The Phonics Blog
Practical phonics articles for parents and teachers. Research-backed methods, age-by-age guides, free printables, and tried-at-home tips. 93 articles and counting.
12 Multisensory Phonics Activities: Sand, Clay, Movement & More
Orton-Gillingham-inspired activities — sand trays, arm blending, Elkonin boxes, magnetic letters — that use touch and movement to make letter-sounds stick 3× faster.
8 min read
Teaching Phonics to a Child With ADHD: What Actually Works
Session structure, pacing and materials adapted for attention differences — without lowering the actual phonics bar.
7 min readPhonological Awareness: 8-Level Progression with Ready Activities
From word awareness to phoneme manipulation — the complete 8-level phonological awareness ladder, with 3 practical activities at each level for home use.
9 min read
First Grade Phonics: What Changes After Kindergarten
The shift from decoding to automatic word recognition — vowel teams, magic-e, r-controlled vowels — and why comprehension starts to matter too.
8 min readVowel Teams List (Free PDF): ai, ay, ea, ee, oa, oo
All 14 common vowel teams with 20+ example words each, the position rule (ai in the middle, ay at the end), a 15-week teaching order, and the most common mistakes to fix.
9 min read
Child Hates Reading: How to Rebuild Motivation Without Pressure
Reading avoidance is usually a competence problem wearing a motivation mask — how to fix the real cause first.
7 min readR-Controlled Vowels (Free PDF): ar, er, ir, or, ur
Full word lists for all 5 r-controlled vowels — why er, ir, and ur all sound the same, the W-or exception, and the er/ir/ur sort activity that fixes spelling in 2 weeks.
8 min read
Phonics for 6-Year-Olds: Closing Gaps Before Year 2
For 6-year-olds who didn't quite meet the Phonics Screening Check standard — the 3 common gaps at this age and a catch-up plan before Year 2.
7 min readWord Families List: 23 Rime Families with 200+ CVC Words
The 23 most productive rime families — -at, -ip, -an, -ug and more — sorted by short vowel. With the Wylie & Durrell 37-rime research list and 5 home activities.
7 min read
Phonics for 5-Year-Olds: The Curriculum Explained
Term-by-term what to teach at age 5 — building on single letters into digraphs, blends, and first tricky words — with a milestone checklist for the year.
8 min readPhonics for 4-Year-Olds: What to Teach and When
Term-by-term curriculum for age 4 — completing the alphabet, mastering CVC blending, and introducing digraphs — with milestone checklist and session structure.
8 min read
Phonics in Kindergarten: What Your Child Should Know by June
The 4 strands most kindergarten reading standards are built from — print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency — in practice.
8 min read
Teach phonics online — one short lesson a day
Sign in free and follow a plan that remembers where you are. Right here in your browser, on phone, tablet or computer — nothing to download.
- 92 step-by-step lessons, SATPIN first
- Big flashcards to show your child
- Games, checkpoints and progress for every sound
For little ones (2–6) there’s also our sound-play game on iPhone & iPad and Android.