Fits Any Curriculum & Grows With Your Child

Why Phonic Forge Is Designed for Ages Three and Up

Although Phonic Forge explicitly supports the phonics and word skills taught from kindergarten through second grade, it’s intentionally designed to be used earlier—because reading doesn’t start with reading.

Long before children are ready to connect letters to sounds, they are building the skills that make later learning possible. These include:

• attention and focus

• vocabulary growth

• turn-taking and social interaction

• communication and expressive language

• emotional regulation and flexibility

• reasoning, predicting, and problem-solving

Phonic Forge uses familiar game structures and picture-based graphics to support these foundational skills through play, starting as early as age three.

Developmentally Appropriate From Kindergarten Through Second Grade

Phonic Forge supports the phonics and word-level skills children typically develop between kindergarten and second grade.

As children play, they work with:

• letter sounds

• early word patterns

• building and breaking apart words

• expanding phonics patterns as skills grow

The games are designed to grow with your child. As skills develop, the level of challenge can increase, allowing the same materials to remain useful over time rather than being outgrown quickly.

Learning Through Play Comes First

At ages three and four, children don’t need phonics instruction—but they do benefit from structured play.

Matching games, picture-based activities, and simple turn-taking games allow young children to:

• practice visual attention and matching

• talk about what they see

• learn how games work

• follow rules

• take turns and wait

• ask and answer simple questions

At this stage, the focus isn’t on “getting the right answer.” It’s on learning how to participate, communicate, and stay engaged within a routine.

These game routines create a meaningful context for language and interaction—without pressure.

Familiar Games, Deeper Learning Over Time

As children grow, those same games become richer.

By ages four and five, children are more capable of:

• explaining their thinking

• answering and asking questions

• making predictions

• handling more complex rules

• using language socially and strategically

Because the game structures are already familiar, children can focus their energy on new layers of learning rather than learning a new format each time.

This is where Phonic Forge’s design really shines.

Adding Phonics When Children Are Ready

When children reach kindergarten and beyond, the phonics layer naturally gets added in.

Because the games already:

• have structure

• have rules

• involve language

• feel familiar and safe

children are ready to focus on more abstract skills like:

• connecting letters to sounds

• building and breaking apart words

• recognizing sound patterns

• decoding and encoding

Instead of introducing phonics in isolation, Phonic Forge embeds it into a learning structure children already know how to use.

The learning doesn’t feel new or intimidating—it feels like a natural extension of play.

Aligned With School Instruction — Without Replacing It

From kindergarten through second grade, Phonic Forge aligns with the same phonics and word-building skills taught in school, grounded in the Science of Reading and structured literacy approaches.

It supports:

• single-letter sounds

• early word patterns

• digraphs, vowel teams, and controlled vowels

Because it focuses on sound–symbol relationships and patterns, Phonic Forge fits seamlessly with any reading curriculum. It doesn’t change what schools teach or the order in which skills are introduced—it simply gives children more meaningful practice within a familiar, engaging structure.

What This Means for Families

Phonic Forge is not just a reading game. It’s a learning routine that grows with your child.

You can start playing at age three to build language, attention, and social skills. As your child develops, the same games support more complex thinking. When phonics instruction becomes appropriate, it’s layered into a structure your child already understands.

For families, this means:

• one set of materials

• usable across multiple ages

• aligned with school learning

• easy to use at home

• grounded in play, not pressure

A Simple Way to Support Learning at Home

If you’re looking for something meaningful you can do with your child—whether they’re three or seven—Phonic Forge offers a clear answer: play together.

The games grow with your child, fit any curriculum, and support learning through connection, routine, and confidence—long before, during, and beyond formal reading instruction.