Before children are ready to read and write words they need to develop their spoken skills, by hearing, understanding and using a wide range of vocabulary. In Nursery we teach early phonic skills through high quality stories and rhymes, games and songs.

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Ideas on how you can support your child's early development of phonics:

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Moving to the beat - Provide lots of opportunities for children to move to the beat of the music so that they can feel it- marching, skipping etc. March and move to well-known nursery rhymes.

Sound effect stories – get children to add the sound effects to stories you read or tell. Alternatively you could start with arrange of sound effects and the children could help you makeup a story using them.

Model good listening - show you are interested in what the children say, make eye contact, stop what you are doing, comment, repeat, expand or ask a question.

Listen to encourage talking – try not to interrupt or answer questions for them. Children need extra time to process language and decide how to respond. Try to allow them 10 seconds to respond before you speak.

Encourage children to tell you when they do not understand

Be aware of the complexity of the language you use with the child – you may need to simplify the length of the sentence, the grammar or the vocabulary

Get the child’s attention before speaking to them – use their name and wait for eye contact, get down to their level, minimise other distractions (visual and noises)