Disclosure: We were sent the Jolly Phonics products free for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links please see our disclosure policy for more information.
My kids love going to school, they soak up every piece of information and thrive on learning something new every day. They are always keen to continue learning at home too and I want to do my best to support them. Jolly Phonics sent us some of their fantastic phonics resources to review recently and the kids were delighted.
Jolly Phonics is a programme that teaches children to read and write using synthetic phonics. Used in over 100 countries they are the leading synthetic publisher and the most experienced. They offer a 7-year school programme that not only teaches phonics, but spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
What Is Synthetic Phonics
Synthetic phonics is a method of teaching reading, children are taught to read letters or groups of letters by saying the sounds they represent. It first teaches the sound of the letters and then moves on to blending the sounds together to learn the pronunciation of whole words.
The Jolly Phonics programme is a fun, multi-sensory synthetics method that teaches letter sounds instead of the alphabet. The programme helps children to learn the five skills they need to master phonics:
- Learning the letter sounds
- Learning letter formation
- Blending
- Segmenting
- Tricky words
The Jolly Phonics method is taught in schools but can also be used at home to support that learning too. They sell a huge range of materials online that are perfect for supporting learning at home. The products that are suitable for home learning have been clearly marked on the website making it easy for you to choose the right ones.
Learning At Home With Jolly Phonics
We were sent a selection of Jolly Phonics products to review, here’s what we thought of them.
Jolly Stories & My First Letter Sounds
My First Letter Sounds is a sturdy colourful board book that introduces children to all the letter sounds in the English language. This book was perfect for Jake as it fits perfectly alongside his learning journey in the classroom. There are tips and guidance included inside which I found really helpful for helping Jake to get the most out of the book. I also really like the arrows on each of the letters that show how to form the letter correctly too.
As a family of bookworms, we really enjoyed reading and sharing Jolly Stories. This book has 80 pages and is full of fun stories about the adventures of Inky Mouse and her friends. The pages are colourfully illustrated with lots going on, a large letter is embossed on each page for children to feel too which I thought was a brilliant feature.
The pages are really thick and good quality which is something I always appreciate in a book. I also really like the parent guide at the beginning of the book it’s full of useful information and tips.
Jolly Phonics Picture Flashcards
We really enjoy using flashcards for learning at home, we always make it into a fun game that doesn’t feel like learning at all. These phonics picture flashcards have a picture on one side along with dots which indicate the number of sounds in the word. On the reverse of the card, there is the letter sound and a word relating to the picture. Daisy and Jake had fun testing each other using the flashcards.
The pack contains 60 double-sided flashcards (43 main letter sounds cards and 17 alternative spelling cards) and one instruction booklet. Again the cards are good quality, thick and colourfully illustrated.
Jolly Phonics Learning Activity Books
Both my kids really enjoy having activity books at home to work from, they often ask if they can complete some pages by themselves. The Jolly Phonics Learning Activity Books are packed full of games, colouring, mazes, handwriting practice and craft activities. There are also two pages of sticker including along with lots of tips and guidance on how to use the activity books.
Jake and Daisy chose a book each and got busy working through the pages, Jake loves letter formation practice while Daisy really enjoys completing the quizzes. We have even taken the activity books with us on long car journeys or when we have gone out to eat. They are a fun and quick way to fit some learning into the day.
Jolly Songs
Jolly Songs come with a CD and a 24-page book full of games and activities. Jake loves listening to songs on his headphones so this was right up his street. The CD contains a collection of songs for each of the 42 letter sounds, it also includes a spoken guide to all the letter sounds and alternative vowels.
We have really enjoyed using the Jolly Phonics products to support our home learning, I really like how easy the synthetic phonics method is to understand and implement. It’s given me a greater understanding of how I can support the kids learning at home.
What We Loved About Jolly Phonics
- The quality of the products
- The tips and guidance for parents
- The range of products available to support learning at home
- How colourful the illustrations are in the books and on the flashcards
- Listening to the songs on the CD
- Learning the actions in the Jolly Stories books
