How to Teach Environmental Sounds at Home – Week 4

Intro

Before your child can learn to read, they need to learn to listen. And not just to people—but to the world around them.

In Phase 1 phonics (the first stage of learning to read in the UK), children are encouraged to notice, copy, and talk about environmental sounds—like a dog barking, a door creaking, or the kettle boiling.

This week, we’ll show you how to explore these sounds at home in a way that feels like play, not school.

• Why Environmental Sounds Matter in Phase 1 Phonics
• 5 Fun Activities to Explore Environmental Sounds
• Free Phonics Activity Worksheet
• Greetings from Grace
• Week 5’s Preview
• FAQs

What Are Environmental Sounds and Why Do They Matter?

Environmental sounds are the everyday noises all around us, and learning to listen to them is one of the earliest skills your child needs to develop before they’re ready for blending, segmenting, or reading words.

Tuning into environmental sounds helps children:

• Focus and filter what they hear
• Describe sounds using words (e.g. loud, soft, short, long)
• Begin recognising patterns in sounds (like rhyme and rhythm)
• Build their attention, memory, and phonemic awareness

And the best part? You don’t need anything fancy to practise them—just your surroundings.

5 Easy Ways to Explore Environmental Sounds at Home

Here are five fun, practical activity ideas to try with your child this week. No stress. Just simple, everyday sound play.

1. The Listening Walk Game

Take a 10-minute walk around your home, street, or local park. Each time you or your child hears a sound, pause and name it.

“Did you hear that? I think it was a bird. What else can we hear?”

🟣 Parent Tip: Let your child close their eyes while standing still to really tune in. You can also record sounds on your phone and guess them later!

2. What’s That Sound? (Mystery Object Game)

Gather 4–5 objects that make noise (keys, a crisp packet, a spoon on a mug, water in a bottle). Make one sound behind your back and ask:

“What do you think that was?”

Take turns being the guesser and the sound-maker.

🟣 Variation: Use a curtain, towel, or table as a mini stage for hiding your objects behind!

3. The Kitchen Sound Band

Turn everyday items into musical instruments:

• Wooden spoon on a saucepan
• Dry rice in a sealed tub
• Crinkling foil
• Spoons tapping together

Make simple beats and ask your child to copy them.

🟣 Parent Tip: This builds both listening and rhythm—great preparation for later sound blending.

4. Indoor Sound Safari

Create a mini “sound checklist” and go on a sound hunt around the house. Look for:

• A ticking clock
• A toilet flushing
• A door opening or closing
• A sibling or toy making noise

🟣 Optional extension: Draw or photograph the sound sources to create a sound scrapbook.

5. Sound Sorting Challenge (Loud vs Quiet)

Sit with your child and make different noises together. Can they tell which are loud and which are quiet?

Examples:

• Tapping the floor with a spoon = loud
• Turning a page in a book = quiet
• Whispering = quiet
• Vacuum = loud

🟣 Parent Tip: Use simple language like “loud”, “soft”, “quick”, “long”, and “scratchy” to help build vocabulary while playing.

Download Your Free “Sound Snap!” Activity Worksheet

Ready to fine tune those ear drums?

📥 Download our free Sound Snap! Activity Worksheet 👉 [Click here to get your free activity sheet]

Click here to see The Phonics Family’s sound shaker’s version of this game using yoghurt and snack pots! Or click here for another version using plastic eggs!

Progress, Wobbles, and the Bit Where You Wonder If It’s Working

Hiya, it’s Grace again. Still here. Still talking.
(But, you know, in written form.)

So. Week 4.

If you’ve been following along, first of all—I’m so pleased.

We’ve already done a lot. A lot of listening… and calling it phonics.

And it is!

And now?

Now it’s time to talk about something: the wobble.

You Know the One I Mean

That little voice in your head that says:

“We’ve been doing the activities… so why doesn’t it feel like anything’s happening?”
“Shouldn’t my child be more into this?”
“Did I do it wrong?” (No.)

I’ve been there. More than once.

Some weeks I felt like we were absolutely thriving. Other weeks, the activities, the participation, the enthusiasm were just not giving what they were supposed to give. I know you know what I mean.

How do I know?

It happens.

So Here’s the Reminder We All Need

Phonics is a process.
Helping your child learn to read is a process.

It’s not linear. It’s not neat. It definitely doesn’t follow the timeline you had in mind when you started.

And that’s completely fine.

Some activities will flop.
Some days your child will be tired or distracted.
Some days you will be tired or distracted.

You might do an activity and your child gives you… nothing. Zero interest. A blank stare.
And then a week later, they randomly mention something you said and you realise—oh, they were listening.

It’s happening. Just not always in the way you imagined.

Here’s the Truth

You’re learning how they learn.
They’re learning how to show you what they’ve learned.
And you’re both figuring it out as you go.

It’s clunky sometimes. But that’s what learning is.
If everything worked perfectly on the first try, I’d be out of a blog.

So if you’re having a wobbly week, let this be your permission to:

• Take a breath
• Repeat an activity from a previous week
• Do less
• Try again another day
• Laugh about it and move on

Seriously.

Coming Up Next Week…

Next week, we’ll explore how music and rhythm support your child’s phonics development — including clapping games, name beats, and silly sound songs.

Read next: [Week 5 – Using Music and Rhythm to Build Early Phonics Skills]

FAQs

What are environmental sounds in Phase 1 phonics?
Everyday noises like animal sounds, household objects, weather, and traffic.

Why are environmental sounds important for reading?
They help children develop listening skills, sound discrimination, and vocabulary — all essential before learning letter sounds.

How can I teach environmental sounds at home?
By playing simple listening games, sound hunts, and guessing activities using real noises around you.

Do children learn letters in Phase 1 phonics?
No — Phase 1 focuses on sound awareness before introducing letters in Phase 2.

What comes after environmental sounds in Phase 1?
Other sound skills like instrumental sounds, body percussion, rhythm and rhyme, alliteration, voice sounds, and oral blending.

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If you found this post helpful, send it to a friend with a 3-5 year old.