Children Chatter Matters 

3. Encourage your child to listen to sounds at the beginning of words. Choose two words from their reader/book and ask them to judge if the two words start with the same sound (say some that match and some that do not). Encourage them to say the two words and feel the first sounds with their mouth. Then, point out the two sounds at the start. For example, “Mouse and Moon start with the same sound…. Mmmmouse, Mmmmoon. They both start with the ‘mmmm’ sound”.

While on a long car trip ask your children to write down some of the letters of the number plates that they pass on the way. Eg; SWP or NAR Then get them to make up a funny phrase using these letters as the first sound in the word. for example: Sally Wears Pyjamas or Not Always Right. Gives scores for the funniest sentence but they have to explain why it’s funny.

4. Have fun with sound play using alliteration (where each word begins with the same sound). Children will play a “copy-cat” as the parent ‘builds up’ an alliterative character e.g. Miss Marble. Miss Marble’s muffins. Miss Marble makes muffins. Miss Marble makes marvellous muffins. Miss Marble makes marvellous marmalade muffins – “mm ...” You could always begin with the familiar names for example; Silly Simon sang..., tiny Tina tells..., little Lucy loves ...

For students with a strong awareness of first sounds, encourage them to make a tongue

twister using words with the same first sound. For example, Silly Simon searched for seagulls while he sang a sweet song by the sea.