Fun and Engaging Digital Phonics Activities for the Primary Classroom

Phonics is the foundation for reading and writing. We know how important it is to include it all day every day in our classrooms. Sometimes we need to switch things up though, right? Enter digital phonics activities! There are so many fun and engaging resources and tools we can use to teach our students these important and foundational skills.  Today we are going to talk all about digital phonics activities in your classroom.

The Benefits of Digital Activities

Using technology in the classroom is a no-brainer. Our young students have known technology all of their lives.  They use technology to learn and to play.  While we all have definite opinions on the importance of hands-on activities for these young learners, we must also acknowledge that using technology is a way of life for our students.  We owe it to our students to give them opportunities to learn and practice skills with technology.

Technology has so many benefits in the classroom! Some of my favorites include increasing engagement, improving lesson plans, differentiating instruction, encouraging participation, as well as learning new tools and skills. While learning and practicing with technology should not replace the hands-on learning that our students need, it can be a great resource for the classroom. Quite often, student learning using technology allows students to complete work independently. Not only can this be a great benefit during classroom centers, but it is also teaching our students important life skills.

Easy-to-Use Digital Platforms

There are many different platforms and options that you can choose from when going digital in your classroom. I have found Google Slides and Boom Cards to be the easiest for me and my students. Both platforms provide easy access from a computer, tablet, or even a smartphone.  

And, they both provide easy options for sharing the activities with students and/or parents.  You don't even need to be a Google Classroom user to share digital assignments. These platforms come in handy in the classroom during whole group instruction, center time, and even for no-prep homework assignments!

How I Use Digital Phonics Activities

After introducing a new phonics skill, I know that my students will need multiple opportunities to practice that skill. Incorporating digital practice activities is one of the ways I provide that needed repetition for my students.  

None of my phonics lessons are complete without adding a digital activity to follow up and practice.  Depending on the number of devices you have available to you, these digital practice activities could be completed as morning work, whole group practice following a lesson, as part of centers, or even during small group instruction.  

I also love that I can easily share a variety of activities with parents. More than one parent has thanked me for giving them access to educational activities that could be used on the tablet or phone at home.  These parents have used these activities in place of video games. That's a win for sure!

Differentiating with Digital Activities

With a variety of digital activities at my fingertips, it is so easy to differentiate for the needs of my students. Students can get the practice they need on the skills they are working on.  

I can easily send a different activity to each of my small groups, or to each student. I like to keep the share link for each of the digital activities in my lesson plans for each skill or concept.  That way all I have to do is copy and paste it into the assignment for students to access.  Not only does this save me time, but it also makes differentiating really easy.

Some of My Favorite Digital Phonics Activities

I have tons of digital phonics activities that I can incorporate into my classroom.  In fact, I started creating them as we went through the year so that I would have activities for all the skills and concepts.  I have both a Google Slides version and a Boom Cards version for many of these activities.  Here are a few of my favorite digital phonics activities:

1.  Short Vowels Blends and Digraphs

Once students have mastered blending and segmenting single sounds, it is time to dive into the world of blends and digraphs.  These Short Vowels Blends & Digraph activities will have students working on four different skills related to blends and digraphs.

  

Students will practice filling in the missing short vowel sound, adding the beginning or ending blend or digraph to a word, finding the word to match a picture, and unscrambling letters to spell a word.  This variety of activities gives me confidence that my students are getting the different types of practice they need.  

2. Ending S Blends

Teaching students to hear those two sounds in a blend can be a tricky thing.  It is definitely one of those skills that requires lots and lots of practice.  Your students will love working on reading and spelling Ending S Blends with these digital activities.

 

Need more practice on ending blends?  You can find this Ending Blends Bundle that will provide your students with lots of fun and engaging practice with ending blends.

3. Long Vowels

Our first grade students generally come to us with a good understanding of short vowels.  One of our main phonics goals is to build on that and begin teaching long vowels through CVCe and the various vowel teams.  Like most new skills, our students need lots of repetitions as they work to master these new skills in both reading and spelling.  

 

Find More Digital Phonics Activities

These are just few of the fun, digital phonics activities I use with my students. You can find many more in my TPT Store. Check out Boom Learning Activities here and Google Slides Activities here. Whether you are looking for a single skill or a bundle of resources to cover an entire concept, I've got you covered.  

I hope you are able to use some of these ideas for using digital phonics activities in your classroom. You will love seeing the rise in student engagement, and you'll feel prepared for whatever is to come!

Save It!

Be sure to save this pin to your favorite classroom board, so you'll have tons of digital phonics activities at your fingertips.