Phonics / handwriting games?

[Merrow]

DS1 is at reception and struggling a bit with phonics and handwriting. We're not surprised by the handwriting - he's never liked mark making - but he loves books so the slow reading progress is a surprise. I feel it's easy to support his maths at home because we just play lots of games with dice and counting, but not really sure what to do on the phonics front.

We read to him a lot every day, but he doesn't like being asked what a word is if we point it out and I don't want him to stop enjoying being read to because we make it about learning. He has a phonics book he brings home from school, which he'll read once and then just recite from memory if we try again. He's struggling with the difference between b, d, p, and I feel that probably actually writing the letters would help cement the difference for him, but he's seen through every attempt I've made to make writing a fun thing!

I don't want to sit down with him with workbooks and make him do things, so maybe the answer is just to let it go and trust he'll make the progress he needs at school, but I do find it difficult when I can see how all the counting games we've done at home have made such a difference for his understanding of maths. I'm keen to support him at home, but I'm just not sure what form that support could take.

Be patient - not all children are ready for phonics at the same time, and teaching a child who is not ready is like pushing a boulder up a hill. Neither of my dd were ready at this point in reception, and I understand how nerve wracking it can be to watch them ‘fall behind’. I think the way school teaches phonics makes it seem like there’s a schedule to follow, but in my experience both dd tended to learn in big leaps. Both were behind in reception, both meeting expectations now in y2 (although one is potentially dyslexic).

The most important thing you can do for developing reading is sharing books / reading to them - you are doing that already! If you are looking for games, check out MRS Wordsmith - we found these a bit later, so skipped the phonics games, but everything we have from them is high quality and genuinely enjoyable for my dds. I would also recommend Elephant & Piggie books - silly and charming, only a few words per page so easy for early readers to follow, and for whatever reason my dd were happier about reading things in speech bubbles than random words in a text. To start I might just have them read the odd page when it was a simple word, but later I would be Elephant and dd would be Piggie.

Thank you! I can admit I'm not known for my patience...

We have some elephant and piggie books which he loves, and once he's a bit further on with his reading I can see him enjoying playing one of them. And I'll check out Mrs Wordsmith too - I'm constantly recommended them on Facebook, which I admit made me instantly suspicious!

My 4 year old has all of the same issues you've listed, especially the b/p/d thing.

He loves to be read to but hates if we try to get him to learn at the same time.

Honestly, I think he's just not quite ready yet. I'm very lucky he was November born so not in school yet, and I think we'd really struggle if he was summer born.

Sorry, not a helpful answer, but just pointing out that I reckon lots of parents are having similar issues!

My Reception child (Feb born) is doing ok with phonics, can blend and read the books they're sent home, but is still really resistant. I think it's very common, reading is hard work when it doesn't come easily and what 4 year old wants to work hard?

He also gets b and d mixed up a lot of the time, and p if he's writing.

I have to say, I thought he was more than ready for school but with hindsight I think he could have done with another year of pre-school, with a bit of structured phonics and maths. He just wants to play, and finds the learning and sitting still parts of school 'boring'.

Yes, school has definitely been more of an adjustment for him than I expected! He's happy and sociable, but the learning and sitting still has really ramped up dramatically from preschool and he is not a fan of it.

I've picked up the Mrs Wordsmith phonics game and we'll see how that goes - I love board games so he's used to me randomly introducing one, and if he doesn't like it then I won't force it.

Does he have an ipad? My son suddenly got the hang of reading when we introduced him to Reading Eggs a month or so ago. He has made remarkable progress since then. I'm not a fan of screens for little kids, but he doesn't know that ipads can do anything else other than reading eggs, so so far so good. He has upto between 30 and 60 minutes on it - only if he wants to (which he always does) - and is practising his reading the entire time. I feel like a bit or screen time is a small price to pay for the impact it's having on his reading!

Reading Eggs would be perfect for you.

We don't have an iPad and I don't fancy giving him my phone - I've only just replaced it! Thank you though, a good idea to have in my back pocket if it turns out school are concerned about his progress. At the moment it seems from their perspective that he's puttering along happily.