Teachers and phonics experts - what should I NOT be doing with 3yo

[Shelduck]

DS1 is 3yo and knows quite a few letters - partly from us, partly from preschool. I'm not particulalry desperate to try to teach him to read - would rather leave it to the experts - but he's showing more and more interest. So what do I need to make sure I don't do, so that he doesn't get into bad habits from a phonics point of view?

don't teach him the names of the letters but rather the sounds they make.
does that make sense?

As gym says - teach the sound mmmm not muh - lots of good video on YouTube (Geraldine the giraffe is one of my favs - by Mr phonics). Just play games with it - even in school phonics is taught with fun!

I taught my DDs to read before school. What I found useful was having simple early reading phonic readers. It gives kids great satisfaction to be able to read a "real book" by themselves, even if the book only has a couple of words on a page.

You might find this helpful: www.phonicsinternationalpreschool.com/

Thanks both, that makes perfect sense!

Some of the programmes on Cbeebies demonstrate sounds and early-reading skills, and also letter formation I think. Beware of American shows that claim to be educational, but do it differently from UK methods.

Do you have access to appropriate phonics books?

Two good web sites that cover early education are worth looking at, but books that he can handle are preferable:

www.ictgames.com/

www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/page/default.asp?title=Woodlands%20Junior%20School&pid=1