Welcome to our Teachers' and Parents' Resources Corner! We train many teachers and parents monthly in our Jolly Phonics Training Programme (Check out our events page for the latest workshop). 

This page is meant to help you in your teaching by consolidating the key resources from Jolly Learning (UK) in a summarised corner.

Here's how you can kickstart your Phonics journey with your kids:

• We use our sound books to say our sounds (recommended resource: Jolly Phonics Finger Phonics books).

• We sing the Jolly Phonics songs (recommended resource: Youtube).

• We have a special action for each sound (see below).

• We practise building words using our letter cards (recommended resource: Jolly Phonics flashcards or our blending mats).

• We look for pictures and words that start with our sounds (recommended resource: Jolly Phonics Finger Phonics books).

• We look for our sounds all around the classroom. In our books, in the library, on posters, on the whiteboard and when the teacher is writing.

• We practise writing our sounds using lots of different tools (Be creative! We use rice, sand, whiteboard and play-dough).

Jump to the relevant groups:
Group 1 (s a t i p n)
Group 2 (c/k e h r m d)
Group 3 (g o u l f b)
Group 4 (ai j oa ie ee or)
Group 5 (z w ng v oo OO)
Group 6 (y x ch sh th th)
Group 7 (qu ou oi ue er ar)

Group 1

Story: It is a sunny morning, and Sam is taking his dog, Samson, for a walk.

They like to walk down to the pond. Sam looks around as they walk along. He sees a toadstool, a red and yellow caterpillar, and a blackbird on her nest. When they get to the pond, they spend some time watching the fish swim around. After a while, Samson goes off and snuffles around in the grass. He finds a stick, which he brings back to Sam. He barks at Sam, and Sam throws the stick for Samson to fetch. Samson runs around, looking for the stick in the grass.

Suddenly, Samson starts barking, “Woof, woof, woof!” Sam skips over to see what Samson has found. “Ssssss!” In front of Samson is a spotty snake. It is rearing up and is hissing loudly. Sam grabs hold of Samson, and the snake slithers quickly away.

Story: The Smith family is going on a picnic. The children help their mother pack the food. Adam packs the apples. Annie helps to make the jam sandwiches. At last, they are ready and set off for the picnic. When they arrive, they sit down, spread out a cloth and lay the food on it.

Annie rubs her arm. “Something is tickling me,” she says. “Something is tickling me, too,” says Adam, eating his apple. Annie shouts “a, a, a ants!” They all look at Annie and see some ants crawling up her arm. They all jump up. There are ants all over the picnic cloth! “Ohdear,” says Dad. “We must have put our cloth over an ants’ nest.” They pack up their things and move to a nicer spot.

Story: Tom and Tamiko have been watching an important tennis match on television. There was a crowd waiting for the match to begin. The players came on to the court and the crowd clapped. The match began, and they hit the ball to each other, “t, t, t.” The people in the crowd turned their heads from side to side, watching the ball. Now Tom and Tamiko are outside, pretending to be the tennis players at the match.

They hit the tennis ball to each other, “t, t, t”. Some animals among the tulips are watching them play. They turn their heads from side to side, watching the ball, just like the crowd at the match.

Story: Zack has a white pet mouse. She lives in a cage on the desk in his bedroom. One evening, Zack forgets to close the cage door properly.

The little mouse climbs out of the cage and starts looking around the desk. Suddenly, she sees the cat watching her. She squeaks, “i, i, i,” and quickly runs across the top of the desk. Crash! She bumps into a bottle of ink and knocks it over. The top comes off, and the ink spills out everywhere, even over the little mouse. The mouse keeps on running as fast as she can, scampering off the desk and across the room to a mouse hole she had seen from her cage. Safe in the mouse hole, she scrubs and scrubs, but she cannot get all the ink off. She decides that from now on she will make this her new home and call herself Inky Mouse. All Zack can find is a set of inky footprints across the carpet, leading from the desk and into the mouse hole.

Story: Paul likes to visit the city zoo near his home. His favourite animal there is the polar bear. “The polar bear has big paws for paddling in the pool,” says the zoo keeper. It is Paul’s birthday soon and his mother asks if he would like a teddy bear as his present. Paul thinks

about this, and says that he would prefer a polar bear! When his birthday arrives, Paul’s friends Peng, Pavlo and Pat come to his party.

