The ReadWriteAI Series: Interactive phonics fun for early readers

By Christina Maurer-Smolder and ChatGPT

Welcome to my first post about creative ways to use AI for literacy and language instruction. This post features ways parents (or teachers!) can use AI to generate interactive stories for young readers.

Phonics is the teaching of how letter combinations represent sounds. It plays a key role in learning to read. Schools are increasingly recognising the importance of teaching phonics in an explicit, systematic way—helping students understand the sounds in their language, how to manipulate them to form words, and how letters represent these sounds. Ideally, young children will be spending around 30 minutes a day in schools learning these secrets to coding and decoding words.

To learn more about how to teach phonics, the University of Adelaide offers an excellent, FREE 48-hour micro-credential unit for teachers: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/pace/short-courses-individuals/micro-credentials/micro-credentials-for-classroom-confidence/teaching , which I highly recommend. When it comes to practice at home, parents and carers can access ABC Reading Eggs for a monthly subscription fee. If you can afford it, it is well worth the cost: https://readingeggs.com.au/

While structured phonics instruction is crucial, extra practice at home can make a big difference. Books will never go out of style (I hope!). But AI can help, too, by creating fun, interactive phonics activities tailored to your child's level. In addition to these wonderful resources, parents and teachers might enjoy exploring GenAI as a source for phonics fun. I explored this idea with AI, and it generated some marvellous suggestions—including a ‘choose your own adventure’ story for early readers. The best part? You can try it too and customise it to your child's needs.

But don’t take my word for it. Give it a try! Check which sounds your child is learning—if you're unsure, ask their teacher. Then, consider typing these prompts into your preferred GenAI model (I use ChatGPT):

A. For CVC Words (consonant-vowel-consonant, e.g., cat, sat, mat)

"Create a short ‘choose your own adventure’ story for a beginning reader using simple CVC words. The main character is a cat. Keep sentences short and easy to read. Offer two choices at the end of each section, using simple words."

B. For Rhyming Words:

"Write a short adventure story for young readers where each sentence includes a rhyming word pair (e.g., cat/hat, hop/top). Keep the vocabulary simple. At the end of each section, offer two choices that follow the same rhyming pattern."

C. For Blending and Segmenting Practice:

"Create a short interactive story where a child helps a dog find its lost toy. Use words that are easy to sound out, like ‘map,’ ‘log,’ and ‘pit.’ At key moments, include a word puzzle where the reader has to blend or segment a word to continue the story."

Here is an example of a story created by ChatGPT using Prompt A, above:

The Cat and the Hat

1. The cat sat on a mat. It saw a big red hat.Should the cat:

a) Jump in the hat?

b) Run past the hat?

👉 If the cat jumps in the hat, go to 2A.

👉 If the cat runs past the hat, go to 2B.

2A. The cat hops in the hat. The hat tips! The cat lands with a plop.Should the cat:

a) Stay in the hat?

b) Get out?

👉 If the cat stays, go to 3A.

👉 If the cat gets out, go to 3B.

2B. The cat runs fast. A big dog runs up! The dog has a big grin.Should the cat:

a) Stop and say hi?

b) Run up a log?

👉 If the cat says hi, go to 3C.

👉 If the cat runs up the log, go to 3D.

3A. The cat naps in the hat. It is soft and warm. The cat is glad! The end.

3B. The cat jumps out. The hat lands on a rat! The rat is mad! The end.

3C. The cat stops. The dog wags. The cat and the dog run and play. The end.

3D. The cat runs up a log. The dog barks. The log tips! The cat lands in a big mud pit. The end.

Experiment creating prompts about a topic of interest to your child – just remember to keep it simple and focus on sounds your child is learning. Want to extend the fun? Ask your child to draw pictures for the story they have chosen.

Keen to try? Please be sure to let us know how it goes in the comments!