A Beginner’s Guide to Teaching Phonics at Home (The Jolly Phonics Way)

What is Phonics and Why is it Important?

Phonics is a method of teaching children to read by connecting letters (graphemes) with their sounds (phonemes).

Instead of just memorizing words, children learn how to break words into sounds and blend them to read.

With the help of phonics education, your children can

• Master reading and spelling fast and easily
• Understand the knack of reading rather than jsut mug up few words and struggle with others.
• Builds a strong foundation for future learning

For Example: Instead of memorizing “cat” as a whole word, a child learning phonics will recognize that:

• C makes a /k/ sound
• A makes an /a/ sound
• T makes a /t/ sound
• When blended together: C-A-T → “cat”

What is Jolly Phonics? (And How is it Different?)

Jolly Phonics is one of the many structured and engaging ways to teach phonics. In this method we introduce 42 letter sounds (not just 26 letters) in a specific order, using:

• Actions (for easy memorization)
• Songs and stories (to make learning engaging)
• Multi-sensory techniques (to help all types of learners)

Unlike traditional methods where kids learn A, B, C first, Jolly Phonics starts with S, A, T, I, P, N – the most commonly used sounds in words.

Well, before starting at home, if you wish to, check what phonics method your child’s school uses. If they are already learning phonics a certain way, try to follow the same approach for consistency.

How Does Jolly Phonics Work? (The 5 Key Steps)

Jolly Phonics follows a 5-step process to help kids learn to read and write:

1. Learning Letter Sounds (42 sounds, not just 26 letters!)

Children learn letter sounds in a special order:

• Set 1: s, a, t, i, p, n
• Set 2: c/k, e, h, r, m, d
• Set 3: g, o, u, l, f, b
• Set 4: ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or
• Set 5: z, w, ng, v, oo, oo
• Set 6: y, x, ch, sh, th, th
• Set 7: qu, ou, oi, ue, er, ar

Each sound is taught with an action. For example, for s, children make a slithering snake motion with their hands.

2. Learning Letter Formation

Kids practice writing letters using fun activities like tracing in sand, finger writing, or drawing on whiteboards.

The focus is given to lowercase letters first. Only later the uppercase are taught.

3. Blending Sounds to Read Words

Once kids know a few sounds, they start blending them together to read words.

• Example: s – a – t → sat
• Example: p – i – n → pin

This step is crucial for reading and should be practiced daily.

4. Segmenting Sounds to Spell Words

The opposite of blending—children learn to break words into sounds to spell them.

• Example: To spell “dog,” they say: /d/ /o/ /g/ and write each letter.

5. Learning Tricky Words

Some words don’t follow phonics rules (e.g., “the,” “said,” “was”). These are called Tricky Words and must be memorized using fun activities like flashcards or songs.

How to Start Teaching Phonics at Home

1. Find Out What Your Child’s School Uses

While Jolly Phonics is one of the most easy ways to teach phonics and reading to kids, it is very important to make sure if the school uses a similar approach to teaching phonics.

If your child’s school uses Jolly Phonics or something very similar to it, follow their system.

If they use a different method, try to match their approach so your child doesn’t get confused.

2. Start with These 3 Simple Steps

• Step 1: Teach 2-3 letter sounds per week (starting with s, a, t, i, p, n). Ideally it is said to teach 1 sound per week. But for most kids, I find it tires them to see same sounds for a week over and over again. So, 2 to 3 sounds can be a good start. In case, your kids have already mastered basic sounds from school, you can even make it faster.
• Step 2: Use actions, songs, and fun activities to help your child remember the sounds.
• Step 3: Once they know a few sounds, start blending them into simple words.

Example Activity:

• Show the letter S and say the /s/ sound while making a snake movement.
• Repeat for A and T using their sounds and actions.
• Now, blend them together: s-a-t → “sat”

Keep lessons short and fun! To start with, just 5-10 minutes a day is enough. Increase it based on your child’s interest.

Common Mistakes Parents Make (And How to Avoid Them!)

Here are a few common mistakes parents make while teaching alphabet, letters or sounds to kids. While it’s common and not that bad, it is better if you can avoid it.

• Teaching letter names before sounds (Instead of saying “This is A (ay),” say “This makes the /a/ sound.”)
• Rushing to words before mastering sounds (Ensure your child knows at least 6 sounds before blending words.)
• Making phonics a boring drill (Use games, songs, and real-life examples to keep it exciting!)

Making Phonics Fun at Home

Usually, starting to teach phonics at home can be fun, until it reaches a threshold point for both the kids and you. Personally, after the second set of sounds, I was totally exhausted and my child was even more bored by the routine we were into. But, it all turned around after we made a few changes to it, like.

• Use phonics songs and YouTube videos (Jolly Phonics songs are great!).
• Play phonics games (I-Spy with sounds, magnetic letter fun, treasure hunts).
• Read books together (Point to words and encourage your child to sound them out).
• Make sure to use different activities or ideas for different sounds. Same activities for most sounds will surely bore them.

Don’t force reading too soon! Let your child enjoy the process at their own pace.

What’s Next? (How to Keep Progressing)

• After learning a few sounds → Start blending them into short words.
• After learning all 42 sounds → Introduce longer words and simple sentences.
• After mastering blending & segmenting → Start reading books using phonics-based readers.

Well, to help you through this process, I will be publishing a super-simple series of posts that can help and guide you through teaching your kids phonics the right way.

These are the exact steps I used to teach my kid, and I am sure you will find it helpful.

The goal is for your child to decode words independently by the end of phonics learning.

Final Tips for Parents

Keep lessons short and engaging (5-10 minutes a day is enough). Praise progress (even small wins).

Be patient—every child learns at their own pace.

Read with your child daily (Even if they’re learning phonics, don’t stop bedtime stories).

Make learning a fun part of daily life (E.g., “Let’s find things in the kitchen that start with ‘S’”).