How to make a phonics book with your child

My daughter’s preschool teacher recommended reviewing phonics lessons with my daughter Ally, 4, over the summer.

To make the phonics lessons a fun project for the two of us, I decided that Ally and I could make a phonics book together. First Ally and I went to the store and she picked out a pink three-ring binder. We also bought some clear protective binder pages and paper.

Then we got to work cutting out pictures from magazines that would be easy for Ally to identify and making collages of these pictures for each letter of the alphabet. The collage for the letter “B” had pictures of books, birds, blocks, buttons, a bear, etc. Ally helped me put the binder together and decorated it with letter stickers.

Now from time to time, we go through Ally’s “special book” (as she calls it). I start by asking Ally what letter is at the top of the
page and then Ally names aloud each picture on the page, which starts with that letter. Then I ask her tell me what sound that letter makes.

The phonics book has really helped Ally to learn her letter sounds and also to understand that some letters have more than one sound. And since I wrote out the words under each picture, the book is also teaching Ally word recognition.

This was a fun project for Ally and I to do together, and Ally is always excited to look through the book since she helped create it. And if she learns something while we’re looking at it, all the better.