They all play games and eat the party food: pineapple, pizza and popcorn. Paul’s mother gives Paul his present. He unwraps the paper to find a perfect toy polar bear. Then Paul’s mother produces a cake with purple icing. She has put trick candles on the cake. Every time Paul blows out a candle, it lights up again! He tries to puff out the candles, “p, p, p, p, p”, but they keep re-lighting. Everyone laughs and claps and tries to puff out the candles, “p, p, p”.

Story: Nicola has always wanted to go fishing with her Grandfather. Gramps has always said, “No, you will make too much noise and scare the fish away. You can come when you get bigger.” But now she is five, Gramps has agreed to take her fishing for an afternoon. Gramps sets up his fishing rod, and they settle down to fish. Nicola sits very still and waits very quietly. It is very peaceful. Suddenly, they hear a very loud and nasty noise, “nnnnnnnnn!” A plane flies overhead, “nnnnnnnnn!” The plane does a noisy loop-the-loop in the sky above them. Gramps doesn’t like the nasty noise and puts his hands over his ears. Nicola looks at Gramps and laughs. “You were worried I would make too much noise!” And, with a swoop and a swirl, she runs up and down on the bank, pretending she is the plane, “nnnnnnn!”

Group 2

Story: The Khan family is on a trip to Spain. They hire a car and decide to drive out to a small village to visit the castle there. On the way, they pass a donkey carrying a big bundle of sticks. After they have seen the castle, they come back to the village for a snack. Outside the café is the same donkey they saw before, enjoying a rest and a big bucket of water. While they are eating, they spot a cat and her kittens playing outside. As the clock strikes four, some Spanish dancers come out and perform in the courtyard in front of the café. The ladies carry castanets and wear dresses in bright reds, yellows and blues. They clap and dance, swirling their dresses around and clicking their castanets, “c, c, c, c, c, c!”

Story: It is almost the end of the summer, and Eric and his family have gone to stay on Ten Acre Farm for seven days’ holiday. Every day, they get up early to watch the cows being milked. First, they help get the buckets of water from the well and pour them into the troughs for the cows. Then they feed the hens and collect the eggs. They take the eggs into the kitchen for breakfast. Ellie, the farmer’s wife, cracks open the shells on the side of the pan, “e, e, e.” They all eat fried eggs for breakfast.

Story: It is the school’s summer fun day. In the morning the children do fun things in the classroom, and in the afternoon there are races. Helen, Harry, Hanif and Harriet are in the hopping race. Mr Heath starts the race. “One, two, three, GO!” he shouts and waves his hat in the air. Helen, Harry, Hanif and Harriet hop as fast as they can. It is a hot day and hopping is hard work. Harriet is huffing by the time she finishes, “h, h, h, h.” Miss Hopkins gives everyone huge drinks.

Story: Robert’s family has a new puppy. They have to choose a name for him. His parents like ‘Rover’, but Robert also likes ‘Ben’. Robert can’t decide. Robert goes up to his bedroom with the puppy to get his roller skates. While Robert looks for them, the puppy explores the room.

Suddenly Robert hears, “rrrrrrrrrr!” The puppy has found a blanket and is shaking it from side to side. Robert gets hold of the blanket and tries to pull it away, but the puppy hangs on tightly, going “rrrrrrrr!” The blanket rips. “Oh dear,” says Robert, holding up the ripped blanket. “This looks like a rag now. I know … we’ll call you Rags!”

Story: Mrs Morris and her son Marvin have invited his friends, Milly and Molly, for dinner. They are playing outside when they hear the call for dinner. They come in, wash their hands and sit down at the table.

“I’m hungry!” says Marvin, rubbing his tummy, “mmmmm, I hope it’s spaghetti and meat balls.” “I hope it’s hot dogs, mmmmm” says Molly.

“I hope it’s hamburgers,” says Milly, rubbing her tummy. Mrs Morriscomes in, carrying their meal. “Lamb and peas”, say the children, “mmmmm.” “I like that the most!” says Marvin, “mmmmmm.”

