What Are Phase 1 Phonics Skills? A Parent’s Guide to Getting Started with 7 Fun Activities – Week 2
Intro
Phase 1 phonics (also called phonics stage 1) is the very first step in your child’s reading journey. Designed for ages 3–5 in Nursery and early Reception, it focuses on listening, speaking, and sound awareness — the essential foundation for confident reading, writing and spelling later on.
In this complete parent’s guide, you’ll discover:
- Exactly what Phase 1 phonics is and why it matters
- The 7 key skills your child will develop
- Fun, easy-to-do activities you can start today at home
- Tips, resources, and a free downloadable worksheet
- What is Phase 1 Phonics (Stage 1)?
- The 7 Key Skills of Phase 1 Phonics
- Why Phase 1 Phonics is Important
- 7 Fun Phase 1/Stage 1 Phonics Activities
- Free Phonics Activity Worksheet
- Greetings from Grace
- Week 3’s Preview
- FAQs
Before your child learns letter sounds, they need to build a strong foundation in hearing and identifying sounds in general—and that’s exactly what Phase 1 phonics is all about.
This week, we’ll explain what Phase 1 involves, why it’s essential, and how you can support it at home—no phonics degree required!
What Is Phase 1 Phonics (Stage 1)?
Phase 1 phonics is all about tuning into sounds, not letters. Before children begin learning letter–sound connections in Phase 2, they first develop the ability to:
- Hear different sounds in the environment
- Recognise patterns like rhythm and rhyme
- Blend and segment spoken words
This stage is taught mainly in Nursery and early Reception, but its skills continue to be useful well into formal reading.
The 7 Key Skills of Phase 1 Phonics
There are typically seven key aspects in Phase 1:
- Environmental sounds – Recognising everyday sounds around them – from birds chirping to the hum of the fridge
- Instrumental sounds – Exploring sound using musical instruments or household items
- Body percussion – Clapping, stomping, tapping rhythms
- Rhythm and rhyme – Enjoying rhymes, songs, and syllable patterns
- Alliteration – Noticing words that start with the same sound
- Voice sounds – Playing with different vocal sounds (e.g. robot talk, animal noises)
- Oral blending and segmenting – Hearing and blending spoken sounds into words (e.g. “c-a-t” = cat)
Don’t worry we’ll go through them one by one!
Why Phase 1 Matters
Children who master Phase 1:
- Are better prepared to learn letter–sound connections in Phase 2
- Find it easier to blend and segment words
- Develop stronger vocabulary, attention, and memory skills
- Build confidence in speaking and listening
Skipping this stage can lead to frustration later on. Think of Phase 1 as the foundation of a house—you want it solid before building the rest!
7 Easy Phase 1 Activities to Try at Home
Here are some simple, playful activities to build Phase 1 skills with your child:
1. Sound Hunt (Environmental Sounds)
Walk around your house or garden and ask:
“What can you hear?” (e.g., car, clock, birds, footsteps)
Tip: Close your eyes to listen carefully. Can they guess the sound?
2. Kitchen Band (Instrumental Sounds)
Use pots, pans, spoons, and shakers to make music.
Challenge: Copy each other’s rhythms like a game of Simon Says.
3. Clap My Name (Body Percussion)
Clap out the syllables in your child’s name: “Dan-ny” = 2 claps
Extension: Try it with pets, toys, or favourite foods.
4. Rhyme Time Basket (Rhythm and Rhyme)
Fill a basket with objects (sock, duck, cup, pen). Say a word: “sock” – can they find an object that rhymes?
Tip: Use made-up rhymes too—being silly helps children tune in!
5. Sound Walk (Alliteration)
Pick a sound before you head out for a short walk. Let’s say it’s “b”. As you walk, try to spot things that start with that sound and say them in a funny sentence:
“I see a bush! A big, bouncy bush!”
“Look! A ball — a brilliant, bouncing ball!”
Let your child join in by repeating your fun phrases or making up their own.
Parent Tip: Keep the tone playful. It’s fine if it gets a bit nonsensical — the goal is hearing and playing with the initial sounds.
6. Silly Sound Game (Voice Sounds)
Make animal noises or robot talk: “c-a-t” in a robot voice
Parent Tip: Let your child lead—you follow their sound next.
7. Oral Blending – The Big One!
Oral blending is one of the most important skills in Phase 1.
You say the sounds slowly:
“Can you touch your h-a-t?”
And your child blends them together to find hat.
Start with simple CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant), like:
- c-a-t
- d-o-g
- p-e-n
Don’t rush. If they get it wrong, just try again playfully—no pressure!
Your Next Step: Download Our Guess That Sound Activity Worksheet
Ready to get started?
