Easy Phonics For 4 Year Olds

​Given the recent statistics on lack of proficiency in reading among fourth-grade children, many parents are looking for phonics for 4 year olds.

Yes, it starts that early. As children begin formal schooling, expectations for mastery of reading skills are higher than they used to be, and a lot of parents want to support these skills at home.

After all, how do we address our literacy problem without taking a more focused approach? Phonics for 4 year olds can actually be pretty easy to teach, and with the right approach, you can teach your child phonics without creating anxiety or causing frustration.

So what does phonics for 4 year olds look like? At this age, most children who aren’t being homeschooled are still in preschool, possibly in kindergarten. How do you teach such a young child about phonics? Is it even possible?

Phonics for 4 year olds is actually pretty easy!

​It certainly is. The key is to introduce phonics in an age-appropriate way so that young children can grasp the concepts at their own pace. What you want to avoid is pushing children when they’re so little; you don’t want to risk turning them off to learning how to read altogether. And please keep your lessons short—5 minutes each day is plenty of time for teaching phonics for 4 year olds.

How to Teach Phonics for 4 Year Olds

​Start with phonemic awareness. This is fun for children—and for you, too! Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize sounds and sound patterns in words. You can develop phonemic awareness by reciting silly rhymes, playing I Spy with My Little Eye (something that begins with the sound ‘buh’ ‘tuh,’ or ‘ch’—whatever objects you see in the room), and making up songs with lots of repetitive sounds in them:

Bobby Bouncy bounces his ball on blue bricks!
Tommy Tootletree toots his trumpet!
Sister Sally sings silly songs!

But phonics for 4 year olds doesn’t end with phonemic awareness. You can actually begin to actively teach your child phonics at this age, as long as you keep a few things in mind.

First of all, use a direct instruction, phonics-based approach. This means that you will teach the sounds of each letter, phonetic blends, and the rules of phonics. While this sounds complicated, it actually isn’t.

If you’re not familiar with how to teach phonics (especially phonics for 4 year olds), I do recommend that you use a direct instruction, phonics-based program designed for children this age.

Phonics for 4 Year Olds—Sample Lesson

Watch this video for a sample lesson on how to introduce the individual sounds of the letters to your child.
(Make sure your volume is on!)

Simply put, you’ll teach your child the sound of each letter, then you’ll show your child how to add those sounds together to read a word. Next, you’ll teach your child the sound of the blends (e.g., ‘sh,’ ‘th,’ and ‘ch’), and show your child how to add those together to read even harder words.

You’ll then want to teach your child the rule of the silent vowel, and voila! Once you’ve completed this sequence, your child will be a remarkably proficient reader.

And that’s pretty much what phonics for 4 year olds looks like! Perhaps you have a good idea where to go with this on your own.

But if you’re looking for a program that will help you with phonics for 4 year olds, you might want to give Teach Your Child to Read a try. The program is for children ages 3 to 6, and each lesson is only 5 minutes. With our 7 day free trial, you’ll have plenty of time to test it out and see if it’s a good fit for your child. ​

Looking for Phonics for 4 Year Olds? Try Teach Your Child to Read.

Founder and creator of Teach Your Child to Read, Mary Follin began her career as a systems engineer with IBM. Since then, she has worked in a variety of industries: product development, market research, and provides marketing services to service firms and The George Washington University medical school. She is also the author of Ethyr, winner of the the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award and the Gertrude Warner Book Award. ​Mary also writes, along with Erika Guerrero, a column titled ASK MOM, an advice column featured in Fredericksburg Parent & Family magazine and winner of a 2021 Parenting Media Association award. ​​

Photo credits: CanstockUnsplashPexelsistockphoto

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