Phonics apps

[drspouse]

DS is four (in nursery) and has learned all his letter sounds from the Alphablocks letters app and now knows oo as well. He can put words together with a bit of help but we've only done the Alphablocks game on Cbeebies app which doesn't have many words.
What would be a good next step? He's very motivated by apps (he needs me to do them with him which gives us good one to one time too) and struggles with drawing/writing (basically only scribble, OT assessment, lots of recommendations bla bla bla) so it's nice to have something he succeeds at.

Share lots of nice picture story books. Talk about what is happening in the pictures and enjoy the stories. You can pick out some of the sounds he knows as you share the book or after but don't let it spoil the story. Enjoyment of books is what you should be aiming for. Let your finger follow the print so he can relate to left to right and let him turn the pages. You could find a word which is repeated throughout the book perhaps "Spot" (the dog) and make a game of it. This directs attention to the print as well as the pictures. Let him tell you the story, hand him the book and say you like having stories "read" to you. The more familiar the book and the more you have looked at the pictures allows for him to act like a reader and the more successful he will feel. Good luck and have fun.

We already do all of that, thanks. It's funny that you think we don't. Memorizing the visual appearance of stories we repeat lots and lots isn't going to help him decode, which he now wants to do.

Readingeggs - my three all learnt with that. It's excellent.