Today I wanted to share some fun and engaging Literacy activities you can do with your class using phonics or alphabet flash cards.
You can easily create your own alphabet and phonics flash cards or if you would rather save some time you can get yourself a set by grabbing my alphabet and phonics flash cards here.
I do these activities regularly with my students and they seem to really enjoy them all. These activities are also great to set your class if your students are distance learning. These activities are also a fantastic addition to your day if you are home schooling too!
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Sound/letter recognition
Play a game of SPLAT! Spread out your phonics flash cards face up and ask the children to SPLAT a certain sound/letter. You can use a plastic fly swatter to make this more fun!
Sound/Letter Matching
Print off two sets of phonics flash cards. You can play various matching games such as SNAP. Or, you can spread out both sets of cards face down and children take turns to turn over two cards to find a matching pair.
Letter Formation
You or your children can choose a phonics flash card. Ask the children to look at the card and copy the correct letter formation. You can do this on paper, whiteboards or even using loose parts to develop fine motor skills.
Initial, middle or end sounds
Say a word making sure you emphasize the sounds in the word. Ask your children to choose from a selection of phonics cards the correct initial, middle or end sound that they can hear in that word. If your students are finding this tricky, you can write your chosen word instead then ask your students to correctly find the initial, middle or end sound that they can see.
CVC Words
Using the phonics flash cards, ask children to make CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words that you write or say. Children can also use the flash cards to make their own CVC words.
Alphabet Sequencing
Lay out the letter flash cards face up. Ask the children to put the cards into correct alphabetical order. Once your students have done this you can then ask questions such as: What letter is after C? What letter is before F? for extra practise at learning the alphabet. You can also ask your students to close their eyes while you remove one letter of the alphabet and see if they can figure out which letter is missing. Children also love having a shot at being the person who is removing the letter too!
Upper & Lower Case Match
Either make two sets of letter flash cards - one upper case and one lower case, or, print out a set of lower case letter cards and create a simple mat with upper case letters on it. You can just use card or paper to do this. Ask the children to match the lower case letters to the corresponding upper case letters.
Phonics Scavenger Hunt
Hide the letter flash cards around your classroom or house. Ask the children to find a certain sound. To make this more challenging, you could ask them to find the sound at the beginning of certain words. For example: "Find me the sound at the beginning of cat."
Draw a picture
Ask the children to choose a phonics flash card. Then ask them to think of something beginning with that sound. Children can show what they have thought of by drawing it and labelling their picture.
There are so many activities that you and your class can do using phonics or letters flash cards, these are just a few fun examples.
You can easily create your own phonics flash cards just using some card or paper and pens.
If you would prefer to print out a copy you can grab a copy of alphabet and phonics flash cards here!