If your child loves Pokémon, this is a great way to get them practising sounds, spotting digraphs in words, blending to read and segmenting to spell, all while catching Pokémon!
Download the character cards and cut out the ones containing the sounds from the phase your child is working on. Hide the four character cards around the room. Select the matching sound flashcards, listed at the top of the sheet, and give one to your child. Ask them what the sound is. Can they find a card with a name that contains that sound? When they find it ask them to sound the word out and blend it to read the name of the character.
When they have found the correct card, go to the Pokemon website to search for the character in the Pokédex. www.pokemon.com/uk/pokedex/ Encourage your child to segment the word to spell it e.g. h-or-s-ea. Then they can draw the character in the space on their card.
The downloadable character cards are split into names containing Phase 3 sounds, Phase 4 words and Phase 5 sounds.
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If your child is working on Phase 2 sounds, you could still use the character cards but give your child the initial sound on a flashcard e.g. l for lanturn. The names on these cards are more complex than the words children learn to read in Phase 2. You could model how to sound out the word and see if your child can orally blend. Split two syllable words into each syllable e.g. Lanturn - sound out lan then turn. Say l-a-n. Can your child blend what you say to make lan. Repeat with turn, t-ur-n.
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