Phonics Teaching Resources
Make teaching phonics easy with printable phonics worksheets, activities, games and more designed for primary teachers.
This collection of Australian curriculum-aligned teaching resources has been carefully reviewed by our expert teaching team to make sure every resource is classroom-ready — so we can make your lesson planning easier!
New to teaching phonics, or just looking for new ways to engage your students? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Is Phonics?
You've likely heard the word 'phonics' thousands of times throughout your own education and maybe on one of those old as from the '90s. But what is phonics, exactly?
Phonics is technically defined as the systematic instruction of the relationships between letters and sounds in written language. But that's a mouthful, isn't it? More simply, phonics is the word we use to refer to the method of teaching reading by focusing on the relationship between written letters and the sounds they represent.
In phonics, kids learn how to decode written words by recognising the sound-symbol correspondence.
Phonics vs. Phonemic Awareness
When we start talking about letters and their sounds, we start to wander into phonemic awareness territory. So what's the difference?
The words phonics and phonemic are similar, and the two concepts are — surprise, surprise — related. But there are key differences.
Phonemic awareness is essentially the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds — aka phonemes — in spoken language. It's those individual sounds and their correspondence to the letter symbols that can be used by kids to then decode written words.
So students learn to recognise the individual sounds of spoken language (phonemes) and how these sounds can be represented by letters (graphemes) in written language. Then they apply this knowledge to decode written words by understanding the sound-symbol correspondence.
Consider this example:
- Let's say your student can identify the separate sounds in a spoken word such as 'cat' (i.e., /k/ /a/ /t/). That's phonemic awareness.
- Now let's say you're teaching that same student that the letter 'c' represents the /k/ sound and that the letter 'a' represents the /a/ sound, and that these sounds combine to form the word 'cat.' That's phonics!
How to Teach Phonics in Primary School
OK, you probably already know that phonics is all about teaching word recognition via grapheme-phoneme associations and letter-sound correspondences.
It’s a means of teaching early readers the pieces that make up a word so they can blend them together to decode the English language as readers and writers.
But how do you teach it?
In the earliest stages, phonics instruction typically begins with teaching students the most common letter-sound relationships. You start with consonants, then move on to vowels, then consonant blends.
Students then learn to sound out words by decoding the letters and blending the sounds together to form words.
Phonics Vocabulary Terms to Remember
The English language system is one of the hardest to teach and learn, so how do you teach phonics? Let’s start with the phonics vocabulary.
- For starters, there are 26 letters that create approximately 44 phonemes, the word for the individual speech sounds that make up words. Put together, phonemes make words. OK, easy enough, right?
- Well, these phonemes can be written in more than 200 different letter combinations, known as graphemes. Graphemes can be made up of 1 letter (such as 'p' in 'pig'), 2 letters (such as 'gh' in ghost), 3 letters (such as 'igh' in night), or 4 letters (such as 'ough' in rough).
- Then there are digraphs or two letters that work together to make one sound — such as “ph” in graph. But wait, isn’t that a grapheme? Yup, a digraph is a type of grapheme.
- So is a trigraph, trigraphs, aka three letters that work together to make one sound, such as 'dge' in edge.
- And if you’re teaching phonics, you can’t forget dipthongs, the name for a sound that is formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, such as 'ou' in loud.
Most students will spend foundation, year 1 and even year 2 getting a handle on all phonics elements!
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Phoneme Spotter Story – 'oo' Sound
A decodable text featuring various graphemes that make the ‘oo’ sound.
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Initial Sound Recognition Worksheets (Lower Case) – Complete Set a–z
A set of colouring activities to develop letter recognition and phonemic awareness.
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Syllable Peg Cards
A hands-on syllable activity for lower years that helps to develop syllable recognition.
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Phoneme Find - R, RR, and WR Spelling Game
Decide when to use r, rr, or wr to spell the /r/ sound with an engaging Interactive Phonics Activity!
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Long Vowel O Teams Interactive Activity
Practise identifying the different graphemes that spell the long /o/ sound with this fun boat-themed interactive activity.
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Sh Digraph Lesson Resource Pack
Introduce students to the sh digraph with this set of teaching slides and mini activity book.
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Ng Digraph Lesson Resource Pack
Introduce students to the ng digraph with this set of teaching slides and mini activity book.
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Vowel Digraphs Worksheet Pack
Practise writing and enhancing knowledge of vowel digraphs with this worksheet pack.
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Long A Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long a’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Long O Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long o’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Long I Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long i’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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The Pit - Decodable Reader (Level 1)
Develop confident, successful readers with this phonics-based, printable decodable book.
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CVC Word Chain Task Cards
Manipulate the individual phonemes in CVC words to create new ones with this set of differentiated task cards.
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Alphabetical Order Task Cards – Set 1
A set of 11 task cards alphabetising a series of words to the first letter.
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How Does It End? – Final Sounds Match-Up Activity
Consolidate your students' understanding of end sounds with this set of 15 task cards.
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Onset and Rime Match-Up Activity
Practise building words by matching the onset and the rime using this match up activity.
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Letter Craft Activity - 'I' is For Insect (Version 1)
An activity to assist young students with letter recognition, phonemic awareness and fine motor development.
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Letter Craft Activity - 'R' is For Robot
An activity to assist young students with letter recognition, phonemic awareness and fine motor development.
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Rhyming Poems Poster
A poster providing a definition and example of a rhyming poem.
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Segmenting and Blending Mats
A set of beautifully designed templates for students to practise blending and segmenting words.
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Vowel Digraphs Poster Pack
Expose your students to the most common vowel digraphs with this set of 24 posters.
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Long Vowel Digraph Writing Worksheet
Learn to encode long vowel digraphs with this set of writing worksheets.
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Consonant Digraph CH Interactive Activity
Engage students in practising their learning around the consonant digraph of ‘ch’ with this fun beach-themed interactive activity.
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Consonant Digraph SH Interactive Activity
Engage students in practising their learning around the consonant digraph of ‘sh’ with this fun beach-themed interactive activity.
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Consonant Digraph NG Interactive Activity
Engage students in practising their learning around the consonant digraph of ‘ng’ with this fun playground-themed interactive activity.
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Sh Digraph Words With Images
Learn words that contain the 'sh' digraph with these word and picture flashcards.
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Dot Painting ABC Worksheets
Build fine motor skills and letter recognition with a fun set of Alphabet Do-a-Dot printables.
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CVC Word Chain Ladders - Worksheets
Build word chains with CVC words using this set of printable phonics worksheets.
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Long E Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long e’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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OW and OU Words - Word Search
Explore words containing ‘ow’ and ‘ou’ with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Ant - Decodable Reader (Level 1)
Develop confident, successful readers with this phonics-based, printable decodable book.
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Switching Sounds in CVC Words - Interactive Activity
Manipulate onsets to create new words with this interactive phonics resource.