Fun Ways to Teach Phonics
Teaching phonics can be extremely dry by following most multisensory phonics programs. A comprehensive phonics lesson should include the following: phonemic awareness building, work with sound-symbol correspondence (letter sounds), work with segmenting and blending (words), and reading smoothly in phrases and sentences.
People are often surprised that kids tend to read more easily than spelling. For kids who struggle in learning to read, we know that if they can read words, they can’t always spell them. But research in decoding and encoding tells us that:
If you can spell it, you can read it! To make teaching phonics more fun, focus on spelling!
I want multisensory activities so that sensory input ensures the information of the word will be stored in multiple areas of the brain. Since all learning begins with movement, and kids with dyslexia thrive on creativity, I like to integrate art techniques, whole body movement, or other sensory activities into spelling practice. (By the way, these ideas work for math facts also)!
Here’s How:
Provide a large, visual word prompt for your child to see. Get your child to look at the large word (attending to the print). Then the kids should say the word, the sounds, and the word again. Finally, think about how they can feel the word or move to make the word. They will not only have more fun, they will remember words better. They do NOT need to write a word 5 times to remember it!
My Favorite Ideas for Spelling
- Play folder board games, of course! If you need some, take a look at my TPT store!
- Rice Tray
- Sand Tray
- Magnet Board
- Play Dough Snake Letters. If you use smelly play dough, that brings in one more of the 5 senses!
- Sidewalk Chalk
- Shaving Cream
- Rainbow Crayons – you can buy these or make them
- Watercolor Paint
- Stencils
- Write a word in blue or purple on copy paper with a regular marker. Take it outside and spray the word with water until it is almost faded away.
- Write the word on copy paper (or colored construction paper) with pencil. Drizzle school glue on the letters. Let them dry. Tomorrow, color the background with artist chalk. Wipe away the chalk off the letters with a tissue.
- Cut letters from magazine titles and ads. Spell words by gluing magazine letters to copy paper.
- Make sand letters. Have the child build a word and rub over the letters with fingers.
- Make lumpy glue letters. Make word rubbings by building the word from the glue letter cards. Lay copy paper over the lumpy glue letter cards. Take a peeled crayon and rub over it until the word shows up as a rubbing.
- Write individual letters large with blue or purple marker for spelling words on index cards or half sheets of copy paper. Spread the letters around the living room or backyard. Dictate a word and have your child run around to collect the letters and build it on the floor (ground) in front of you.
- Take those same letters and have your child trace them to spell words – with their bare toes!
- Air write words.
- Write words on half sheet shipping labels. Stick the labels to the carpet on stairs (if safe for your child). Dictate a word and have your child run up and down the stairs to tag the letters in the right order. Everyone should say the word, letters, and word aloud as the words are spelled.
- Write on black paper with a LiteBrite or with gel pens.
- Make a baking pan of Jello. Have your child write words with fingers in set-up Jello – or even liquid Jello.
- Use Scrabble Tiles.
The point of doing multisensory phonics spelling is to actively engage the child in activities that require seeing the word prompt, building (or writing) the word, saying the word and letters out loud, then blending the word into the whole word. Move the whole body. Let the fingers or skin feel some kind of sensory input at the same time.
