Activities with Kids
15 Phonics Resources to Help Your Child Learn to Read
Holly Pigache | 6 Jun 2023
When learning to read, children develop two skills simultaneously:
- Mastery of phonics
- Recognition of an increasingly large pool of sight words (also known as “high-frequency words”)
To help your child read at home, you also need to master phonics and know the high-frequency words they’re learning at school. Often, sight words are words that cannot be decoded through typical phonics rules, children “just have to know them”, as teachers say.
Here, I’ve collated the Top 100 High-Frequency words (and suggested some learning games) and shared some useful resources to help your child practise phonics. With a good grasp of phonics and quick recognition of sight words, your child will be well on the way to becoming a fluent reader.
Sight Words / Common Words / High-Frequency Words
These terms are used interchangeably.
To develop fluency, children need to recognise the words that frequently crop up in their phonics reading books (and everywhere else in the curriculum!). If they sounded out every word, reading would be painful (for them and you) so your child’s teacher will make sure these words are taught (which is why they often appear in spelling lists).
If your child is younger or finds reading particularly tricky, they’ll likely have fewer high-frequency words to learn initially. As their reading develops and they recognise a greater number of words, new, more challenging words will be taught.
Here are the top 100 high-frequency words, divided into Phases 2 to 5. (In the UK, phonics is taught sequentially in stages. A common framework used in schools is Letters & Sounds which has six distinct phonics stages. Don’t worry about the absence of Phase 1 – this is the stage in which children are distinguishing different types of sounds – or Phase 6 – in this stage, children continue to apply their phonics learning to become increasingly fluent readers.)
Phase 2 HFW
dad
I
mum
big
it
at
on
up
back
if
but
of
into
and
his
to
him
had
in
no
got
go
an
as
can
off
not
get
is
the
Phase 3 HFW
that
then
now
she
this
with
for
he
them
down
me
my
see
too
was
all
look
we
you
her
be
they
are
Phase 4 HFW
from
children
little
it’s
just
help
said
were
out
like
one
have
do
when
some
come
there
what
so
Phase 5 HFW
looked
made
your
come
saw
Mrs
don’t
asked
very
make
put
called
old
by
their
oh
could
about
house
time
day
people
here
I’m
Activities to Learn High Frequency Words
The lists above are deeply boring, but you can make learning these words considerably more enjoyable. With your child, practise spelling the words in coloured sand (you can buy this online or in toy shops), using cooked spaghetti, with phonics magnetic letters or alphabet blocks. Paint the words or stamp them into Play-Doh; whatever gets your child engaged in writing and spelling. (If your child has sensory needs, it’s a good idea to avoid pen or pencil to help the spelling of the words embed in their minds.)
Can your child spell the word backwards? What does the word look like in joined-up handwriting or capitals? Can they type it on the computer keyboard? The possibilities of helping your child learn to spell are endless – try and have fun with it.
Tricky Words
“Tricky words” are words that don’t follow typical phonics rules but children also have to know them to become fluent in reading. Fortunately, (or perhaps unfortunately depending on how you look at it) YouTube houses some very catchy songs to help your child recognise tricky words. Parents: I’m sorry!
Phase 2 Tricky Words Song
Phase 3 Tricky Words Song
Phonics
When reading with your child, it helps to know how to separate a word into chunks (segmenting) so children can put the component sounds together in order (blending) and therefore read the word.
There are 44 sounds (phonemes) made up of 144 letter combinations (graphemes) – known as grapheme-phoneme-correspondences (GPCs). Phonics programmes differ slightly in the order the phonemes are taught but these are the sounds in the (rough) order your child will learn them.
Phase 2 Phonics Sounds
a (as in ant)
t (as in tin)
p (as in pig)
i (as in ink)
n (as in nail)
m (as in mouse)
d (as in dog)
g (as in glue)
o (as in orange)
c (as in cat)
k (as in kite)
ck (as in sock)
e (as in egg)
u (as in umbrella)
r (as in red)
h (as in hat)
b (as in bat)
f (as in finger)
ff (as in fluff)
l (as in lamp)
ll (as in ball)
ss (as in grass)
Phase 3 Phonics Sounds
v (as in violin)
w (as in watch)
x (as in box)
y (as in yo-yo)
z (as in zebra)
zz (as in buzz)
qu (as in quest)
ch (as in chicken)
sh (as in shut)
th (as in thumb)
ng (as in ring)
nk (as in pink)
ai (as in rain)
ee (as in tree)
igh (as in night)
oa (as in goat)
oo (as in zoo)
oo (as in book)
ar (as in car)
or (as in pork)
ur (as in fur)
ow (as in clown)
oi (as in coin)
ear (as in beard)
air (as in chair)
ure (as in pure)
er (as in platter)
Phase 4 Phonics Sounds
Phase 5 Phonics Sounds
ou (as in house)
ie (as in pie)
ea (as in peach)
o-e (as in bone)
oy (as in boy)
ir (as in girl)
ue (as in glue)
ue (as in queue)
u-e (as in flute)
wh (as in wheel)
wh (as in whole)
ph (as in phone)
u-e (as in cube)
aw (as in straw)
ew (as in pew)
oe (as in toe)
au (as in haunt)
zh (as in treasure)
ew (as in flew)
a-e (as in cake)
e-e (as in theme)
i-e (as in ride)
ey (as in key)
l (as in lamp)
ll (as in ball)
ss (as in grass)
A Teacher’s Recommended Phonics Resources
The market is saturated with affordable phonics resources to buy to help your child read at home. Ask your child’s teacher what they recommend, alternatively, here are my top phonics resources for reading at home with your child.
Holly’s Phonics by TickiT®
Developed by an experienced educational specialist, this beautiful phonics game comprises a set of 40 wooden tiles with real photo images. The set has been designed to help children reinforce their phonics knowledge in a fun and enjoyable way, and the included activity guide suggests variations for continued fun. “Dots and dashes” underneath each grapheme help children segment the word into sounds so they can blend the sounds and read the word. This phonics game is long-lasting as the tiles are made from wood.
Read Write Inc. Phonics Flashcards
Using simple mnemonics, these illustrated flashcards introduce children to phonics sounds and corresponding letters. Also included in the pack are additional cards detailing how to use the flashcards with teaching guidance and activities.
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Online Phonics Games
Picnic on Pluto is a fun phonics game for children to distinguish between real and fake words. Sounds useless? Think again. In the Phonics Screening Check each year, teachers of Year 1 are required to administer a standardised test to students to assess phonics teaching and learning in the school. Within this test, there are real and pretend words, checking children’s ability to segment and blend words.
Phonics Pop allows personalised practice of specific sounds. Children listen to a target sound and try to pop as many letters that represent that sound until the next sound appears.
Similar to Picnic on Pluto, Buried Treasure encourages children to distinguish between real and fake words. Includes a deeply irritating jingle that children will love!
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