Phonics is how children learn that letters stand for sounds, and how to use those sounds to read and spell words. Schools teach it step by step, in a set order. At home, ten relaxed minutes a day is enough to give that learning a real boost.
Why phonics matters
English has 26 letters but more than 40 sounds, so children need to learn how sounds and letters link up. Once a child can turn letters into sounds and blend them into a word, they can read words they have never seen before. That’s the key that unlocks independent reading. Phonic and word knowledge is part of the English curriculum in the Victorian Curriculum 2.0, and your child’s school will have its own order for introducing sounds. Ask the teacher which sounds the class has covered, and practise those.
Say the sounds, not the letter names
When you help with phonics, use the sound a letter makes, not its name. The letter m is “mmm”, not “em”. The word cat is “c-a-t”, not “see-ay-tee”.
Try to keep sounds short and pure. Some sounds can be stretched: mmm, sss, fff. Others are quick and bouncy: b, d, t. Avoid adding an “uh” to the end (“buh”, “tuh”), because “buh-a-tuh” doesn’t blend into bat nearly as easily as a crisp b-a-t.
A 10-minute routine
- Sounds warm-up (2 minutes). Show letter cards, quickly. Your child says the sound for each. Mix a few new sounds with plenty of known ones.
- Blending (3 minutes). Say the sounds of a short word slowly, “s-u-n”, and your child says the word, “sun”. Then swap: write the word and let your child read the sounds and blend them.
- Segmenting (3 minutes). Now go the other way. Say a word, “ship”, and your child splits it into sounds, “sh-i-p”, holding up a finger for each. Then they write it. Segmenting is the skill behind spelling. There’s a full routine in spelling at home.
- Read something real (2 minutes). Finish with a sentence or a page of a book that uses the sounds you practised.
Digraphs: two letters, one sound
Once children know the single letter sounds, they meet digraphs, where two letters make one sound. Common early ones are sh, ch, th, ck and ng, then vowel sounds such as ee, oo, ai and oa. Later still come split digraphs, like the a…e in cake, where the two letters are separated by another.
A helpful habit is to underline a digraph with one line, to show the two letters work as a team. When your child sounds out shop, there are three sounds, “sh-o-p”, not four.
Heart words
Some very common words have a part that doesn’t follow the patterns your child knows yet. In said, the ai makes an unexpected sound. Many schools call these heart words, because the tricky part has to be learnt by heart. Most of the word still sounds out normally, so encourage your child to sound out the regular parts and remember the tricky bit. There’s more in Heart words: how to teach tricky words to your Prep child.
Decodable books
A decodable book is written mostly with the sounds a child has already been taught, plus a few heart words. Because almost every word can be sounded out, children get to practise exactly the skill they are learning, and they feel the success of reading a whole book on their own. If your child’s school sends decodable books home, those are ideal for the last step of your routine. KidStudy has 20 free decodable books in Phonics Plus order, one for each set of sounds.
Phonics games for anywhere
- I spy, with sounds. “I spy something beginning with sss.” Sun, sock, spoon!
- Robot talk. Speak like a robot, “Get your h-a-t”, and see if your child can blend the word and do it.
- Sound hunts. Find three things in the kitchen that start with p, or end with t.
- Magnetic letters. Make a word on the fridge, then change one letter: cat, hat, hot, hop.
A note on phonics checks
Victorian government schools run the Year 1 Phonics Check in Term 3 of Year 1. Half of its 40 words are made-up words (often called alien words), so children show they can sound out and blend rather than recognise words they have memorised. There’s no need to drill for it: the everyday routine above is exactly the right preparation. Our guide to the Year 1 Phonics Check explains what happens and what the score means.
