If your child is learning phonics, you might be wondering how to help them practice at home. Phonics practice sets the foundation for how future reading skills are developed. But when family life is busy and you have multiple kids in school, it can be hard to find the time to sit down and dedicate the time a child needs to strengthen their phonics knowledge.

Thankfully, there are quick and simple ways you can still incorporate phonics lessons at home without spending hours focused on studying. In this article, we share some approachable, 10-minute phonics lessons that busy parents like you can include in their daily routines.

8 Short Phonics Lessons You Can Do Anywhere

Even if it’s just ten minutes per day, consistent phonics practices can help your child along their literacy journey. Consistency is key. At Phonics.org, we share effective activities and phonics apps that young learners love.

You can fit these activities into small, 10-20 minute pockets of downtime at home while also making it fun for your kids. Practice during breakfast, while waiting for dinner to be ready, during car rides, while standing in line at the mall, or even while waiting in a medical office. The goal is to make phonics a meaningful part of your child’s life. 

Lesson 1: Letter Sound Matching

Matching letter sounds is a simple way to reinforce letter-sound correspondences for kids who are early in their phonics education. You can play with alphabet cards, pictures, objects in the room, or even verbal names of family and friends. 

Ask your child to say the word of the picture, letter, object, or name you are presenting to them. Then, see if they can identify the letter sound the first letter makes, such as /d/ for dog. If they pick up on the concept easily, see if they can come up with another word that begins with the same letter sound—in the case of /d/, they could say a word like “dentist” or “duck.” Repeat with as many words as you can in 10-20 minutes.

Lesson 2: Rhyming Words

This word match is a great activity for curious, active kiddos. It helps young children develop their phonemic awareness through rhyming. All you need are household items or objects your child can identify in their surroundings. 

Choose a simple word like “cat” and then ask your child to go and look for words that rhyme with it. They might point out a hat, a mat, or a baseball bat. If there are no items that rhyme in your physical surroundings, ask if they can come up with a rhyming word on their own.

Lesson 3: Blending Sounds 

Blending is when a child combines every letter sound in a word to pronounce the full word. To practice blending, gather a set of alphabet cards, plastic fridge magnets, or letter blocks. Choose letters that will spell simple words such as “sit,” “dad,” or “hot.” Present one letter at a time and have your child sound it out, then place the next letter and have them sound it out, and so on. Once the full word is spelled, ask your child to blend the whole word together. Help them if they get stuck. 

Lesson 4: Sort the Word Families 

Sorting word families helps kids recognize word patterns and sound segments. You can do this mini-phonics lesson by using alphabet cards or a list of written words that are appropriate for your child’s skill level. In random order, write out words from the same “families” (such as words ending in -at, -ig, -an, -in, etc.). Have your child go through and read the words out loud, offering guidance if they need it. After they read the words, help them go through the list again and circle each word family in a different colored pencil. For example, words ending in ‘-in’ would be circled green and words ending in ‘-ar’ would be circled in pink. 

Lesson 5: Identify the Initial Sound

Phonics scavenger hunts help kids identify the initial sounds in everyday objects. This includes household items, items in TV shows, and pictures in children’s books. Give your child a specific phoneme (sound of speech) and have them look for items that start with that sound. This could be sounds like /sh/, /oo/, /l/, /s/, or /p/. 

Lesson 6: Words With Deleted Letters

This short phonics lesson helps kids manipulate sounds in words and can be done anywhere. All it requires is some verbal communication and play. To do this activity, say a word and ask your child to repeat it without a specific sound—such as “cat” without the /c/ sound. They’ll say, “at.” Play around with this game and make it fun! See if they can figure out how to say “pepper” without /p/ or “banana” without /a/. Let them choose words for you to say and then delete one sound, too.

Lesson 7: Phonics Memory Cards

Memory games are another fun activity to play at home with minimal supplies. You can create homemade cards with alphabetical letters on one set and a picture representing each letter sound on another set of cards. Place the cards randomly on a surface and have your child flip over a card, one by one, and then see how many pairs they can correctly match. 

Lesson 8: Read and Draw

To connect phonics skills to reading comprehension, this phonics read-and-draw activity is simple and only requires a pencil and paper. Write out simple sentences using words that follow phonics patterns your child is familiar with. Have them read the sentence and then draw a picture to illustrate what it means. For example, “The dog ran” or “A ball is flat.” This is a great mini-lesson and practice for children who enjoy art and are gaining new reading skills quickly.

More Resources for Parents Helping Their Kids Learn Phonics

To help you and your child get the most out of simple, time-saving phonics lessons like the ones mentioned above, check out the resources recommended by Phonics.org.

• Phonics learning apps: Many free and affordable learning apps incorporate phonics lessons to give your child a variety of tools to practice with. Digital phonics programs are a great way to supplement classroom and face-to-face learning!
• Printable worksheets: You can find educational worksheets to print out at home for more phonics practice with your child. 
• Decodable books: Decodable books help your child reinforce the concepts they learn when beginning to read. Reading.com has many effective decodable books in its app which can make reading practice effective and fun. 
• Phonics program reviews: Find the best digital phonics lessons that can help your child master their early phonics skills. The Phonics.org reviews page contains honest, expert-vetter program reviews that assess usability, quality of instruction, and engagement. 

Practicing phonics for ten minutes a day is better than no practice at all. So if your household is hectic and you think you can’t prioritize these lessons at home, don’t worry—you can do it! Start small, do a little bit daily, and use the resources available to you and your child. 

To learn more about helping your child with their phonics education, follow us at Phonics.org to stay updated on the latest tips, program reviews, and research.