Actions and Sound Stories

Actions and Sound Stories

Here are the sounds with accompanying actions and stories. You can find out which sounds we have covered in your son’s class by checking your son’s Phonics pencil case each week (sounds covered will vary from year group to year group). Please remember to use the pure sound (please click on the link below for a demonstration).

sWeave hand in an s shape, like a snake, and say ssssss.

One sunny Saturday in September, Sammy the slippery snake slithered down to the sparkling stream. ‘Ssssssssss’, said Sammy.

aWiggle fingers above elbow as if ants crawling on you and say a, a, a.

Alex and Abby have ants on theirs arms. ‘A! A! A! Ants!!’ cry Alex and Abby.

t Pretend to turn on a tap and say t, t, t.

Tim and Tom turn on the tinkling tap. ‘T, t, t’.

p Use your fist to make a pig’s nose and say p, p, p.

Penny and Peter Pig have pink piggy snouts. ‘P, p, p.’

i Pretend to have an insect’s antennae and sayi, i, i.

Iggy the insect has interesting insect antennae. ‘I, I, I.’

n Squash your nose and say nnnnnn.

Nina the naughty newt nipped Noah on the nose. ‘Naughty newt, you nipped my nose!’ cried Noah. ‘Nnn’.

mPretend to drink a glass of milk and say mmm.

Mum tells Megan and Mark to drink milk with their meals. ‘Mmmmmmm, milk!’ say Megan and Mark. ‘Mmm’.

d Beat hands up and down as if playing a drum and say d, d, d.

Danny the drummer does drum practice all day. ‘D, d, d’.

g Do gorilla arm movements (under arms), and say g, g, g.

Gordon is a grumpy gorilla and Gail is a giggly gorilla Gordon and Gail are good friends. ‘G, g, g.’

o Wave arms and fingers at your sides like an octopus and say o, o, o.

Olly is an odd octopus. He likes olives and oranges and swims with his odd octopus friends.

c Pretend to have a cat’s whiskers and say c, c, c.

Christopher the crafty cat cleans cream off his whiskers. ‘C, c, c’.

e Pretend to tap an egg on the side of a pan and crack it into the pan, saying eh, eh, eh.

Emma and Edward eat eleven eggs for their tea. They crack eleven eggs into the pan. ‘E, e, e’.

k Point both hands down in front of chest and pretend to hop like a kangaroo, saying k, k, k.

Kit is King of the Kangaroos. He skips about with the kangaroo kids. ‘K, k, k.’

u Pretend to be under an umbrella and say u, u, u.

‘Uh-oh! It’s raining!’ The umbrellas go up and we all go under. ‘U, u, u’.

r Zoom hands up to the sky like a rocket and say rrrrrr.

Robbie and Rick rode up to the moon on a rickety, red rocket. ‘Rrr.’

h Pretend to wave with your hand and say h, h, h.

Helen’s house is opposite Hannah’s house. Hannah waves her hand and says ‘Hi, Helen!’ ‘H, h, h.’

b Pretend to hit a ball with a bat and say b, b, b.

Bill and Bob have a bouncy ball and a bat. They bounce the ball on the bat in their backyard. ‘B, b, b.’

f Pretend to fan yourself and say ffff.

Fiona and Flora go fishing in France. Fanning their faces makes them feel fresh. ‘Ffff.’

l Pretend to lick a lollipop and say lllllll.

Lily and Luke like to lick lovely lollipops. Lily likes lemon lollipops and Luke likes lime lollipops. ‘Llllll.’

j Pretend to wobble on a plate and say j, j, j.

Josh and John have jam and juicy jelly for tea. The juicy jelly wobbles on the plate. ‘J, j, j.’

v Pretend to be holding the steering wheel of a van and say vvvvvv.

Vinnie the van driver drives his van, visiting various villages. ‘Vvv.’

w Pretend to wave a magic wand and say w, w, w.

Wow! William the Wizard does wonderful magic tricks. He waves his wizardywand. ‘W, w, w.’

x Draw a box (square) with your hands and say ks, ks, ks.

Foxy Lox has a big, brown box. ‘ks, ks, ks’.

y Pretend to play with a yo-yo and say y, y, y.

‘Yippee!’ cry Yoshi and Yasmin. ‘Let’s play with our yellow yo-yos!’ ‘Y, y, y’.

z Pretend to zip up your top and say zzzz.

Zebby Zebra’s zip is stuck. Zoe Zebra helps Zebby zip up his top. ‘Zzzz.’

ff Make claws like a gruffalo and say ff, ff, ff.

The gruffalo is in a huff. His claws are covered in fluff and stuff. ‘ff, ff, ff.’

ll Draw semi-circle from top-middle point with two index fingers like a hill and say ll, ll, ll.

