:

• Point the different sounds out to them and encourage them to repeat them: “The gravel goes crunch, crunch, crunch. The birds tweet, tweet, tweet..”
• Ask them “what sounds can you hear?“
• Before you set off on your walk, make a list of sounds that you might hear. Then go on a ‘Listening Treasure Hunt‘. How many of your sounds can you find?

It doesn’t matter which sounds you listen to, the important part is that you and your little one have fun listening and learning together.

Find out more

First Steps Phonics is passionate about supporting parents, helping you to inspire your children to develop a love of learning. If you’d like more tips on how you can support your child to develop key skills, why not follow us on facebook or visit our website www.firststepsphonics.co.uk to try our online sessions?

The post A Springtime ‘listening walk’ appeared first on First Steps Phonics.

Fine motor skills are really important. We use them every day; every time that we write, fasten a button or tie our shoelaces. Children begin developing their fine motor skills early in life. They gradually learn to coordinate the small muscles in their hands and fingers, allowing them to develop key skills that they will rely on throughout their life.

There are lots of ways that you can support your child in developing their fine motor skills. Many of these involve play and can be as simple as blowing bubbles.

Whether you fill the room with bubbles using a machine or simply use the old fashioned method of a wand in a tub of washing-up liquid, as the bubbles float around the room, encourage your child to pop them in the following ways:

• poke the bubble with their fingers
• splat the bubble between their hands
• pinch the bubble between their finger and thumb
• grab the bubble with their hand
• flick the bubble with their fingers
• catch the bubble on their hand, finger or nose

As they carry out each of these activities, your child will learn to better coordinate the muscles in their hands and fingers. They will also develop their hand-eye coordination.

You could even put some music on and dance as you play. Just make sure that you and your child have fun together!

At First Steps Phonics, all of our sessions include activities that have been designed to help your child to develop both their gross and fine motor skills. If you would like to join us, book a taster session at www.firststepsphonics.co.uk.

The post Learning Through Bubbles…. appeared first on First Steps Phonics.

The first steps in learning to communicate involve listening to, and identifying, different sounds. With its beautiful colours and crispy leaves, autumn is the perfect time to take your little one on a ‘Listening Walk‘ to help them to practise these important skills.

Sometime this week, wrap yourselves up in your warmest hats, coats and gloves and venture outside. As you explore your local area, encourage your little one to listen to the sounds around them.

Can they hear…

• the crunch of the leaves beneath their feet?
• the tweet of the birds as they sing their songs?
• the beep of the cars as they drive up the road?
• the swoosh of the wind as it blows through the trees?
• the snap of the twigs when they walk through the woods?
• the giggle of the children as they play in the park?
• the plop of the stone as it lands in the water

Depending on your child’s stage of development, you could try the following:

• Point the different sounds out to them and encourage them to repeat them: “The leaves crunch, crunch, crunch. The birds tweet, tweet, tweet..”
• Ask them “what sounds can you hear?“
• Before you set off on your walk, make a list of sounds that you might hear. Then go on a ‘Listening Treasure Hunt‘. How many of your sounds can you find?

It doesn’t matter which sounds you listen to, the important part is that you and your little one have fun listening and learning together.

First Steps Phonics is passionate about supporting parents, helping them to inspire their children to develop a love of learning. If you’d like more tips on how you can support your child to develop key skills, why not attend one of our First Steps Phonics sessions. Book today at www.firststepsphonics.co.uk.

The post An Autumn ‘Listening Walk’. appeared first on First Steps Phonics.

Thank you to all of the children and parents that participated in our very first class yesterday. We all had a great time and are excited to share more of our activities and ideas with you soon!

The post First Steps Phonics: First Class! appeared first on First Steps Phonics.