Five minutes of sound play.

A five-day routine for teachers, tutors, and families. Hear, say, and play with spoken sounds.

Download the starter kit
Play Sound Safari

Your first five days

Model for 1 minute. Practice for 3. Reflect for 1.

  1. 1

    Sound Safari

    Hear and count sounds.

    Play
  2. 2

    Sound Train

    Say one sound for each carriage.

    Play
  3. 3

    Blend Bridge

    Join sounds into a word.

    Play
  4. 4

    Choose and repeat

    Return to a comfortable game.

  5. 5

    Favourite adventure

    Repeat, or try Sound Switch with a grown-up.

Ready for home

Print the progress passport and take-home QR card. Play together, and stop before frustration.

Informal practice, not an assessment. Sound Train taps check count, not spoken accuracy.

Count sounds, not letters

Ship has three sounds: /sh/ /i/ /p/. Moon has three; the letters oo are one sound. Box has four because the letter x stands for /k/ and /s/.

Families use the same five-day kit and stop before frustration. Informal practice, not an assessment.

Same five-day starter kit
Explore classroom printables
Grown-up guidePractice spoken sounds together. No reading needed.

Begin by hearing and counting sounds in Sound Safari. In Sound Train, say each sound aloud and add a blank carriage. Blend Bridge joins separate sounds into spoken words. Sound Switch changes just one sound to make a new word. Each game has eight words per round and three levels.

Phonemic awareness means hearing and using individual sounds in spoken words. Count sounds, not letters: “ship” has three sounds, “moon” has three, and “box” has four. The listening games hide word spellings from independent play.

Sound Train includes optional adult-reviewed oral segmentation and one-minute practice. A grown-up must hear the response to judge its sounds; tapping a correct count does not grade oral accuracy. This original practice supports the skill measured by DIBELS PSF without replacing its formal assessment.

The adult sound-box key uses sound-first labels such as /sh/ /i/ /p/. It stays in this guide so the child cards do not show spellings.

Adult sound-box answer keyTry Sound TrainExplore letter-sound Phonics practice