Phonics is a foundational part of early literacy skills for young students. It can be the key to unlocking the magic of reading, but keeping little ones engaging while mastering letter sounds and decoding words can be a challenge! Choosing interactive, attention-grabbing games and activities and pairing them with the best phonics worksheets for kindergarten can solve this problem! Consider how to make phonics fun for your students this year:
Without the right strategies, phonics practice can quickly become repetitive or overwhelming for little ones. Making phonics fun helps ensure that learning is meaningful and classroom morale stays high:
Create a Positive Classroom Environment: Fun phonics activities can set a joyful tone in your classroom, helping students look forward to learning.
Keeps Little Ones’ Attention: In kindergarten, students all have short attention spans. Games, movement, and kid-friendly worksheets help keep them focused and excited. More engagement also means easier classroom management!
Builds Early Literacy Skills: The more engaged students are in learning, the better they grasp important phonics skills like blending, segmenting, and alphabetic principle.
Encourages Active Participation: Games and interactive activities help even your shy and reluctant students to participate. When students are excited to participate, their confidence soars!
Incorporate phonics games and movement-based activities to keep learning fun and meaningful! Research supports that adding movement to learning greatly increases a child’s ability to retain information (Lindt & Miller, 2017).
Grab this Science of Reading Aligned Phonics Games & Worksheets Bundle and never stress about teaching phonics again! This set includes 50+ games and worksheets that target the following phonics skills:
This is the explicit part of your lesson where you can talk about the sounds, letters, spelling patterns, and vocabulary!
Having a word list that’s ready to go saves you time and energy! Matching pictures support students, including ELs.
2. Now it’s time to let your students practice spelling and writing the words that will be used for the game.
Let students use dry-erase boards during this portion of the game for no-prep practice!
This activity is the perfect time for you to do a quick assessment. You can provide specific feedback to students who need support.
3. Choose between one of these two options based on what fits your students’ needs & class schedule best:
WHOLE GROUP
Project the class game slide. Everyone works together to circle all 8 word family pictures and write all 8 words. Students can come to the board and “pass the pen” to a classmate to find the next picture.
Use a timer to try to beat your own class record!
TWO TEAMS
Does your class love friendly competition?
Divide your students into two teams. Each team lines up in front of the board. The teams race to circle and write all 8 words.
Students hand off the pen to the person behind them and cheer on their team.
These practice pages are truly the best phonics worksheets for kindergarten! You can easily differentiate learning by choosing the tracing or writing option to best fit your students’ individual needs.
They’re also perfect to add to literacy centers, include in morning tubs, or give to early finishers! Just print and laminate for frequent re-use.
Try the Short I Phonics Game & Worksheets for FREE before you commit to the big bundle set!
This activity set targets -ig word families while keeping phonics practice fun for everyone.
Try these other phonics games to keep your students moving and ensure learning is lots of fun:
The FREEZE Movement Games for Short Vowels are a fun brain break for kids. This game gets everyone moving, listening, and reading. They won’t even realize they’re working hard on CVC words because they will be having too much fun!
The Word Wigglers Game for Short Vowels allows students to practice reading and writing simple CVC words while doing lots of fun motions together.
Work on spelling, writing, and reading words with Mystery Move & Groove phonics worksheets and games. This option is completely no-prep so it’s perfect for phonics lessons or quick brain breaks.
*Check out even more engaging phonics activities in my TPT store!
With the right tools in place, phonics can be one of the most exciting parts of the day! You can ensure your students build strong literacy skills while playing fun movement-filled games and completing the best phonics worksheets for kindergarten when you choose the We Spy Phonics Games & Worksheets Bundle. Making phonics fun doesn’t have to be hard or stressful!
Lindt, S. F., & Miller, S. C. (2017). Movement and learning in elementary school. Phi Delta Kappan. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721717702629
I’m a teacher who believes in creating a classroom kids love and activities that keep them engaged all day!
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