Notes for Parents

The Jolly Phonics Activity Books are designed as a fun and multi-sensory way to help young children become familiar with letter sounds and to begin reading and writing. Research shows that  children who start school knowing all their letter sounds learn to read faster. These activity books can be used with the Jolly Stories and the Jolly Songs. Each sound is introduced with a short story  for you to read to your child. Each sound is also accompanied by an action, which your child can do to help them remember the sound.

Letter Sound

The sounds are grouped in the following way and should be learned in this order:
Book 1: s, a, t , i, p, n
Book 2: c k, e, h, r, m, d
Book 3: g, o, u, l, f, b
Book 4: ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or
Book 5: z, w, ng, v, oo, oo
Book 6: y, x, ch, sh, th, t h
Book 7: qu, ou, oi, ue, er, ar

Letter Formation

You need to check that children are holding the pencil correctly when writing. Look at the diagram above and ensure that the pencil is held between the thumb and the first two  fingers. Each letter has a correct starting point and this is indicated by a large dot. In this book there is letter formation practice on pages 5, 9, 13, 21 , 25, 29, 31 and 33.

Blending For Reading

Once a group of sounds has been learned, children can start to look at letters, say the sounds and try to blend them together to make the word. Help your child develop this  blending skill by pointing to each letter in a word, and saying its sound, for example, 's-u-n'. Once your child can hear the word when it is sounded out, they are ready to say the  sounds themselves. Blending needs practice and can start as soon as the first group of sounds has been learned. In this book there is blending practice on pages 34 and 35.

Identifying Sounds for Writing

Your child will need to identify the sounds in a word so as to be able to write that word. The first sound is easiest but your child will need to pick out the others too. Practice for this is on pages 5,  9, 10, 11 ,13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21 , 25, 27, 29 and 30.

Tips for Parents

The lightbulb icon shows where to look for helpful tips and advice on how to use the activity books with your child. Sometimes there are suggestions for further activities you may want to try.