Story: Dan is tidying his toy cupboard. He pulls out his teddy, his old donkey and a duck. Then he finds a box of dominoes. He plays with them for a while. Next he sees his yellow digger, so he takes that out for a drive.

“Dan, have you finished yet?” asks his Dad. “Not yet,” says Dan, and he goes back to the cupboard. He finds a bag of marbles and some dice. He plays with these for a little while, and then hears his Dad again.

“Dan, have you finished yet?” “No, not yet,” says Dan, and he goes back to the cupboard. At the very back of the cupboard, he sees his old red and blue drum. He picks it up and marches up and down, banging the drum, “d, d, d!” Dad comes in to see what all the noise is. “Do you know you have spent all day tidying your cupboard?” he says. Dan smiles. “I’ve found lots of things I had forgotten all about,” he replies.

Group 3

Gail is staying with her grandmother, who has a big garden and keeps some animals. They have been outside checking on the goat and the geese. While they were outside, Gail found a frog next to the water bucket. She watched it hop off under the gate. When they came in, Grandma sent Gail to the bathroom to have a wash. Gail put the plug in, filled the basin and washed her hands and face, but when she pulled the plug out, the water didn’t go away. Her grandmother came to have a look. “Oh dear, the sink must be blocked,” she said. She phoned the plumber. When he arrived, the plumber unblocked the sink and the water ran gurgling out of the basin, “g, g, g, g, g.”

Oliver and Holly have moved to a new house. They have a new bedroom with bunk beds in it. Nearby is a light switch, so they can turn the light on and off by themselves when they are in bed. That night, Holly curls up with Oscar, her toy rabbit, and Oliver reads his book. “You can turn the light out when you’ve finished,” says his dad. Oliver leans over to the light switch and turns it off. “Off it goes,” he says. Then he turns it back on, saying “o ... on it goes.” He turns the light on and off, saying, “o … on it goes. Off it goes; o ... on it goes.” Then he hears his dad’s voice. “Stop turning the light on and off, Oliver! You will break it. Turn it off, and go to sleep.” Oliver turns the light off and goes to sleep.

Uncle Bud often comes to visit his niece and nephew, Anna and Ulric. Today, he has brought them each a big umbrella. Anna’s umbrella is spotty, and Ulric’s umbrella has red and white stripes. Later, the family goes out for a walk. Although it is a sunny day, Anna and Ulric insist on bringing their umbrellas. Everyone laughs, except Uncle Bud. “I’ll take my umbrella, too,” he says. They set off for their walk in the sunshine. After a while, they notice there are big black clouds on the horizon. A little while later, they feel the first raindrops starting to fall. Soon it is pouring with rain! Uncle Bud, Anna and Ulric put up their umbrellas, shouting, “u, u, up umbrellas!” They are the ones laughing now! They have a lovely time, splashing in the puddles and dancing under their umbrellas.

It is Luca’s birthday. He is having a party. He has had lots of presents from his friends. They play some party games while the food is set out. There are lettuce sandwiches, cakes, liquorice, and lemonade to drink. Most important of all, there is a big decorated birthday cake. Luca and his friends play blind man’s buff and pinthe-tail-on-the-donkey. Lucy wins pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and gets a lime lollipop as a prize. She licks her lollipop, going “llllllll.”

Freda, Fred and their friend Felix are at the beach. Freda has a new sun hat and a bucket and spade. Fred has a large inflatable fish to float on. They play in the water with the inflatable fish. Then they leave it on the sand to dry. Next, Freda and Felix decide to build sand castles. Freda’s castle has four towers and she puts a flag on each one. Felix finds some shells and seaweed to go on his. Fred puts on his flippers and goes for a swim. Suddenly, they hear Fred calling and when they look around, they see the inflatable fish getting smaller and smaller. Its plug has come out and the air is escaping, “ffffffff!”

