The Story of the Magic Alpha-Belt
From a sketch on a notepad to a complete phonics programme — a 28-year journey of imagination, curiosity, and a father's determination to help his son.
The Birth of the Alpha-Pics
The seeds of the Magic Alpha-belt started 28 years ago when my eldest son was in his first year in reception class. As requested by the school, we would test him on his alphabet and — to our surprise — discovered that he was struggling to match letters to sounds.
I said to my wife there must be a way of cracking this. One thing I knew was that he was a visual learner who liked drawing. That's where the idea came from. Why not draw pictures with the first letter of the word hidden in the picture, so he would need to find it — a fun element, similar to the Where's Wally books that were popular at the time.
So it started. The first picture I drew was one of our cats. I drew three pictures and, to my amazement, my son enjoyed finding the letters and sounding them out: C for cat. I thought — hang on, maybe I'm onto something here.
I started sketching and before long came up with drawings for the letter sounds a, b and d. It wasn't long before I worked my way through the whole alphabet — and within a couple of weeks of sharing all 26 pictures with my son, he had mastered the sound of every single letter.
"I will never forget getting back from work one evening — lying on the floor was my son, drawing his own version of the alphabet pictures. That was wonderful to see."
We soon came up with a name for the pictures: 'Alpha-Pics'. I didn't realise it at the time, but that night was a turning point. If my son liked these drawings, would others too?
Around this time I had a promotion at work — a busy period that meant I had to park the idea. But I said to myself: one day, when the time is right, I will definitely pick this up again.
A Déjà Vu Moment
One day, my wife — picking up our youngest son from school, who had not long started reception — was hijacked by his teacher. She said how well he was doing, but that he was having problems with his letters and letter sounds.
That night, we retrieved the alpha-pics and set them out. Although he found them interesting, he didn't take to them with the same enthusiasm as his brother. Like most children his age, he loved imaginative games and dressing up — it was quite normal to find him galloping up supermarket aisles on his imaginary horse, in his Knight's outfit.
Education specialists tell us that teaching is at its best when all the senses are used — the multisensory approach: visual, kinetic, auditory and read/write. Armed with this knowledge, another teaching method was needed.
Danny and the Adventure Storybooks
The answer was stories. Danny and the adventure storybooks were born. Stories at bedtime took on a whole new dimension. Danny acquired a fictitious sister and went on adventures with his grandparents — both grandads were no longer alive, but they could have a new lease of life through the stories.
Danny was also the hero, and just like a Knight in shining armour, he came to the rescue whenever Grandad lost things — which was often. The Magic Alpha-Belt, worn with all his outfits, became the thing that brought all the letter sounds to life.
I wrote and illustrated the first stories on an old notepad. My son was soon using his newly acquired powers to find the letters in the alpha-pics as the stories unfolded.
In the first story — Grandma's Special Birthday Picnic — his magic alpha-belt came to the rescue when a kite was blown away in strong winds, thought to be lost forever.
Lockdown — Time to Spare
In 2020, with both sons through university, lockdown brought unexpected time. I decided it was time to revisit the alpha-pics and pick up from where I had left off.
I acquired an iPad and discovered Procreate. Drawing and sketching became my hobby again — only this time with great tools to experiment with. A photocopier, laminators, and a paper trimmer followed, and soon I was producing my own laminated flashcards and activity books.
But I knew I had to expand beyond the 26 single letter sounds. I needed to develop resources covering the 44 phonic sounds that make up the English language — and tools to help children progress from simple phonics to more advanced reading.
The Birth of the Phonicano Models
I started to study phonics and how it was taught in schools. Being an accountant, I've always had to boil things down and explain complex subjects in simple terms. How could I apply this same principle to phonics? How could I simplify it and make it multisensory?
I started thinking about sound and musical instruments differently. Words are made up of different sounds — not too dissimilar to keys on a piano. Sounding words out and coding their sounds into letters is a bit like following notes in a music score.
"I soon started to experiment with the appearance of a piano on my iPad — rather than notes representing keys, the 'letter sounds' would represent the keys instead. After experimenting with designs and a little basic programming, the Phonicano models were born."
The Barnes Children's Literature Festival
In July 2024, we set up a stall at the Barnes Children's Literature Festival and invited children, parents, and teachers to explore our products. Truthfully, we had no idea how we'd be received.
As the weekend went on, we were amazed by the enthusiasm and curiosity people showed. We displayed our adventure storybooks, flashcards, activity books, wall posters, guidance booklets, and CVC rhyming poem books — and even had a computer set up to demonstrate our audio Phonicano models.
"It was a joy to watch children pause at our stall, staring curiously at the alpha-pics. Heads tilted side to side, up and down… and then came the 'Eureka!' moment: 'Ahh… I can see the letter L in the lion's tail!'"
After such a fun and successful weekend, we decided to go for it — and invested in the website. We're delighted to bring all our resources and activities together in one place, so parents, teachers, and children can explore the full range.
We hope you enjoy discovering our world — where phonics and letter sounds come to life in a fun and imaginative way.