Before children start Reception, the most important foundations for reading are listening, speaking, curiosity and enjoyment of stories. Children do not need to be taught how to sound out words, read books independently, or write letters before they start school.
In fact, trying to teach children to read or sound out words too early can sometimes make learning phonics at school more difficult. Reception teachers introduce phonics in a carefully structured way so that children build the skills step by step.
What helps children the most before starting school is developing strong language, listening and sound awareness.
These are the skills that make reading easier when formal phonics begins in Reception.
These activities support the same skills children develop through our Independent Me – Preparing for School Backpack Programme, including:
When children arrive at school with strong language and listening skills, they are ready to begin phonics learning with confidence.
Instead of focusing on reading words, the most valuable things parents can do are:
Activities like these build the foundations children need to become confident readers later on.
You can find more ideas and activities here:
At Tops we follow Letters and Sounds Phase 1, which focuses on listening, speaking and sound awareness rather than reading words.
Phase 1 helps children develop the listening and language skills that phonics learning builds on later.
Phase 1 includes seven areas of learning:
These activities help children:
Below are simple ways parents can support these skills at home.
Environmental Sounds- Listening to sounds around us.
Try this at home- Sound Walk
While walking outside ask:
“What can you hear?”
Examples:
What this supports
Good time of day
Walking to nursery or school
A trip to the park
Instrumental Sounds- Recognising sounds made by objects.
Try this at home- Hidden Sound Game
Hide an object that makes noise.
Examples:
Shake it and ask:
“What do you think it is?”
What this supports
Good time of day
Playtime
Music time
Try this at home- Body Beats
Create a simple rhythm and ask your child to copy it.
What this supports
Good time of day
Bath time
Music time
Getting ready for bed
Rhythm and Rhyme- Listening to patterns in words and recognising when words sound the same.
Try this at home- Sing nursery rhymes together.
You can access a sing-along video with many familiar rhymes here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/articles/z4ddgwx
A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea
Humpty Dumpty
Eenie Meenie Miney Mo
Pause before the final word and ask your child to guess it..
What this supports
Alliteration- Listening for words that begin with the same sound.
Try this at home- Name Game
Use children’s names to highlight beginning sounds.
Example:
“Diane dances.”
“Sophie sings.”
“Harry hops.”
Ask the child to think of a word that starts with the same sound as their name.
Why it works
Good time
Getting ready in the morning
Walking to nursery
Voice Sounds- Exploring different sounds we can make using our voices.
Try this at home- Animal Sound Game
Ask your child to make different sounds.
Examples:
moo
baa
quack
roar
What this supports
Oral Blending and Segmenting- Listening to the sounds in words and putting them together to understand the word.
One of the most important listening skills children develop before starting school is oral blending. This means hearing the sounds in a word and blending them together to understand the word.
At nursery we focus on these listening skills, so children are ready when phonics teaching begins in Reception.
You can learn more about how phonics is introduced in school HERE
When children begin phonics in Reception, teachers teach sounds, not letter names.
For example:
b is pronounced /b/ not “buh”
t is pronounced /t/ not “tuh”
Using the correct sound helps children learn to blend sounds into words more easily when they begin reading.
If children regularly hear incorrect sounds, it can be harder for teachers to correct this later. It is much easier for children to learn the sounds correctly from the start.
If you would like to hear how phonics sounds are pronounced, this guide is very helpful:
Oxford Owl Phonics Sound Guide
https://cdn.oxfordowl.co.uk/2016/05/05/20/22/32/561/20097_content/index.html?id=ae#
You may also find this short video useful:
At this stage, the most important thing is listening to sounds in words through games, songs and conversation, rather than trying to teach children to read.
Try this at Home- Robot Talk
Say a word slowly in sounds.
Example:
“Can you get your c–oa–t?”
Your child listens to the sounds and blends them together to work out the word.
This simple game helps children develop oral blending, which is an important bridge to phonics learning in school.
How to pronounce phonics sounds correctly
What phonics is and how it is taught in school
Starting Reception – Kindred²
https://startingreception.co.uk/#the-basic-skills-to-practice
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