Looking for the best phonics books and easy readers for your new learners? Look no further, for I have curated the best books that you and your kids will enjoy.
Well, before we begin, let’s examine the concepts.
What do we mean by phonics?
Phonics is associating distinct sounds with each letter/alphabet for reading and writing. The sound of every alphabet in English is different from the other. Learning to recognise alphabets and their sounds is essential for taking the first step towards literacy.
Why do kids need to learn phonics?
We all agree kids need to learn how to read and write. Learning phonics equips kids with the skill to recognise new words. Think, even as kids learn to recognise alphabets, they are expected to read words and sentences. All this is expected within the 2 years of kindergarten.
Remember, kids have to read small sentences in grade 1. You can make this teaching-learning process fun with the help of phonics books for nursery and kindergarten kids. As they learn phonics, you can introduce easy phonic reader storybooks that have simple words that kids can easily identify. Yes, this process of teaching-learning need not be stressful for the kids or the parent/teacher, so stay calm.
Are phonics books required for nursery and kindergarten readers?
Yes, in the unpredictable pandemic situation, many young parents are worried about their kids (age 3 to 6) learning how to read and write. So why not supplement your child’s learning process by having fun sessions at home reading and sounding phonics.
As adults, we are conditioned to read and write but for pre-school/kindergarten kids, it’s a new task to recognise alphabets and sounds. Note that nursery and kindergarten kids learn by regular, repeated reading and sounding alphabets.
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Which are the best phonics books for preschool and kindergarten readers?
Before listing the phonics books, I have included two general board book set for overall learning.
My First Library of Learning
This is the latest and complete collection (box set) of 10 early learning board books for playschool/nursery and kindergarten kids. It is published by Puffin Publications (Penguin). So this set will be useful for kids from age 2.5 years up till 6 years.
The sturdy page board book has each volume dedicated to essential topics like alphabets, numbers, colours, opposites, animals, things-at-home, transport, etc. This series is expertly researched and designed with brightly coloured images to make the board books appealing and fun.
It covers age-appropriate basic concepts that will educate the young kids and build their vocabulary and general knowledge. You could demonstrate concepts (like opposites) or things (like transport) present in their environment so that the child can co-relate the information given in the books. This will build the child’s basic general knowledge and help in learning more information step by step in their learning journey.
My First Library
(This box set is an alternative to “My First Library of Learning” given above.)
It is a popular set of 10 board books for kids aged 2.5 to 6 years. So this means these board books will be useful from nursery age till the child reaches grade 1. The books are published by Wonder House Books. Brightly coloured thick pages make the board books attractive and sturdy to use. The topics are thoroughly researched and presented in an age-appropriate format for young early learners.
All the beginner level concepts like colours, alphabets, numbers, transport, wild animals, etc. are covered in this box set. Picture talk and sounding the words regularly will help the kids associate the words with the image and their context. You can co-relate the concepts from the books with the child’s surroundings.
Picture Talk and Conversation Book
This book is meant for picture talk or conversing with kids aged 2 to 6 Years. Parents or teachers can use this book for talking about everyday things, animals, places, people and activities that happen around us. Kids get familiar with their environment, learn communication and get a cohesive general knowledge about their surroundings.
The young learners get background information about a variety of things and later as they learn something new, they can co-relate to whatever they already know. At the tender age of 2 to 6, children do not know how to read and write words or sentences. That is why picture talk is a useful teaching strategy as the first step towards literacy and awareness. Moreover, this book is a part of the Jolly Kids series which is a trusted resource of teaching experts.
My First Book of Phonics Words (Jolly Kids)
This book is part of the Jolly Kids book series by Sheth Publishing House. It gives the key to connecting letters with sounds. Patiently teaching your child how to read words with the help of this book will boost their reading confidence. You can not only teach the letter sounds but also how to blend letters and their sounds. Word formation and sight words are also part of this book along with phonics activities for kindergarten kids.
Jolly Kids Phonetic Readers
This book has the sound-letter connection for letters and blended words, fit for teaching a variety of phonetic combinations. Topics covered include vowel and consonant sounds, sight words, compound words, homophones, and homonyms.
Phonics – Thick Laminated Preschool Chart
This chart is popular with parents and teachers for display as a quick guide to phonics. Published by Pegasus Books, the chart is laminated and tough to withstand regular use for teaching and learning. You could display the chart on the wall at the child’s eye level in the child’s play area.
Magnetic Letters And Number Board for Kids Phonics Activity
Manufactured by Butterfly Edufields, these magnetic letters and numbers are accompanied by a magnetic board for learning phonics in a play-way method. Kinesthetics is one of the learning styles as many children learn by practically doing things physically. So choosing the letters by hand not only aids learning by doing but also helps develop eye-hand coordination, and motor skills in kindergarten kids.
