![](https://www.softsurfaces.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/fun-play-area.jpg)
Phonics learning is an incredibly important part of every child’s education. Literacy skills, learned at an early age, can help children understand the world around them a little easier. What’s more, the younger we start to learn about letters and numbers, the sooner we are able to start developing further skills.
Children who get to grips with phonics early on in life will have more opportunities waiting for them as they grow into young adults and beyond. Phonics lessons and checks don’t have to be restricted to the classroom, either.
With the right markings and zones, you can even encourage phonics education at play. It’s all down to using the right markings and encouraging children with fun, creative activities!
Playground Letter Markings
Playground letter markings can be used to help children understand and appreciate the written and spoken alphabet while at play. You’ll be able to arrange games and activities around the 26 letters of the alphabet, and children will also be able to explore them on their own under supervision.
Encouraging children to learn while at play – outside of the classroom environment – can be very rewarding. What’s more, it is hugely beneficial to their development in reading skills and other areas. You can create games involving letter sounds helping children to read words and pronounce them.
Playground letter markings can be applied either via weather-resistant, wetpour rubber surfacing or through thermoplastic markings. The thermoplastic shapes can be scribed directly onto the traditional tarmac. While surfacing and marking of years gone by would flake and fade over years of use, these modern standards are designed to weather the years to come.
Paint and mark your playground in bright, bold lettering to a template or to your own design. Encourage children to explore the written and spoken word while they play. It won’t feel like a lesson at all – for them, that’s the best part!
Reading and Storytelling Areas
Kids love stories, and adults love telling them! Why not take your pupils outside of school on a clear day for storytime in the playground! Play areas don’t just have to have designated zones for physical play.
They can also have areas and plots painted out where you can encourage quiet listening or even interactive storytelling. Once again, it’s all down to how you mark the area.
With modern playground markings and surfacing, you can encourage this form of phonics education by designing a themed area of your playground, or by clearly marking it with vibrant writing and cute characters. To really appeal to kids, you could also install themed seating or toys which can help to bring the magic of storytelling alive.
Setting up a reading and storytelling area for children is all about encouraging kids to use their imagination, even when they are out of the classroom. What’s more, storytime areas encourage phonics education – you can encourage children to join in on stories, to feedback, or even to tell their own tales.
This area of phonics focuses on the forming of words and sentences, as well as, learning to read, the exploration of characters and other themes. You don’t have to set up anything too complex! Kids love simple fun.
Check out National Storytelling Week to learn more about these activities for your school!
Mark Making Equipment
If there’s one thing children love doing, it’s making their mark. Blend phonics and the creative desire together with outdoor toys and equipment. You could set up your school playground space with blackboards, chalkboard paint and magnetic letters. You could lead active play sessions with phonics teaching thrown in!
What’s more, toys and tools which promote literacy can also be used safely with minimal supervision. Allow children to express themselves through words and stories and rhymes. Supplying children with the tools to write, read back and create is a great way to boost the phonics experience.
Not everyone learns well by reading from a book or a whiteboard. Lots of children prefer to learn by ‘doing’ – or by exploring ideas for themselves. Why not give them a helping hand? Mark making equipment may hold the answer.
Performance and Creative Games
A great way to encourage learning through fun is, of course, to create games. Games and activities involving words, guessing ideas, characters and themes, and performance, will help your pupils explore their own sense of creativity. What’s more, these games and activities offer safe, healthy ways for children to express themselves.
Phonics in the playground can be encouraged through designated dance or performance areas, along with toys and supplies which can be used to assist in building fun, non-competitive games. Once again, wetpour graphic designs and playground markings can help a lot. Markings, lettering and numbers will help young children to visualise ideas.
Older children will feel more at ease when it comes to exploring creative ideas and games. Therefore, the right markings, designs, letters and numbers should be able to encourage a wide array of children of all ages.
Whether children enjoy performing with words, music, dance or otherwise, the right stages, toys and tools can really help to boost their confidence. They can help to build phonics skills and gain knowledge of the English language, too.
The Benefits of Learning Phonics Through Play
Most of us likely learned most of what we know through experience, and through doing things we enjoy. Children need a little extra help. Phonics is so essential at a young age, however, it can sometimes be tricky to encourage little ones to play along.
Through play, children can explore concepts of phonics and can learn new skills and ways to express themselves. With boundless energy and curiosity, they will be happy to engage with fun lesson plans and activities. Teaching and encouraging child development should never be restricted to stuffy classrooms and boring lesson plans.
Children love to play and to explore. You can encourage phonics development with the help of brilliant, colourful playground markings, and equipment and toys they will love to come back to again and again. You need to create a safe, fun and inspiring place where children can laugh, learn and grow.
