The other thing I want to preface this review with is to give your child time to pick up phonics. I also wrote a more detailed article on how to teach a child to write, something related that may interest you (which also incorporates talking about phonic teaching theory in more detail). I recently wrote another article, talking about the importance of giving value and meaning to your child’s learning. Many parents find this more challenging, and therefore tools such as the one I will talk about today are a real help. Early childhood teachers go through years of training to be able to effectively teach in this way. You will see on, that I like to recommend phonic resources that follow this mantra. In this case, you could try to guess the first sound in the different train names (Gordon, Percy, etc.) For example, maybe they really like “Thomas the tank engine”. This could be by relating it to something you know the child really likes. This could be by making it into a game to play.

The flip side to this is making the phonic activities engaging and fun. But it certainly isn’t! We are not cramming for exams here! I don’t think you would be too impressed! I don’t know where some adults get the idea that this is a good way to teach children. Imagine someone sat you down and asked you to memorise information in that way. Without putting too finer point on it, this is not the way to go! “Which sound is this?” “Which sound is this?”. She proceeded to go through each card one by one…. Before I took over the teacher’s class for my placement, I had to observe her teach first.Īt one point, this teacher sat her children on the carpet and got out a set of phonic cards. I will always remember the final teaching placement on my teaching degree in the UK. As the main focus is on reviewing Alphablocks, this will be a brief outline of what I feel is best practice.Īt the end of this review, I will show you where to get hold of Alphablocks DVDs, pretty much the only resource that is still available to buy! Unfortunately, Alphablocks is a dying resource, so I would snap up anything can find online that is Alphablocks related! How to teach your child phonics?Īs I suggested in the title, helping your child have fun with phonics is VERY important. Now, on with the main (and more detailed) review!īefore I get into Alphablocks itself, I want to talk about the theory of teaching your child phonic awareness. However, I would recommend using this tool alongside more active phonic games to help your child learn best!

Your child will associate characters with each phonic sound, making it more fun and meaningful. Alphablocks delivers this in a series of short and sharp cartoons.

For the short review, I will say that Alphablocks is an excellent way to get your child interested in learning their phonic sounds.

Alphablocks phonics game