By Mikayla Peters and Michael Fannin
May 17, 2023
Teaching phonics to emerging readers can be a challenging and rewarding task. By using multisensory strategies, you can create an engaging, interactive, and fun learning environment that will help young readers develop their phonics skills. In this post, we're going to explore 30 multisensory strategies that incorporate taste, touch, sight, sound, scent, and movement. Let's dive in!
Taste
1. Alphabet soup: Prepare a vegetable soup with alphabet pasta. Have the students identify the letters and the sounds they make as they enjoy their tasty meal.
2. Letter cookies: Bake cookies in the shape of letters. Encourage students to say the letter sounds as they eat the cookies.
3. Fruit letters: Use fruit to form the shape of letters on a plate. As students eat the fruit, have them say the corresponding letter sounds.
Touch
4. Sandpaper letters: Create tactile letter cards using sandpaper. Students can trace the letters with their fingers as they practice the sounds.
5. Play-dough letters: Provide play-dough for students to form letters while saying their sounds.
6. Letter blocks: Use wooden or foam letter blocks for students to build words while practicing phonics.
Sight
7. Phonics flashcards: Create colorful flashcards with letters and images representing the corresponding sounds.
8. Letter hunt: Hide letter cards around the room and have students search for them. Once they find a card, they must say the letter and its sound.
9. Phonics videos: Show engaging phonics videos that feature animated characters and songs to reinforce letter sounds.
Sound
10. Phonics songs: Teach students catchy songs that help them remember the sounds of the alphabet.
11. Sound sorting: Provide objects or pictures that start with different letter sounds. Have students sort them into groups based on their initial sounds.
12. Echo game: Say a letter sound and have the students echo it back to you.
Scent
13. Scented markers: Use scented markers to write letters on paper. Have students smell the scent and associate it with the letter sound.
14. Aromatic play-dough: Make homemade play-dough with different scents (e.g., lavender, lemon, cinnamon). Students can mold the play-dough into letter shapes while experiencing the scents.
15. Scented stickers: Give students scented stickers as a reward for correctly identifying letter sounds.
Movement
16. Letter hopscotch: Draw a hopscotch grid with letters instead of numbers. Students jump to each letter while saying its sound.
17. Phonics relay race: Divide students into teams. One at a time, students must run to a letter card, say its sound, and bring it back to their team.
18. Letter yoga: Teach students yoga poses that represent the shapes of different letters while saying their sounds.
Combinations
19. Phonics Bingo: Create Bingo cards with letters and play a game where you call out letter sounds rather than numbers.
20. Beanbag toss: Set up a letter grid on the floor. Have students toss beanbags onto the letters while saying the corresponding sounds.
21. Mystery box: Put objects or pictures that start with different letter sounds in a mystery box. Students reach in, feel the object, and guess its initial sound.
22. Letter match: Create pairs of cards with letters and corresponding images. Students must match the letter with the correct image based on the letter sound.
23. Alphabet garden: Plant seeds in the shape of letters in a garden. As the plants grow, students can practice their letter sounds while tending to the garden.
24. Phonics charades: Students act out words that begin with specific letter sounds while their classmates guess the word.
25. Letter sound obstacle course: Design an obstacle course with stations representing different letter sounds. At each station, students must perform a task related to that letter sound.
26. Phonics scavenger hunt: Give students a list of items to find that begin with certain letter sounds. They must search for the items and bring them back to the group.
27. Letter sound freeze dance: Play music and have students dance around. When the music stops, call out a letter sound. Students must freeze in a pose that represents the letter.
28. Phonics story time: Read aloud from a storybook that emphasizes certain phonics patterns. Pause occasionally to ask students about the letter sounds they hear in the words.
29. Phonics art project: Provide art supplies and have students create a collage or drawing representing a specific letter sound.
30. Phonics memory game: Create pairs of cards with letters and corresponding images. Lay the cards face down and have students take turns flipping over two cards, trying to find a match based on the letter sound.
Conclusion
By incorporating these multisensory strategies into your phonics lessons, you'll create a dynamic and engaging learning environment for your emerging readers. With these activities, students will have fun while developing their phonics skills, setting the stage for future reading success. Happy teaching!
Comments