Granny is looking after Bill and his baby brother, Ben. They go to the park. Granny stops to watch the boats on the lake, and to listen to the band playing. She finds a bench to sit down on and soon she and baby Ben are dozing in the sun. Bill sees his friend, Rob, who has a bat and ball set. They find some more of their friends and have a game of baseball. Bill throws the ball for Ben. As the bat hits the ball, it goes “b”. Then it is Betty’s turn. She bashes the ball as hard as she can. It just misses Granny, bounces and hits the bench. Granny and Baby Ben wake up. “I think I had better keep a safe distance from the baseball,” says Granny as she pushes Baby Ben along the path at the side of the boating lake.

Group 4

Ainsley has been having trouble with his hearing. Whenever his mother speaks to him, he puts his hand to his ear and says, “ai?” His mother tells him, “You should say ‘pardon’, not ‘ai’.” After a while, his mother takes him to the doctor to have his hearing checked. In the waiting room is a box of toys. Ainsley plays with a whale and a sailing boat and a train. As he is pushing the train around the room, Dr Ail comes out and calls his name. Dr Ail looks in Ainsley’s ears. “You have a lot of wax in your ears. That’s why you’re having trouble with your hearing.” She gives him some eardrops. “Not another ‘ai’ now, Ainsley,” says his mother.

Jane loves jelly. Her mother has promised to make her some this afternoon. When Jane gets home from school she has a slice of bread and jam and a glass of juice. She tells her mother that she and her friend, Javinda, have made a giant jigsaw of a juggler. Then her mother shows Jane the jelly she has made. “Wow,” says Jane. It is tall, red and has four layers. As she carries it to the table, it wobbles and wobbles. Jane pretends to wobble just like it, and says, “Jelly on a plate, jelly on a plate, j, j, j, j, jelly on a plate.”

A bad-tempered goat lives in a field at the side of a road. He gets very cross if any other animal comes into his field. Mona and her brother, Jonah, often walk past the field and talk to the goat. One windy day, Mona and Jonah are going to the park to have a picnic and sail Jonah’s model boat. As they pass by, they can see the goat is very cross. He is stamping his hooves and snorting beside an oak tree, which is blowing in the wind. Up in the tree are two cheeky robins and a squirrel. The robins have been flying down and stealing oats from the goat. The goat charges at the tree and butts the trunk as hard as he can. CRASH! The tree falls on top of the goat. “Oh!” say Mona and Jonah. They run to get the farmer, who comes to rescue the goat.

Clive has been invited to a party. Clive’s dad is a sailor in the navy and he has given Clive a hat from his ship. Clive wants to dress up as a sailor like his dad and wear the hat to the party. His mother makes him a sailor’s outfit. Just before the party, Clive’s dad comes home on leave. Clive insists on wearing his new outfit to meet him off the ship. He waves and waves when he sees his dad and runs up and gives him a big hug. Dad admires his outfit and says, “If you are a sailor, you will have to learn how to salute and say, ‘ie, ie!’ ” When they get home, he shows Clive how to salute. Clive has a go in front of the mirror, saluting and saying, “ie, ie!”

An old donkey and some sheep live next to a small cornfield. Nora and Jakeem like to go and talk to the donkey. The donkey is always very pleased to see them. When he sees them coming, he brays, “ee or!” and waggles his ears up and down in greeting. One August morning, the children go for a walk to see the donkey; “ee or!” he calls out, happily. They give the donkey a carrot. “The carrot comes from my garden,” says Nora. “I have carrots and sweetcorn growing there.” As they are talking to the donkey, big raindrops begin to fall. Behind the children is an enormous rain cloud. “I think we had better get home quickly,” says Jakeem. “There is a storm coming. We will have to run home as fast as we can.” The children run off, waving to the donkey.

Group 5

Zara is sitting outside on the grass one sunny morning. She is playing with Zebadee, her toy zebra. She hears a loud “zzzZZZzzz” sound. She looks around and sees a big bee, buzzing around the flowers. It is collecting pollen to be made into honey, back at the hive. She watches the bee as it buzzes from flower to flower, landing on each one and collecting the pollen. Zara stands up and runs around, saying, “zzzZZZzzz!” She stops by a gazinia, bends down and pretends to collect the pollen from the flower. Then, “zzzZZZzzz,” she buzzes, and off she goes to the next flower.