Jill and Bill will run up the hill. The windmill is up the hill.

ss Do the same action for ‘s’but with BOTH hands and say ss, ss, ss.

‘Hiss, hiss,’ two snakes try to kiss but miss and hiss! ‘Ssssssssss’.

zz Flutter hands at sides like a bee and say zz, zz, zz.

‘Buzz, buzz, buzz,’ goes Fuzzy Buzzy Bee. ‘Zzzzzzzzzz’.

ck Move finger from side to side like a clock’s pendulum and say ck, ck, ck.

Tick, tock, tick, tock; the clock goes tick, tock.

ch Move arms at your sides like a chicken’s wings and say ch, ch, ch.

Charlie the cheeky chicken likes chips, chocolate and cheating at chess. ‘Ch, ch, ch’.

sh Place index finger of lips and say shsh sh.

Hush! Hush! The sheep, the shepherd and the shark are sleeping! ‘Sh, sh, sh’.

th /th Move thumb up and down and say ‘this thumb – th/th, th/th’

This thumb is a thick thumb and this thumb is a thin thumb. ‘Th, th, th’.

qu Make a duck´s beak with your hands and say qu, qu, qu.

Quentin the quick duck says ‘Quack, quack, quack!’ ‘Qu, qu, qu’.

ng Loop finger and thumb around ring finger on other hand and say ng, ng, ng.

I sing a song as I put my ring on. ‘Ng, ng, ng’.

ee Make a downwards sliding motion with hand and say eeeeeeeeee.

I see three bees going ‘Wheeeeee!’ down three green slides. ‘Ee, ee, ee’.

OO Using both hands make a moon-like circle and say OO, OO, OO.

At the zoo I saw the moon in my spoon. ‘OO, OO, OO’.

oo pretend to open a book and say oo, oo, oo.

Look! Look! He took my book! Look at my book! ‘Oo, oo, oo’.

arPretend to turn on the ignition of the car with car keys (‘start the car’) and say ar, ar, ar.

Smart Mark had to go far in his car to get to the park in the dark. ‘Start the car!’ said Mark. ‘ar, ar, ar’.

wh Pretend to whistle and say wh, wh, wh.

Whisper when you whisk but whistle while you work! ‘wh, whwh’.

er Move arm in front of you like a flowing river and say er, er, er.

After supper, I went with my brother and sister to the bigger river. ‘er, er, er.’

or Pretend to beep the horn of a car with flat of hand, saying or, or, or.

Norma and Norman beep the horn. ‘Or! Or! Or!’

ou Put two hands together like the roof of a house saying ou, ou, ou.

Mouse, grouse and louse lived in a house. ‘Ou, ou, ou’.

ai Flutter fingers down in front of you like rain and say ai, ai, ai.

Rain down the drain; rain on the train; rain in Spain; rain, rain, rain! ‘ai, ai, ai’.

oa Pretend to row a boat (with both hands central) and say oa, oa, oa.

Toad wore a coat and goat wore a cloak when they went in their boat. ‘Oa, oa, oa’.

oi Point finger and say oi, oi, oi.

Point at the noisy voice! Point! ‘Oi, oi, oi’.

ay Put hands together as if in prayer and say ay, ay, ay.

On Monday we pray, on Tuesday we pray; we pray every day. ‘ay, ay, ay’.

ea Pretend to eat a peach and say ea, ea, ea.

For tea on the beach I will eat a peach. ‘ea, ea, ea’.

ie Run hand down middle of torso like a tie and say ie, ie, ie.

The spies had pies and put on their ties. ‘ie, ie, ie’.

ow Pretend to blow onto flat of hand and say ow, ow, ow.

Slowly blow the glowing snow.Blow the snow, blow the snow. ‘Ow, ow, ow’.

ew Do a twisting action as if using a screwdriver and say ew, ew, ew.

The new crew knew how to turn the screw. ‘ew, ew, ew’.

aw Pretend to use a saw and say aw, aw, aw.

I saw a hawk with awful claws using a saw.

oy Point at yourself (a boy) and say oy, oy, oy (good with oi – points in opposite direction).

I enjoy having toys and being a boy! ‘oy, oy, oy’.

ue Pretend to use a gluestick and say ue, ue, ue.

It is true that I like to use sticky, blue glue! ‘Ue, ue, ue’.

ir Pretend to stir and say ir, ir, ir.

The whirling girl and the twirling bird like to stir, stir, stir. ‘Ir, ir, ir’.

ow Put hands around eyes like an owl and say ow, ow, ow.

The brown owl is watching now.‘Ow, ow, ow’.

igh Pretend to switch a light on and off and say igh, igh, igh.

The boy had a fright in the night. He turned on his bright night light. ‘igh, igh, igh’.