As a parent, you’re responsible for teaching your kids a lot of things. The knowledge you instill to them can contribute to the quality of life they’ll have in the future. The more they know, the easier it’ll be for them to manage challenges and attain success.

One of the most essential things a parent is expected to teach their children is phonics. This is an important branch of linguistics that can help children spell, read, and communicate.

Because of the importance of phonics, parents like you should exert time and effort in teaching your children about it. This is especially true if your children are already going to school.

Here are some ways to teach your children phonics:

1. Hunt For Letters

Teaching your children phonics is actually easy. Aside from having the free range of coming up with your own activities, you’ll have access to several online sources, such as The Happy Learner.

If you’re looking for an easy and cheap way of teaching your child phonics, start by looking for old magazines and catalogs. Pick a letter and let your children find this letter in the magazine and catalog. This activity will allow your children to develop their comprehension skills while making it easy for them to associate the appearance of the letter to its sounds.

If you want to take this activity up a notch, grab a pair of scissors and cut out the letters that your children spotted in these printed materials. Create a collage in a piece of cardboard and use these as flashcards for all the letters in the alphabet. If the cardboard you’re using has still space, cut out images that visually represent the letter, as well.

2. Alphabet Ball

Children usually spend their time in front of a gadget. They’ll spend long hours playing with a tablet, laptop, or smartphone. While technology allows your children to be occupied and occasionally learn several things, going overboard can also have adverse effects to their development.

Spending too much time on a gadget can lead to eye strain and poor physical health. The solution? Invite your children to go outdoors and play alphabet ball. Alphabet ball is a physical activity aimed to teach your children phonics.

The game starts once an adult yells a letter, and the child is expected to respond and associate the letter with a word. If the adult mentioned the letter “A”, the child can respond with an apple or astronaut. After the child successfully does this, the adult will pass the ball to the child, and it’s now the child’s turn to yell out a letter. The adult then responds by providing a word that starts with the letter the child mentioned, and so on.

You can add more fun to the activity by kicking the ball or playing tag with other children.

3. Create An Alphabet Book Through A Picture-Taking Activity

If your children already know how to use a camera or smartphone, let their creativity shine by letting them play a phonics adventure. This activity can be done anywhere – whether you’re inside the home, in your garden, or shopping for groceries.

Hand the camera to your child and instruct them to take pictures of items that start from letters A to Z. Give them the freedom to take any picture they want, regardless of how weird it can be. Once your child has collected enough pictures to cover the entire alphabet, print the pictures and compile them into an album. Or if you have the time and interest, place the pictures in a scrapbook.

You can choose to repeat this activity with your children, given that you’re doing it in another location. The compilation you’ll produce from these pictures can be an indicator of the progress your children made in learning phonics.

4. Mystery Bags

Children naturally love surprises. They’ll be motivated to fulfill tasks if the prize involves a surprise. When teaching your children phonics, let them play Mystery Bags. This game will require you to use at least three bags and different objects around the house.

Start by hiding different items that start with the same letter in each of these bags. If you want your children to learn more about the letter C, you can place a candy, cup, and clip inside the bags. Let your children name each item and guess the mystery letter that’s common among these objects.

Don’t Forget To Have Fun!

The key to successfully teaching your children phonics is to disguise it as play. Instead of being too uptight with your sessions, change your routine regularly, and allow your children to have fun. Ask if there are certain toys or games they want to do and incorporate phonics into it.

Aside from teaching your children phonics, you can also utilize these activities as a way to bond more with your children!