Aesop told a fable about the wind and the sun. The west wind and the sun have an argument about who is the strongest. The west wind says to the sun, “You see that man down there? I bet I can blow so hard that his coat comes off.” The wind blows and blows, “wwwwwww,” but the man hangs on to his coat. The harder the wind blows, the more the man holds on to his coat. “My turn! Let me try,” says the sun. The sun shines and shines. It gets warmer and warmer, and hotter and hotter. The man takes off his coat. “I win,” smiles the sun, and the west wind storms off, “wwwwww!”

It is Saturday afternoon, and Bing has come to play at Mark’s house. They start by having a game of Ping-Pong. Then they play with a racing car. “Let’s see what’s on TV,” says Mark, “There might be some motor racing.” They put on the TV. “Look at that man!” says Bing. “He’s a weightlifter,” says Mark. They watch the man as he lifts some huge weights. The man grunts “ngngngng!”. “He must be strong,” says Bing. “Let’s be weightlifters,” says Mark. They use a broom and a mop as weights; “ngngngngng!” they go, as they pretend to lift the heavy weights.

One day during the summer, Uncle Vic arrives at Zack and Jess’s house. “Would you like to come and help me, today?” he asks. “Yes, please,” they reply. “Come on, then, we have a lot to do,” says Uncle Vic. They drive off to the station in his van, “vvvvvvvvv!” I need to collect an order from Val’s Fruit and Veg,” says Uncle Vic. “Vvvvvvvvvvv!” They stop outside the door, Uncle Vic collects the order and “vroom”; they are off again. They deliver the vegetables to old Mrs Vernon. They are busy all day, driving around, “vvvvvvv!” Eventually, it is time for them to go home. “Good-bye,” call Zack and Jess, as they wave to Uncle Vic.

Oona is going to visit Great Aunt Ivy. Oona likes visiting Great Aunt Ivy because she has lots of interesting things and a large friendly cat called Noodle. The thing Oona likes best is Great Aunt Ivy’s cuckoo clock. On the hour, a cuckoo pops out from the little wooden door at the top, calling, “oo oo, oo oo.” Noodle and Oona like to wait underneath the clock, knowing that the cuckoo will come out soon. As the cuckoo goes in and out, Oona pretends to be the cuckoo, and says, “oo oo, oo oo!”

Group 6

It is lunchtime, and Yasmin, Ron and Yamal are having something to eat. Yamal eats his sandwiches quickly so that he can play with his yo-yo. Yasmin’s mum has given her some yogurt. “That looks nice,” says Ron. “Yes, it is,” says Yasmin. “I chose it when we went shopping on Saturday. It’s a banana yogurt. I love yellow.” “Can I try some?” asks Ron. “Yes,” says Yasmin. “That’s nice,” says Ron, “a yummy, yellow yogurt!”

Max and Ti are playing. They are pretending to be spacemen. Max, the alien, chases Ti, the astronaut, up a tree. Ti falls out of the tree and breaks his arm. His Dad takes him and Max to hospital, where Ti has an x-ray. Ti has to keep his arm very still while they take the x-rays, “x, x, x, x, x, x, x.” The nurse plasters his arm so that he cannot move it and the bones will mend properly.

The children in Charlie’s class are studying transport. Their teacher has arranged an outing to a transport museum. In the afternoon, the children get to ride on a steam train. They are very excited. They all climb into the carriage. The train starts chugging, “ch, ch, ch, ch.” The train goes faster, “ch, ch, ch, ch.” Then steam comes out of the funnel, and the whistle blows. “Choo! Choo!” The next day at school, they all pretend to be trains, going, “ch, ch, ch, ch.” They chuff around, pretending to stop at lots of different places so the passengers can get on and off.

Mrs Shaw has just had a baby. The baby is called Shannon. Sam is her elder brother. He thinks she is all right, but she cries a lot. While his mother tries to get Shannon to sleep, Sam goes and plays with his toys. He plays in his shop with his cash register. It makes a very loud ‘ting’ when the cash drawer opens. “shshshshsh,” whispers Mrs Shaw, putting her finger to her lips, “Shannon is nearly asleep. Let’s go downstairs for a while.” “OK” says Sam, adding, “shshshsh!” as they tiptoe quietly from the room

Matthew and Nathan have gone to the circus. The ringmaster introduces the acts. First there is a juggler, throwing three rings high into the air. Then two naughty clowns throw water at the ringmaster,who tells them off. One clown, a thin fellow, is rather rude, and sticks his tongue out at the ringmaster, but only a little way. “th” he goes. The other clown, who is much bigger, is very rude and sticks his tongue right out. “ththth!” he goes. Then the clowns chase one another and tickle each other with feathers. Everyone laughs at them.

