Developing literacy skills outdoors

Children love to play in outdoor spaces and this can be a great way to get children who do not concentrate well sitting down to learn to engage through active games. The outside is full of new and exciting experiences for children to take in and learn from. Listening to the sounds that they find in the garden and looking at what sounds they can make in the outdoors can be an early stage of learning about sounds and leading up to phonics.

Recognising letter sounds can be great fun for children. Here are some simple games to play outdoors with your little ones.

1. Extend the children’s awareness of initial letter sounds by asking questions, for example, ‘How many items can you find starting with the sound ‘s’? Putting up a alphabet line in the garden or using flash cards can also help them in recognising the use of the letter sound, the letter sound its self and the written letter. Challenge the children further by asking them to think of different words starting with the same sounds as ‘grass’ and ‘tree’.

2. Play a sound hunt in the garden. Hide flash cards round the garden and ask them to find that sound and only one at a time. You could hide these next to some thing that begins with that sound to make it easier.

3. Chalk drawing on the floor can encourage them to make letter shapes and practice hand eye coordination.

4. Label equipment around the garden to get them recognising words of objects which are familiar to them.

5. Get your children to collect things which interest them from around the garden. Place these objects in one area then get comfy and use these object to help tell a story. Holder children could then help by drawing pictures to help retell the story later on, turning it into a story book.