Do you ever struggle to find stocking fillers that are inexpensive but not just tat? I’ve rounded up some of my favourite stocking fillers that are affordable, fun and can easily be given a phonics twist! These ideas make reading, writing and spelling feel playful, hands-on, and exciting, the perfect little treats for mini readers and writers! Visit the Mini Writers Club Amazon shop for links to the stocking fillers or click on the images below. Clicking the link below doesn't cost you extra...

I can still remember my first-ever phonics course many years go. They wrote sets of letters on the board and asked us if we knew what...

Have you got a set of flashcards and are now wondering what to do with them? Here are 10 fun games and activities to play using your...

There was lots of excitement in my house this week as 2 bright blue cards dropped through our letter box! Monzo now has a free Under 16s...

Bedtimes in our house started to get later and later and we had got into a comfortable routine of watching something on the TV after...

Your child will learn to read and spell tricky words during their phonics sessions. You might hear them referred to as something else,...

Phonics is the prime approach for teaching children to read. Once your child knows some sounds, they can begin to blend.

My children's school send home a look, cover, write, check sheet for spellings. One of my children will happily fill it in, whereas the...

High-frequency words are the words which occur most often in a text. Some of the high-frequency words are  decodable which  means your...

Segmenting is the opposite of blending and is the technique used to help with spelling. When blending to read words, you push sounds...

We had been looking forward to our February half-term trip, a long weekend at Bluestone in Wales. When Covid cancelled our plans, we decided that if we couldn’t go on holiday, we would bring the holiday to us instead. When we visit Bluestone, we stay a couple of nights at the Premier Inn in Tenby before heading to Bluestone. It makes the trip feel that bit longer and more exciting. So we transformed our house into the “Premier Inn” and turned our bedroom into a family hotel room for a...

For the past few years we have had a mini party at home for New Years Eve. We decorate the house, cook party food and have a chocolate...

Here are our 10 favourite games to play over the festive period. 1. Do you want to draw a snowman? You need: paper plates felt tip pens...

Phonics is the prime approach for teaching children to read. Once your child knows some sounds , they will begin to blend. This means your child will say the individual sounds and then push them together to read the word. During Phase One , which is taught in nursery, children work on hearing the sounds and blending them together. In Phase Two , which is taught in Reception, we begin to look at the sounds written as letters and blend to read words . The blending slide is a great way to...

Lots of people loved our restaurant at home , so thought I would share another way we used our menu templates that were designed by Liz...

As part of our holiday at home we pretended to go to a restaurant. I asked my very talented sister Liz Smith Illustration if she could...