Group 7

Quentin quite enjoys going to the park with his family. They always take some stale bread so they can feed the ducks, and Quentin likes to give some to the squirrels, too. When they see the bag of bread, the squirrels scamper over quickly. Two of them grab the same slice. They begin to quarrel, squeaking at each other and tugging at the bread. The ducks also see the bread and rush to the side of the pond, quacking loudly, “qu, qu, qu!” Quentin throws the pieces of bread into the pond for the ducks. Quentin pretends he is a duck, going, “qu, qu, qu,” as he opens and shuts his hands like a beak.

Emily has gone to stay at her grandmother’s house. Emily’s grandmother does a lot of sewing. Emily asks if she can do some sewing, too. Her grandmother gets out a piece of cloth from her sewing basket. Emily has found a reel of black cotton and her grandmother helps her to thread the needle. She sits down on the couch and does a few stitches. Then, as she pushes the needle through, she pricks her thumb. She frowns and shouts “ou! ou! That hurt!” “You must be careful, Emily,” says her grandmother. By the end of her visit, Emily has done a lot of sewing. She is much better at it now, and she has made a little mat as a present for her parents. She has embroidered a brown owl on it.

Roy’s dad has a little boat, called Sailor Boy. Sometimes, in the summer, Roy is allowed to join in and help his dad on the boat. One morning, Roy, his dad and Uncle Martin are taking the boat out. They pack all the things aboard and set off. They are really enjoying themselves, when BANG! There is a loud noise as they hit something in the water. It is an oil drum. “Oh dear,” says Dad. “It’s made a hole.” Just then, they see a ship, steaming along. “Quick,” says Dad, pointing at the ship. “We’ll shout for help.” “Oi, oi, ship ahoy!” The sailors from the ship hear their voices and yell back, “oi, ship ahoy, are you in trouble?” “Yes, we’re sinking. Help!” they cry. The sailors help Roy and his dad get the boat back to port.

It is Samuel’s birthday, and he is having a party. First, Samuel and his friends play musical chairs. After that, a magician performs a magic show; he is very amusing. He uses a magic wand and he has a big magic box with a unicorn on the side. He does a few card tricks, and then he asks for someone to come and help him. “You!” he says, pointing at Samuel, “You are the birthday boy”, he continues, “will you come and help me?” “Me?” asks Samuel. “You!” shout the children. Samuel helps the magician do a special trick. He has to wave the magic wand and say, “ue, ue, ue.” Right on cue, a rabbit pops out from under the magician’s table! After the magic show, they all go outside and have a barbecue.

Bert’s teacher, Mr Bird, has read The Gingerbread Man to their class. When he gets home, Bert asks if he can make some gingerbread for supper. First, he and his sister, Jennifer, help to weigh the butter, sugar, flour, eggs and ground ginger. They put the ingredients in a bowl and stir. “Ererererer,” goes the mixer. Bert and Jennifer roll their hands over and over, pretending to be the mixer; “er, er, er, er, er,” they go. Next they roll out the mixture, cut out the gingerbread shapes, and bake them in the oven. When they are cooked and have cooled they decorate them with frosting and currants. Bert makes a special one to take into school for his teacher.

Barbara has not been feeling very well. She has a sore throat and it is hard for her to talk. Her mum takes her to see the doctor. It is not very far in the car. She makes sure Barbara wears a warm scarf. The doctor starts by asking her to open her mouth and say “ah.” “Ah,” says Barbara. The doctor looks into her mouth. “Ah, you have a throat infection,” he says. He gives her some tablets, and soon the sore throat has gone. Now she is able to go and play in the park with all her friends.

Credits: Jolly Learning (UK).