As kids listen to phonic sounds of alphabets and words, they learn to listen mindfully and identify the letters. Kids will gradually learn spellings of three to five-letter words by regular use of this activity box.
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Best Phonics activity books and more
Dox Box Phonics Flashcards
Let’s Spell 3 to 6 Letter Words – Activity Book (Jolly Kids)
Dry Erase Lap boards – set of 2 with marker pen and eraser
Alpha-Phonics by Samuel Blumenfeld
If you feel the need to get clarity on how to teach phonics, then Alpha-Phonics by Samuel Blumenfeld, a primer for beginner readers, has useful notes for parents and teachers.
What do we mean by easy phonics readers?
Easy phonics readers are story books that support the phonic recognition of words. These books focus on words that repeat the specific phonic sounds. This helps in remembering and recalling the association of sound with letters in a variety of words. Moreover, the phonics readers books are easy to read and decode.
The other variety of easy readers has the “whole language” approach in which the language is natural with no specific focus on phonic recognition. In the “whole language” approach to reading, kids recognise words by guessing, sight words or memorising the spellings. This can be exhausting and frustrating for the child and the parent/teacher.
How do easy reader books help new learners?
These storybooks are great for new readers, just starting to learn letters, words, and blended sounds. They provide an enjoyable reading experience by featuring easy and short sentences, making it perfect for beginners. These books are ideal for children who are familiar with the phonetic sounds of letters.
Which are the best phonics easy reader books for kindergarten?
These are a good mix of easy reader storybooks to help kindergarten kids to start reading easy sentences.
Jolly Kids Story Time Phonics Book
These are a set of 10 storybooks with simple phonic words that new readers can decode. The focus is on the phonic sounds in words so kids can easily identify, remember and recall the sound with words.
My Phonic Key Words Stories For Kids
Part of the Jolly Kids series, this set of 12 books supports reading with phonics and pictures. The illustrations help in picture talk while simple 3-4 letter words are easy to recognise with the help of phonics.
Read With Happy Phonics Stories
A set of 6 books in this series by Jolly Kids (Sheth Publishing House) has short stories for easy reading with vowels and phonics. The coloured illustrations are attractive and the words are simple for beginner level readers.
Phonics Readers Boxset by Usborne
This set of 12 books is made of high-quality paper with colorful illustrations. Published by Usborne Publishing, these phonic readers have engaging story formats that are perfect for reading aloud. The books also include helpful notes for parents and teachers, created with input from reading experts.
Best Phonics books and easy readers: Pepper Series Set 1
The endearing character of Pepper is immensely popular with kindergarten kids. This set has 6 titles with a variety of value-based topics like
- Cleaning the room
- Eating green vegetables
- Being careful
- Crossing the road safely
- Safety from fire
- Not being selfish
The language in the books is natural yet simple and great for telling stories to kindergarten kids.
All set to Read
A Phonic Reader set of 6 books of level 1 by Om Books International. This collection has interesting story titles with great appealing illustrations. The easy readers books have short vowel phonics words with great pictures for engaging the kindergarten kids in the reading process. The use of these books will help develop a love for reading books so that your beginner readers soon turn into voracious readers.
Growing Up with Polo and His Friends
There are large pictures in this set of eight storybooks with simple and easy words. The books are small and handy for little hands to manage them. The central character in the stories is Polo the bear. In each of the stories, the themes are relatable for the new readers.
Themes include;
- Jealousy
- Getting lost
- Going to school
- Eating junk food
- Playing video games
- Cleaning the room
Bubbles First Storybook Series
It’s a set of 6 Books with stories about cute Bubbles, the central character in the stories. These are simple endearing value-based stories for kindergarten kids yet not focused specifically on phonemic awareness. The publisher is Shree book centre. These popular books will soon become your child’s favourite bedtime stories.
Things To Learn With Bruno
Published by Sterling Publishers, this book has 6 stories for general reading with the adorable central character, Bruno. Language is simple with short easy words. Develop a love for books in your child’s storytime with Bruno. The stories are sweet, value-based and kids love listening about Bruno’s life.
Naisha Series set 5
This awesome set of 4 picture storybooks published by Shree Book Center has captivating illustrations and adorable characters. These stories are perfect for storytelling and they’re super easy to read. Even kindergarteners can handle some of the bigger words, and first graders will love them too. Plus, the books are nice and compact, so you can take them anywhere.
Additionally, you might want to check out the “Bob Books – Stage 1” bundle for beginner readers. It’s a great series to start with!
Concluding thoughts
So we have looked not only at what is phonics and easy readers, but also some great books for phonic reading and general storytime. Well, now you have the tools, to start teaching phonemic awareness. Only remember to keep patience, be positive and encouraging.
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