10 Fun Phonics Activities to Prevent the Summer Slide in Early Readers

The school year may end, but learning doesn’t have to stop! Summer is the perfect time to reinforce phonics skills in fun and engaging ways that feel nothing like homework. It’s easy for early readers to lose some of the valuable progress they’ve made. This phenomenon, often called the “summer slide,” can cause young learners to forget critical reading and phonics skills without regular practice. Whether you’re a parent, tutor, or teacher looking for summer phonics practice for kindergarten through 2nd grade, these simple ideas will help kids keep up their reading skills and stop the summer reading slide.

Let’s explore 10 summer-ready phonics games, crafts, and outdoor activities that build early literacy while kids play!

☀️ 1. Sidewalk Chalk Sound Boxes (Outdoor Phonics Activities)

Take learning outside! Use sidewalk chalk to draw Elkonin sound boxes on a driveway or sidewalk. Say a simple CVC word like “sun” aloud, and have your child jump into each box as they say the sounds: /s/, /u/, /n/. This kinesthetic activity supports sound segmentation and phonemic awareness.

🌞 2. Phonics Craft for Kids: Sound Sorting Suns

Grab some colored construction paper and scissors! Cut out large suns with different vowel teams (like ai, ay, ea, ee, oa) in the center. Then make “rays” and have kids write or glue on matching words for each vowel team. This phonics craft reinforces vowel recognition in a bright and engaging way.

🎨 3. Popsicle Stick Word Building Phonics Activities

Write letters, blends, digraphs, and vowel teams on popsicle sticks. Have kids pull out sticks and try to build real words. Use a timer to make it a fast-paced phonics challenge! This is perfect for independent practice or family game night.

🏖️ 4. Beach Ball Phonics Toss

Write letter patterns, digraphs, or vowel teams on a plastic beach ball. Toss it around and have the player read or say a word with the pattern under their thumb. This is a great way to reinforce phonics while playing in the backyard or at the pool!

📱 5. Digital Boom Cards for Summer Reading

Let screen time work in your favor! Assign or purchase self-checking Boom Card decks that target specific phonics patterns (like blends, digraphs, CVC words, etc.). They’re interactive, fun, and a great way to sneak in literacy on a tablet.

Play a sample of this Boom Card here.

🖍️ 6. DIY Mini Word Books

Make tiny folded books from paper and have your child write and illustrate word families or sight word stories inside. For example, a “-at” book might include cat, hat, bat, and mat. Keep it simple, and let your child be the author!

🧊 7. Frozen Word Match

Freeze letter tiles or phonics cards in an ice cube tray. Once frozen, give your child a squirt bottle and let them “rescue” the letters. As they melt, they build words with the letters they unlock. Great for hot days and hands-on fun!

🏕️ 8. Nature Word Hunt

Go on a nature walk with a clipboard and list of phonics sounds or patterns (like “ch,” “th,” or “oo”). Challenge your child to spot items that start with those sounds or use them in words. For example: tree for “tr” or rock for “ck.”

🎯 9. Target Toss Word Families

Set up buckets or baskets labeled with word families (-an, -it, -op, etc.). Kids toss bean bags with written words into the correct buckets or call out a word and toss the bean bag. It’s active, playful, and perfect for backyard learning.

✍️ 10. Phonics Journaling with Prompts

Give your child a summer journal with sentence starters like “Today I saw a…” or “My dog can…” Encourage them to include phonics words they’re learning. This promotes writing fluency, vocabulary, and sound-letter awareness.

These fun phonics activities for kids are perfect for summer learning at home, tutoring sessions, or summer school. Most importantly, they help prevent the summer slide so your young reader is ready to shine in the fall!

Check out the Resource Library for some free phonics activities to use this summer.

Happy Summer Reading,

 

 

 

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