Make Winter Phonics Practice Easy: The Activities I Reach for Every Single Year
Teacher friend, if winter has you juggling behavior, assessments, conferences, and the general December-through-January chaos… you are not alone. This is the season when the kids are wiggly, the days are long, and you need centers and phonics work that just work without extra effort.
That’s exactly why I put together these winter phonics activities. They’re hands-on, student-approved, and the routines stay the same — only the skills change. You can use them as stations, small-group practice, morning work, intervention warm-ups, or as quiet, independent tasks while you teach groups.
Let me show you three of the absolute favorites.
1. Spin & Write
This one never fails. Kids think it’s a game. You know it’s solid encoding and decoding practice.
Students spin, say the picture, tap out the sounds, and write the word — a simple routine that gives them repeated, meaningful practice with phoneme awareness and spelling. It’s fast, focused, and keeps them working the whole time.
Why teachers love using it:
Kids stay engaged the entire time
Works for CVC, blends, digraphs, nasals, vowel teams, and more
Perfect for independent practice
Easy differentiation without extra prep
I use this for centers, morning work, early finishers, and small-group warm-ups. It’s the activity that practically runs itself.
2. Say It • Tap It • Map It • Write It
This is the routine that gives you powerful encoding practice without needing a long lesson.
Students move through the same predictable steps every time: say the word, tap each sound, map the graphemes, and write the full word.
It’s consistent, structured, and supports kids in connecting sounds to spellings with accuracy. Once they learn the routine, they can complete it independently with any phonics skill you’re teaching.
Why teachers love using it:
Reinforces phonemic awareness, phonics, and handwriting in one activity
Students feel confident because the steps stay the same
Easy to use with any phonics pattern
Works for centers, small groups, intervention, and homework
This activity quickly becomes a classroom staple because it’s simple for students and powerful for instruction.
3. Winter Word Searches
These are not your typical busy-work word searches. Students must decode each word, match it to the picture, and then locate it — which means actual phonics application, not random guessing.
Each word search focuses on a specific skill, making differentiation quick and seamless.
Why teachers love using them:
Students stay focused and quiet while practicing real decoding
Perfect for morning work and early finishers
Targets one phonics pattern at a time
Great independent practice during centers or transitions
It’s an easy way to reinforce accuracy and automaticity while keeping students productively engaged.
And here’s the best part: those three activities are just a small sample of what’s inside the full Winter Phonics & Literacy Bundle. The bundle includes more than a dozen print-and-go resources you can use as stations or as stand-alone phonics activities, depending on what your block looks like. You’ll get Phonological Awareness Clip Cards, Alphabet Roll and Read, Word-Level and Sentence-Level Roll and Read, Memory Task Cards, Spin & Write, Say It • Tap It • Map It • Write It, Word Searches, Word Builders, and Write the Room. Every resource comes in both color and blackline, with a wide range of skills built into each activity so you can easily differentiate without doing extra prep.
Teachers love this bundle because it truly makes winter teaching easier. The routines are consistent, so students master them quickly and can work independently. Everything is zero prep, works for centers, small groups, whole-group application, intervention, and tutoring, and keeps kids engaged while you teach. And honestly, it’s the kind of bundle that saves you hours of planning time during the months when you need that margin the most.
The Winter Sale price is only $10 (regular price: $20), which means you’re getting more than a dozen high-impact, ready-to-use activities for less than a dollar each.
If you’re ready for simple, reliable, high-impact winter phonics practice, this bundle will make your life so much easier.
I hope that you found today’s post helpful. Leave your questions below or send me an email Amie@literacyedventures.com
