Choose exciting resources that meet the varied needs of all pupils with fun, engaging and interactive outdoor phonics activities. There are numerous ways you can use resources such as the versatile Outdoor Phonics Mats and attractive Letter & Sounds Stars. View some of our downloadable resources found below for lots of inspiring ideas about phonics:
See the product page for the resources featured for downloads containing more ideas and inspiration!
Outdoor Phonics Mats
Consolidate phonic knowledge and motive children to play with sounds using our colour-coded non-slip Phonics Mats.
Example Activity:
Creating phonics stepping-stone paths across a pretend river. Children jump from mat to mat saying the sounds out loud. Monitor and assess pupils progress in fun outdoor activities.
Letter & Sounds Stars
Perfect for playing phonic games. These brightly coloured stars are ideal for building words and reinforcing sounds. Attach them to walls or fences for an eye-catching resource that can have many cross-curriculum links.
Example Activity:
Hanging the Letter & Sounds stars on trees and taking the children on a Sound Hunt. Collect objects with that sound and record real and alien words.
Mini Phonics Mats
Brightly coloured mats for lots of fun phonics games.
Example Activity:
Burying the mats in the sand tray. Children are pirates digging for the treasure. They find the mats, say the sounds and build nonsense and real words.
Outdoor Wooden 44 Sounds Pieces
Showing all the phonics phases these pieces are appealing and motivating for outdoor learning. Use with wooden frames to segment and blend words.
Children will learn to recognise sounds in spoken language, connect them to written letters and blend them together to make words. With louder outside voices they will be excited to share ideas, learn together and enjoy fun outdoor phonics activities.
Example Activity:
Set a sound treasure hunt for the children to complete. Start by hiding a selection of the wooden pieces around your indoor or outdoor space. Let children go on a treasure hunt to find them. Once they find a piece, they must say the sound or word out loud. Alternatively, you could say a word or sound and children must hunt for this specific piece. The first person to find it gets to keep it!
TTS Talking Frogs
Introduce a playful twist into your outdoor phonics sessions with the TTS Talking Frogs. These charming, interactive frogs can be used to to record and play back sounds, making phonics learning both fun and engaging.
Example Activity:
Try placing the frogs around your outdoor area to create a ‘phonics pond’ where children can hop from one frog to another, listening to and repeating the sounds or words on each frog. Can the children blend the sounds together to find the word? You may also hide matching objects around the learning environment for the children to find once they have identified the word. How many different words can they build with the frogs and find?
Rhythm and Rhyme Phase 1 Kit
Bring early phonics to life in your outdoor area with the Rhythm and Rhyme Phase 1 Kit. From musical instruments that encourage children to explore pitch and volume to rhyming cards and sound games that build phonemic awareness, this kit is perfect for outdoor storytelling or rhyme circles, sound walks or rhythm based play. Children can identify objects in the outdoor area, tapping out the syllables or sing outdoor rhymes around a pretend camp fire. Just remember to bring the resources back inside or into a waterproof outdoor cupboard after a long day of fun with them.
Example Activity:
Set up a phonics station using the weaving letters or alphabet stampers. Use natural outdoor materials such as leaves, grass or twigs through the letter shapes while saying the sound aloud, creating a tactile and visual reminder of the phoneme. Encourage the children to weave a string of letters that form a simple CVC word (like cat or sun) and then find items to represent each word.
Print the stampers into mud, water or paint to create imprints of letters. Children can find natural items in the outdoor area, stamping the initial sound for each e.g. l for leaf, t for twig. Can the children sort the items by sound?
Alphabet Silicone Mat and Alphabet signs
Ideal for learning the alphabet and initial sounds.
Example Activity:
Make an alphabet trail by laying out the mats around your space. Ask the children to follow the trail and say the letter name and sound as they reach each mat. Extend the activity with a scavenger hunt, finding objects that begin with each of the letters.
