This is a great starter for those children who are beginning their reading journey.

Create a phonics flip chart from a notebook and use it to help children sound out words.

For more information about this resource and others go to the Kids Activities Blog.

Reading is the key to a child’s future: it unlocks their potential and opens up a world filled with possibilities.

And for our poorest children reading well is their best route out of poverty: they do better at school, better in the workplace and are better placed to give their own children the best start in life.

However, every year in the UK, 130,000 children leave primary school not reading as well as they should. This figure includes 40% of all children from poorer backgrounds – a shockingly high proportion. (Figures from Save the Children’s report – Read On. Get On. How reading can help children escape poverty.)

This means over the next decade almost 1.5 million children will start secondary school already behind, and with likely consequences for their future.

Teach Your Monster to Read is one of the partners launching Read On. Get On. – a reading campaign driven by a coalition of organisations, communities, parents and schools, businesspeople, media and politicians. Organisations include Save the Children UK, Booktrust, The Reading Agency, Beanstalk, NAHT and National Literacy Trust.

Read On. Get On. is a campaign that will encourage all of us to play our part.

Everyone can do something – just ten minutes a day reading with a child makes a huge difference and helps them fall in love with reading. Children who don’t enjoy reading are ten times more likely to fall behind by the age 11.

We can’t afford to fail. Join us today.

For more information go to www.readongeton.org.uk and sign the petition to get politicians behind this campaign.

Thanks to this image on Stacey Adams Pinterest page and the fantastic Meaningful Mama blog for the idea of using bubble wrap as a phonics game.

It’s simple; add sticky labels containing target words or graphemes. Say the word out loud and ask children to find the words and if they get it right they can pop the bubble.

You can also try blending words together by adding letters to the bubble wrap and asking children to pop the right bubble to the corresponding sound.

It’s an easy game to set up and we know that lots of children love popping bubble wrap! Read how to set it up on the Meaningful Mama blog page.