non-topic Literacy Resources
Phonological Awareness Explore & Investigate Cards
Thirty illustrated invitations for playful listening and spoken-language exploration. Created primarily for Preschool provision, with flexible support for individual children and continued use in Reception. Share a card with an adult, use real objects where helpful and follow the child’s ideas.
Using the cards
Offer one or two cards beside relevant provision. Read the invitation aloud and model a playful example. Wonder questions are optional; use the vocabulary naturally during play. Children do not need to read, complete every activity or give a spoken answer. Return to familiar favourites and stop while the experience is enjoyable.
The ten focus areas help you choose a card. They are not a teaching sequence or an assessment checklist. Environmental listening, music and sound memory support wider communication; phonological awareness focuses on sounds within spoken language. This pack brings these related experiences together.
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Syllable Investigation Cards
Twelve illustrated invitations, sixteen picture-only cards and four sorting mats for exploring the parts we hear in spoken words. Use them in Preschool provision with an adult, and revisit them in Reception as helpful. Children can clap names, tap picture words, move, compare and sort. No reading is required.
What children are listening for
A syllable is a part or beat we hear within a spoken word: cat has one, rabbit has two and banana has three. Here, “beat” means a syllable in a spoken word, rather than the steady beat of music. Count the spoken parts, not letters, individual speech sounds or the size of the pictured object.
Share one invitation at a time
Read the card aloud and name the pictures together. Say the whole word naturally first, then repeat it with a gentle clap or tap for each syllable. Say the whole word again. For banana, model ba–na–na with three taps. Keep the word recognisable; avoid adding extra vowel sounds or stretching it into individual phonemes. Wonder questions are optional invitations to talk.
Use the pictures and mats
Begin with two mats and a small selection of pictures, for example cat, dog, rabbit and apple with the 1 and 2 mats. Say each name, tap its parts and choose a mat together. Add the 3 and 4 mats when useful. Touch one printed dot for each syllable, then place the whole picture card in the open space below. Each mat can hold four cards; the dots count syllables in one word, not pictures on the mat.
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Auditory Memory & Sound Sequence Cards
Invite children to listen to a short sequence and make the sounds back in the same order. Use the illustrated cards in Music and Sound provision, small groups or a quiet shared game. Begin with a single familiar sound and choose longer sequences when the child wants to try.
Introduce the six pictures
Explore each action and instrument together using the picture key on page 2. Agree what each picture means before playing. Here, a sound means one action or sound event, not a phoneme or a syllable. A bell ring or shaker movement may contain several tiny noises but counts as one turn in the sequence.
Play one short sequence
1. Get ready together. Offer a choice of sounds and wait until the child is ready. They do not need to sit still or make eye contact.
2. Make the sounds from left to right, once for each picture. Use a steady, unhurried pace with a clear space between actions. Let a bell fade before the next sound. Repeated pictures mean separate actions: clap, pause, clap.
3. Finish the whole sequence, pause, then invite the child to copy. Say “Your turn” after playing, rather than naming the sounds while you make them. Replay whenever helpful.
4. Swap roles. The child can choose a card or arrange loose pictures for you to copy. Enjoy their ideas and return to a shorter sequence whenever needed.
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Loud and Quiet Sound Investigation Prompts
The aim of this activity is for the children to hear the distinct difference between loud and quiet.
Show the Loud and Quiet cards to the children. Explain that when the ‘Loud’ card is raised, they can make lots of loud noises. When the ‘Quiet’ card is raised, they must be completely quiet.
Using a sand timer, start with 20 seconds of ‘Quiet’ followed by 5 seconds of ‘Loud’, then 20 seconds of ‘Quiet’ again.
Repeat or vary as needed.
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