Home > Activities > 4-5 years
Your little one might love a game of I Spy to pass the time. It's a game you can play anywhere, either int he house or when you're out and about. But did you know it is great for their language learning?
I Spy is brilliant for letting your child put their phonics learning into practice - that is, their understanding of the sounds that make up different words.
When they play, they're reinforcing learning about the sounds that words start with.
Unsure how to play? Take a look at the video below.
The benefits of playing I Spy with your child
- It's great for children to get thinking about the sounds that make up words - particularly the sounds that start different words
- It allows children to exercise their imagination as they look for objects and words to use in playing the game
- It gets them to practise saying lots of different words for objects they know
- It gets them practising taking turns. This is great for conversation practise and social skills.
- It is also free and fun to do anywhere!
How to play 'I Spy'
Take turns with one another to pick an item you can see around you.
Say 'I spy with my little eye something beginning with鈥' saying the sound that the object's name begins with, not the letter's name. So for example, 'I spy with my little eye, something beginning with sss' (S).
By using the sound as opposed to the name, you're helping your little one to spot the word sound, which is helpful when it comes to learning to read.
Check out the Alphablocks guide to phonics for a introduction to all the different letter sounds and a bit more information about how to use them.
Let them guess what the object is. If they get it right, offer lots of praise.
Switch whose turn it is - let your child pick an object and have guesses yourself.
Why not switch things up? As well as word sounds, you could use colours, like 'someone wearing yellow', or other characteristics like 'something with a beak'.
Other games to help with phonics learning
There are lots more activities on the Tiny Happy People site that are designed to help with children's phonics learning.
Sound sorting box
Try gathering a selection of items from around the house in groups starting with different letter sounds. For example, a ball, a bell, a book and a toy car, a carrot and a crayon. See if your child can sort them into the correct groups. Introduce more items with more different letters as you go.
Go on a sound treasure hunt
Set your little one a challenge to find items from around the house beginning with the same letter sound.
Spot the odd one out
Challenge your little one to pick out the item with a name that doesn't rhyme.
More about phonological awareness
Phonological awareness is how teachers and speech and language therapists might describe your child's ability to recognise different word sounds, which is helpful when they start school and learn to read. There's lots more information about how children build phonological awareness across the Tiny Happy People website.
- Early years practitioner Jamel Campbell explains what phonological awareness is and shares his top tips to support with it.
- Discover why exploring word sounds is a key tool for language learning.
- See the science of word sounds and rhyming in action in our Speech Lab.
- 麻豆社 Bitesize has loads of great videos to help parents and children get to grips with phonics.
Image caption, Playing 'I spy' allows your child to use words that they might not use day-to-day.
1 of 3
