If you’ve ever sat down with a child and a box of animal toys, you’ll know just how quickly a simple activity can turn into a rich learning opportunity. Over the years, I’ve returned again and again to using high-quality, tactile animal figures in my work with students – not just because they’re engaging, but because they’re incredibly versatile.

This week, I’ve published a resource that formalises this approach:
Animal-Themed Phonics Progression: Multisensory Activities for Reading and Writing – now available in my TES shop.

It’s the kind of resource I wished I’d had years ago: structured, progressive, and grounded in a multisensory philosophy, but with the flexibility to adapt in the moment – something that’s especially important when supporting neurodivergent learners or children with complex learning profiles.

Why Animal Toys?

First and foremost, children love them. Whether you’re working with a child for the first time or supporting someone who’s reluctant to engage with formal literacy tasks, a box of familiar animal toys can be the perfect ice-breaker. You can talk about pets at home, favourite animals, funny names, or even use the initial sound of the child’s name to search for a match in the toy box. From there, it’s a small step to phoneme work, syllables, and oral blending.

But it doesn’t stop at phonics.

These toys are ideal for building language and cognitive skills alongside literacy. You can sort them into groups – land vs sea animals, mammals vs birds vs reptiles, wild vs domestic – and use this as a jumping-off point for discussion, vocabulary building, categorisation, and expressive language.

And of course, they lend themselves beautifully to memory and sequencing games like Kim’s Game or recalling the order of animals in a row – all of which strengthen the auditory memory and working memory that underpin reading and spelling success.

Why I Created This Resource

I created this progression because I found myself designing versions of it repeatedly for individual students, particularly those with dyslexia, speech and language needs, or attention difficulties. I wanted something that:

• Provided a clear structure and progression from early listening skills to sentence writing
• Was playful and flexible, so I could adapt it instantly to suit the learner’s pace
• Supported neurodivergent learners who need multisensory, tactile, low-demand approaches
• Allowed room for spontaneous assessment, giving me constant insight into what a child could do, what they were consolidating, and what they were ready for next

Animal toys have this wonderful quality of making abstract concepts, like rhyme, syllables, and medial vowels, feel concrete. When we talk about “the sound in the middle of pig,” we’re not just analysing a word. We’re holding pig. We’re moving it. We’re pointing to it. That grounding in real-world objects can make all the difference for children who process language in different ways.

What’s in the Pack?

The full resource includes 10 skill-based sections covering rhyme, syllables, phoneme awareness, segmentation, spelling, and sentence writing. Every section contains three detailed activity suggestions, and the pack also includes printable templates, a guide to which animals suit which phonics phase, and full tutor/teacher notes.

You can download a free sample (Sections 1 and 2) here:
Download the Freebie – Rhyming and Syllables Activities

And if you find it useful, you’ll find the full version here:
Animal-Themed Phonics Progression – Full Pack

Who It’s For

This resource is designed for:

• Tutors, LSAs and teachers looking for a consistent, engaging intervention toolkit
• Parents or carers supporting literacy at home
• SENCOs and specialists working with children with phonological delays, dyslexia, or neurodivergent learning profiles
• Children working around Phase 1–4+ of the Letters and Sounds phonics progression

Whether you’re using it as a full intervention programme or just dipping into it for quick wins during busy sessions, I hope it brings structure, joy, and flexibility to your phonics teaching – and a little bit of magic from the animal toy box.

Thanks for reading,

Kate Coldrick – literacy tutor, educator, and resource creator

Learn more about my work on the About page, or browse more materials on the Resources page.

Written by Kate Coldrick, an educator and writer based in Woodbury near Exeter.