How I Teach Letter Sounds to My Kids at Home

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Before I decided to teach my kids using phonics, I used to wonder why we have to teach the letters’ sounds?

I learned to read not using phonics, and I’m doing fine.

But after several attempts of using many ways, I conclude that learning letter sounds helps to save my sanity as a mom.

How is that so?

When my kids know their letters’ sounds, all we need to do is just learn to blend the sounds.

Well, this might seem tricky, but with practice, it’ll become much easier.

If you’re having a tough time figuring out how to teach letter sounds to your kids, let me share my 2 tips that have worked so far.

Tips #1: Decode the Letters’ Sounds

Decoding letter sounds for me look like this.

Let’s say we want to teach our kids the sound of the letter A.

Now, when you read /a/, you might don’t really understand what sound it makes.

Try this:

1. Say the word “Apple”.
2. Now say the word “Ant”.
3. What sound can you hear?
4. Yep, it’s the sound of “ae” or “er” (Any sound that makes sense to you and your kids.)
5. Now let’s sing the song A is for Apple, “ae” ae ae.

Tips #2: Stutter (haha!)

Let’s say you’re planning to teach the sound of the letter D.

1. Try to say the word ‘dog’
2. Then, repeat saying ‘dog’, but stutter intentionally at the beginning letter
3. You’d sound like ‘dddd’ – dog!
4. Repeat this with your kids

Both tips look easy and simple, right?

✋ But don’t expect your kids to get the sound right away.

It took my kids some time to grasp the letters’ sounds.

But once they got it, blending the letters became a piece of cake!

And right now they’re an avid reader!

Try Today: Letters Sounds Activities

I have some Letter Sounds activities for you, try these:

• Beginning Sounds Letter A
• Letter B printable activities

Tell me and I will forget.
Show me and I may remember.
Involve me and I will understand.

Chinese proverb

Have fun teaching beginning sounds!

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