Oral blending activities for Phase 1 phonics in Nursery and Reception.
Rhyme Town Week 7: Oral blending
Based on Old Macdonald and Baa Baa Black Sheep
Rhyme Town Week 7 focuses on oral blending (Phase 1 phonics) for Nursery and Reception. Pupils practise listening to segmented sounds and blending them together to say the word, using a farm theme that works brilliantly for hands-on learning. This pack is ideal for developing early phonemic awareness and building confidence with oral blending in a playful, practical way.
What’s included in Week 7?
This pack includes five pre-reading phonics lessons and five pre-writing mark making activities, alongside a detailed lesson plan, an interactive presentation and ready-to-use resources. The pre-reading lessons focus on blending farm animal and object words, while the pre-writing activities support writing readiness through mark making using the X shape.
- Put the correct animals on the farm (blend the word, then place the animal)
- What sound does a… make? (blend the animal word, then match the sound)
- Point to the sheep (blend colour words and point to the correct sheep)
- I spy farm blending game using a farm picture
- Farm animal blending bingo
- Wool winding activity to form an X using cardboard squares
- Tractor tracks painting activity to form an X
- Mark the sheep printable (draw an X mark on each sheep)
- Natural materials X shapes (sticks, leaves and stones)
- Sensory writing tray “mud” activity using cocoa or hot chocolate powder
The oral blending games can be repeated across the week as quick warm-ups, and the mark making activities can be used as adult-led tasks or set up for child-led practice in your Early Years learning environment.
Want to see how this week fits into the full sequence? Download the Rhyme Town progression document or explore the complete Rhyme Town scheme here.