Download our FREE Phase 1 Guess That Sound Activity Worksheet, a fun interactive activity focusing on Environmental Sounds, great for ages 3–5.
[Click here to download]
Hi there, it’s Grace again. 😊
Back for more phonics fun? I knew you would be.
So, I tried something radical this week. I put the phonics bit right at the top. Let me know what you think about the change in layout.
(If you’ve been here before, you know that’s not really my style—usually I talk first, then we get to the phonics, but today I tried to stay on track. Keyword: tried.)
For today’s Greetings from Grace we need to have a chat and it involves some very important homework for you parents!
Let’s Start With a Little Story
Can I ask—do you remember how you learned to read?
Like, the actual process of it?
I don’t.
I have a faint, fuzzy memory of a lovely teacher named Maggie. I remember sitting on the carpet with her, holding books, sounding things out… I think?
But the actual mechanics of how I learned to read? Totally gone.
And when it comes to the alphabet, I absolutely grew up in the “Aay, Bee, Cee, Dee, Eee” era.
You know the one—with the alphabet song that turns l, m, n, o, p into one chaotic syllable?
🎵 You’re singing it now, aren’t you? 😜
Let’s Talk About That for a Second
See, when I first started helping my son learn to read, I had a moment.
A big one.
When I realised…
I needed to relearn the alphabet.
Wait, what?
Yep. The sounds of the letters—not just their names.
And honestly, I was like:
“You want me to go all the way back to square one… again?”
Apparently, yes. Yes we do.
Why It Matters
So here’s the thing:
In the UK, phonics became a big part of the curriculum in the late 1990s, but it wasn’t made mandatory for state schools in England until around 2006.
Which means—if you started school before that (like I did), you probably didn’t learn to read using phonics in the way it’s taught now. You likely learned letter names, sight words, and lots of repetition.
But phonics today? It’s all about letter sounds—and it’s actually pretty brilliant once you get the hang of it.
So if you’re feeling a bit out of your depth, just know:
You’re not behind. You’re just learning something new.
(And you’re in good company.)
You Might Need to Relearn the Alphabet
And by that, I mean learning it by sound, not name.
So instead of A = “ay”, we say A = /a/ (like “apple”).
B = /b/ (like “bat”), not “bee”.
C = /k/ (like “cat”), not “see”.
It takes a bit of adjusting, but I promise—it’ll make helping your child with reading so much easier down the line.
Feeling Overwhelmed?
Don’t be. I’ve got you.
Here are a few helpful videos to get you started:
👉 Jolly Phonics Letter Sounds
👉 BBC Phonics Letter Sounds
👉 Beginning Letter Sounds with Helping Hand Workbooks!
And remember—you’re doing this for a wonderful reason:
To help your child learn to read.
To give them a skill that will unlock confidence, curiosity, and independence.
Reading Is More Than Just Letters
For me, reading has always been a kind of freedom.
When I want to know something, I read about it.
When I want to escape or learn or imagine, I open a book.
And when your child learns to read—they get that freedom too.
It’s powerful.
So yes, this week we’re talking about sounds.
But really?
We’re laying the foundation for something much bigger.
Also, heads up, if you and your child are at the very beginning of your journey, you probably won’t actually be needing to use the letter sounds just yet.
But… it’s good for you to know them ahead of time. Just trust me.
What’s Coming Next?
Next week we’ll dive into 7 Everyday Listening Games that build Phase 1 phonics skills naturally—through play.
Read next: [Week 3 – 7 Everyday Listening Games for Nursery and Early Reception]
FAQs
What age is Phase 1 phonics for?
Ages 3–5 in Nursery and early Reception.
How long does Phase 1 phonics last?
It typically runs through Nursery and the first term of Reception, sometimes alongside Phase 2.
Is Phase 1 phonics the same as Stage 1?
Yes, the terms are often used interchangeably.
What are the 7 aspects of Phase 1 phonics?
Environmental sounds, instrumental sounds, body percussion, rhythm and rhyme, alliteration, voice sounds, and oral blending/segmenting.
Additional “People Also Ask” Questions
What is taught in Phase 1 phonics?
Children learn to listen carefully, recognise different types of sounds, enjoy rhymes and songs, and practise blending and segmenting spoken words before learning letters.
How do you teach Phase 1 phonics at home?
Through fun listening games, singing, clapping rhythms, matching rhymes, and short oral blending activities woven into everyday life.
What comes after Phase 1 phonics?
Phase 2 phonics, where children are introduced to individual letter sounds and start matching sounds to written letters.
Do you teach letter sounds in Phase 1 phonics?
No — Phase 1 focuses on general sound discrimination. Letter–sound correspondences begin in Phase 2.
Why is Phase 1 phonics important?
It lays the foundation for successful reading and spelling by developing a child’s ability to hear and process sounds.
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