10 Phonic Activities You Can Do Outside
- MissBevis_teach
- Aug 13, 2019
- 3 min read
Here are some activities that I have done to help teach phonics outside! Here in England it is rare to get sunny weather so when we do I try to embrace it. So here are my top ten Phonic activities you can try this new teaching year!
1. Milk crate spelling!
If you are lucky enough to have boxes or crates as part of your classroom equipment, then use them to help build/stack words! Such a quick set up- just add flash cards to sides of the crates and children will really enjoy building tall words or long words.
2. Brush the sounds
Using sounds or words, write them on concrete in chalk. Children can use a broom to brush the correct words or sounds away. This again is very quick to set up, physical- helping with motor skills and the best thing it leaves the floor ready to start all over again!
3. Wash the word/sounds
Another option, similar to the above but can be done on playground or tough tray. In chalk write key words or sounds. Children using spray bottle and broom (for playground) or Cloth (for tough tray) erase the sound/word when correct!
4.Hoop sound sorting
This activity you could do it calmly in small groups or make it competitive with the whole class. I tend to use this sort of activity for revision of previous sounds or to help with Alien and Real words. It is your choice to use as many hoops/ sounds you would like. Have children place or even write words into the correct hoop.
5.Relay race
This is an activity my last year 1 class loved! I had chairs with sounds I wished to go over (I chose split digraphs as that was something they were finding tricky) then in their house teams they had to pick up a flash card and run to the chair that it belonged to. The first team to have all their cards sorted won. This helped very much on the lead up to sports day too, hahaha!
6.Walk the word
At my current school we follow the Sounds Write program. One of the ways it says to teach phonics is by blending the words often and as you go along.
Walk the word is a great activity to do this with as you can give a child or group of children a word. Then gradually sound out the word, writing sounds as we go. If stuck you can walk the word you got so far to help blend and figure out the rest. The opposite also can be done, for example, the word already written and children have to walk it to find out what it says.
7. Sound Scavenger Hunt
I believe this is an excellent activity for children just starting school and getting to grips with phonics. Children are to hunt down graphemes, diagraphs or tricky words hidden around the playground or field. These words could be hung on equipment or trees, they could even be placed under bushes as well. This one is entirely up to you how you want to play it. As for me I would send them in pairs to find one sound at a time and children need to report back where the sound/word was located.
8. Dig the sounds
This is a great activity for EYFS children still learning the initial sounds and struggling to get use to the confounds of a classroom. When I first taught Year 1 I had a lot of boys and some girls who were eager to go outside all the time so this may help with them to. This activity is self explanatory but could be done in dirt or in a sandpit.
9.Matching Sounds
Again, Flash cards! I live for flash cards and have three drawers in my classroom full of different types but trust me, they are useful!
Have words or sounds written on floor. Children to match the flash card with the one on the floor. This helps children to start recognising the words enabling them to recognise them when they read and gradually increase their ability to spell them.
10. Human sounds
Last one for now! This activity could be done during a phonic lesson or P.E lesson! Children to wear a sound (could be done in groups or whole class) and teach shout a word that the children need to position themselves to spell it. This could also be done a s a matching activity or a grouping activity .e.g. ask children to find a person with a 'sh' sound etc.
I hope this helps with finding new outdoor phonic activities to try or adapt. Please let me know how you get on!
MissBevis_teach!
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