- 4 Ideas for Teaching Organisation on the Playground
- 4 Reasons Why Schools Have Artificial Grass
- Activities to Teach Kindness on the Playground
- All Weather Surface Children’s Playground Safety Flooring
- Artificial Grass and Rubber Mulch Surfacing in Derby, Derbyshire
- Artificial Grass and Wetpour Pathway Installation at a School in Birmingham
- Artificial Grass and Wetpour Roadway Construction in Liverpool
- Benefits of a Mud Kitchen for a School Playground
- Benefits of Climbing in Primary School
- Benefits of Sensory Activities for Individuals With Autism
- Bespoke Playground Surfacing With Graphics in Northampton
- Best Playground Equipment for Primary Schools
- Black Wetpour & Artificial Turf Construction at a Nursery in Harlow, Essex
- Black Wetpour Flooring Construction in Canterbury
- Children’s Play Area Flooring
- Children’s Sensory Playground Designs
- Colourful Play Area Surfacing in Sheffield, South Yorkshire
- Colourful Playground Flooring Design in Cardiff, Wales
- Colourful Rubber Playground Flooring in Wakefield, West Yorkshire
- Colourful Rubber Playground Flooring Installation in Wakefield
- Colourful UK Playground Surfacing in Bedfordshire
- Cooperative Play Ideas for Kids
- Costs of Schools Playground Safety Surfaces
- Creating a Storytelling Area in Your Playground
- Day Care Playground Safety Flooring in Stoke, Staffordshire
- Den Building Ideas for Schools
- Early Years Outdoor Play
- Educational Play Designs
- Educational Playground Surface Installation in Brighton
- Educational Playground Surface Installation in Brighton, East Sussex
- Encouraging Risk Taking in Outdoor Play
- EPDM Rubber Play Area Flooring in Luton
- EPDM Rubber Play Area Flooring in Luton, Bedfordshire
- EPDM Rubber Play Area Surfacing in Leeds, West Yorkshire
- EPDM Rubber Wetpour Flooring in Newcastle, Tyne and Wear
- EPDM/SBR Rubber Surfacing Playground Flooring
- Expressive Arts Playground Ideas
- How Do I Apply for Grant Funds for a Play Area in the UK?
- How Do Wet Pour Repair Kits Work
- How Playing Outside Can Reduce Stress and Anxiety
- How to Encourage Phonics Learning on the Playground
- How to Prepare Your Playground for Winter
- How to Refresh Your School Playground
- Imaginative Play Ideas for Kids
- Impact Attenuating Playground Surfacing
- Improving Children’s Mental Health With Play
- Inclusive Playground Equipment for Schools
- Independent Learning Activities for Kids
- Lap, Leap, Neap Play Area
- Large Wetpour Play Area Surface in Stockport
- LEAP Local Equipped Area for Play
- Learning Through Play – Psychology and Theories
- Managing Behaviour Through Active Outdoor Play
- NEAP Neighbourhood Equipped Area for Play
- Needlepunch Playground Construction in Kilmarnock
- Nursery EPDM Rubber Surfacing in Wolverhampton
- Nursery Play Area Maintenance
- Nursery Play Area Surfacing
- Nursery Playground Installation
- Nursery School Green Wetpour Overlay in Gloucester
- Ofsted Requirements for Outdoor Play
- Outdoor Maths Games for Children
- Outdoor Nursery School Surfacing in Preston
- Outdoor Nursery School Surfacing in Preston Lancashire
- Outdoor Play Area Ideas for Kids
- Outdoor Play Ideas for Children With Dyscalculia
- Outdoor Playground Roadway Design
- Outdoor Safety Flooring Designs
- Outdoor Wetpour Surfacing Install in Leicester
- Play Area Line Marking Specification
- Play Area Maintenance
- Play Area Surfaces
- Playground Activities for the National Curriculum
- Playground Designs for Sensory Processing Disorder
- Playground Equipment for Schools
- Playground Fencing
- Playground Flooring Repair in Birmingham, West Midlands
- Playground Games for Children With Dyspraxia
- Playground Games to Encourage Speech Development
- Playground Grass Mats Safer Flooring
- Playground Marking Graphics
- Playground Markings
- Playground Safety Surface Construction in Reading, Berkshire
- Playground Safety Surfacing with Graphics in Shropshire
- Playground Surface HIC Safety Flooring
- Playground Surfacing in Hertfordshire
- Playground Surfacing Options
- Playground Wet Pour Flooring in Northamptonshire
- Playground Wet Pour Flooring in Northumberland
- Playground Wet Pour Flooring in Nottinghamshire
- Playground Wet Pour Flooring in Oxfordshire
- Playground Wet Pour Flooring in Somerset
- Poured in Place Rubber Bouncy Playground Surfaces
- Pre School Play Area Surfacing in Wigan, Greater Manchester
- Pre-School Play Area Surfacing in Wigan
- Primary School Outdoor Classroom Funding Grants
- Protective Playground Flooring
- PS4 Activity Games Space Area in Penrith
- Q26 – Wetpour Playground Safety Surfacing
- Rubber Outdoor External Playground Flooring
- Rubber Playground and Artificial Grass Surfacing in Middlesbrough
- Rubber Playground Surface Construction
- Rubber Spheres Play Equipment
- Rubber Tarmac Flooring
- Rubber Tarmac School Outdoor Playground Flooring
- Safety Surfaces For Playgrounds
- Sand and Water Play Activities for Kids
- School Adventure Trail Designs
- School All Weather MUGA Pitches
- School Athletics Track Designs
- School Playground Design and Install in Manchester
- School Playground Graphics
- School Playground Groundworks
- School Playground Ideas
- School Playground Maintenance
- School Playground Marking Designs
- School Playground Surfacing
- Schools Recreational Long Jump Runway Length
- SEN Playground Equipment for Schools
- Small nursery EPDM Rubber Surfacing in Wolverhampton
- Soft Fall Impact Absorbing Playground Surface
- Spongy Nursery School Surfacing in Carlisle
- Spongy Playground Flooring Construction in Woking, Surrey
- Spongy playground flooring construction that we carried out in Woking, Surrey
- Spongy Safer Pour Surfacing for Playgrounds
- Tests for Playground Safety Flooring
- Top 3 Safety Surfaces for Playgrounds
- Top 5 School Playground Trends
- Wet Pour Surfacing and Synthetic Turf Construction in Worthing, Sussex
- Wetpour Flooring & Graphics Installation in Bristol
- Wetpour Playground with Graphics in Salford, Greater Manchester
- Wetpour Safety Flooring with Graphics at a Nursery in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
- What Is Critical Fall Height?
Think carefully about how you are introducing children to phonics. Could you develop your playground to bring phonics into everyday play? Give it a try!
Get expert advice, today call us on
Get a FREE quote from our award winning team