Hear every letter and number said out loud
The board reads itself aloud from the moment it opens, pausing between each one so a child has time to look, listen and say it back. A tick stays on every tile that has been read, so they can see how far around the alphabet they have travelled. Tap any tile to jump straight to that letter and the board carries on from there, and tap Stop whenever you want to slow down and talk about one.
Capitals and small letters, one at a time
Capitals and small letters get a board each, because a child learning A does not need a and A competing for attention in the same breath. Books mix the two constantly, a capital opening each sentence and small letters filling the rest, so both have to be learned. Work through the capitals first, then the small letters, and come back to the pairs whose shapes look nothing alike, such as A and a or G and g.
How to use it at home or in class
Keep it short. Five minutes of naming letters beats twenty minutes of drilling, and stopping while a child still wants more is what brings them back tomorrow. Say the sounds along with the voice rather than letting it play at them, because the saying is the part that sticks. When a child is confident naming letters, moving on to letter tracing lets them write the shapes they can already recognize.
What comes after sounds
Sounds are the first rung. Once single letters are secure, the next step is blending two or three of them into a word, which is where cat, hat and mat begin to make sense rather than being shapes to memorize. Our phonics games follow that ladder in order, and the same letters are available to trace or print if you want part of the day away from a screen.
Frequently asked questions
Should a child learn letter sounds or letter names first?
Sounds are the more useful starting point, because sounds are what blend into words. A child who knows the sounds of m, a and t can have a real go at reading mat, which is not true of a child who only knows the names em, ay and tee. Each tile says the letter and then a word beginning with its sound, so the name and the sound arrive together.
Why are capitals and small letters on separate boards?
So a young child hears one shape and one sound at a time. Naming both forms on every tile makes each step twice as long and asks a beginner to hold two things at once. Books mix the two constantly, so both need learning, and the tabs let you work through capitals first and then small letters at whatever pace suits.
Why does X use box instead of a word starting with x?
Because English has almost no everyday word that starts with the sound x makes. Every phonics scheme teaches x at the end of a word instead, which is why this board uses box, the same word as our alphabet flashcards. Teaching x for xylophone would actually be teaching a z sound.