Learn with Peppa Pig: Phonics Fun!

Peppa Pig has brought fun into children’s lives for nearly 20 years, through the TV shows and in so many other ways. But now there’s a new way children can have fun with Peppa and her friends – and learn phonics at the same time.

The Learn with Peppa phonics reading books take children step by step through the stages of learning to read, from complete beginner to independent, fluent reader. The books are devised by education experts, and follow the same sequence of learning that your child will be following at school. Learn with Peppa provides a fun and educationally sound way of reinforcing your child’s developing skills – while making sure they really enjoy their first experiences of reading!

Learning through phonics

These days, children are taught to read at school using phonics. Phonics means using letter sounds to read words – so your child will be learning the sounds made by different letters or groups of letters, and finding out how to blend those sounds together to read words.

The Learn with Peppa books lead your child gradually through the learning process – starting with the very simplest letters and sounds at Level 1, in words like ‘sit’ and ‘cup’. This gently builds up across Levels 1 to 5, so that by the time they reach Level 5, your child can read words with more complex letter-sound combinations, like ‘expression’ and ‘treasure’.

You might hear your child or their teacher talking about ‘sounding out’ and ‘blending’ – these are an important part of learning through phonics! Here’s what these phrases mean.

The Learn with Peppa books have lots of support to help you guide and encourage your child while they’re reading. Inside the books, you’ll find notes to help you support your child, and games and activities to make the learning fun.

How children’s favourite characters can boost motivation and reading success

Your child will be using specially-written reading books at school, to help them learn to read with phonics. But the Learn with Peppa books can offer something extra – the fun and excitement of learning alongside Peppa Pig!

One of the most important factors in early reading success is motivation. Children who enjoy their early reading experiences, and keep coming back to their reading books because they find them fun, are much more likely to succeed quickly at reading. So reading books starring children’s favourite characters can be incredibly helpful, because they motivate children to keep learning and developing their skills.

If your child enjoys meeting Peppa and her friends in the reading books, they will want to keep on reading – and this is the best way to improve as a reader. When your child enjoys reading and wants to do more of it, you can be confident that they are developing reading skills that will help them right through their time at Primary school, and beyond!

Phonic fun with Peppa

Here are some tips for helping your child practise their phonics – while they’re having fun with Peppa!

Preschoolers

• Ask your child to pick their favourite Peppa Pig character. Can they tell you the sound at the start of the character’s name? Can they think of other words that start with the same sound?
• Take turns to think of a character. Can your child think of a word that rhymes with their name? It can be a real word (like ‘stepper’) or a made up word (like ‘neppa’). Challenge them to think of as many rhymes as they can!
• Sing along with the Peppa theme tune, or any other song or rhyme your child knows. Encourage your child to clap along. Following the rhythm will help them get used to hearing, making and copying sounds – a key skill in early reading.#

Reception

• Encourage your child to draw a picture of Peppa or George. Give them a big speech bubble. Can your child use their phonics to write what the character might be saying? Help them spell the words if necessary.
• Go on a letter walk. Pick a letter or a group of letters that your child needs practice reading. See how many things your child can spot that begin with that letter sound, or how many words you can spot that contain the letter.

Year 1

• While your child is reading the Learn with Peppa books, encourage them to pause and talk about what’s happening in the story. This will help them develop their comprehension skills, which is a crucial part of becoming a fluent reader.
• Don’t stop reading to your child, even when they can read independently! They will still benefit from listening to you read – and you’ll both have fun sharing some special reading time!

Some of these tips and much more support can be found in the Learn with Peppa Phonics Guide. Discover other resources and audio at www.learnwithpeppa.com.