Phase 2 phonics: a parent's guide
Phase 2 phonics is where your child starts learning the sounds that letters make and blending them into words. It's usually taught in the first term of Reception, so if your child has just come home talking about "s-a-t", this is the stage they're on.
This guide covers what Phase 2 includes, the order the sounds are usually taught in, the tricky words, and what you can do at home to help without turning it into homework.
What is Phase 2 phonics?
Phase 2 is the stage where children learn their first letter sounds and use them to read and spell simple words. By the end of it, they can blend sounds to read words like "sat" and "dog", and break spoken words back into sounds to spell them.
The name comes from Letters and Sounds, the phonics guidance the government published in 2007, which split early reading into six phases. Phase 1 is listening and sound games before letters come in. Phase 2 is where the letters arrive.
What age is Phase 2 phonics taught?
Phase 2 is taught in Reception, when children are four or five, and usually starts in the autumn term. The original Letters and Sounds guidance gave it up to six weeks before moving on.
Many schools now spread it across the whole first term. In Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, for example, Phase 2 runs through Autumn 1 and Autumn 2.
What are the Phase 2 sounds?
In the original Letters and Sounds order, children learn 23 letters and letter pairs in five sets, roughly one set a week. They start blending as soon as the first set is in, so they're reading real words within days.
| Set | Sounds | Words your child can read with them |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | s, a, t, p | sat, pat, tap, at |
| 2 | i, n, m, d | pin, man, sit, dip |
| 3 | g, o, c, k | dog, cat, got, kit |
| 4 | ck, e, u, r | duck, red, sun, rock |
| 5 | h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss | hat, bed, off, bell, kiss |
That order comes from the Letters and Sounds Phase 2 sequence. Notice that "ck", "ff", "ll" and "ss" are two letters making one sound. That's your child's first taste of an idea that gets much bigger in Phase 3.
What are the Phase 2 tricky words?
The Phase 2 tricky words in Letters and Sounds are the, to, I, no, go and into. They're called tricky because a child can't sound them out yet with the sounds they know, so they learn them by sight.
Try sounding out "the" with Phase 2 sounds and you get "t-h-e", which isn't the word at all. Rather than confuse your child, schools teach these few as whole words and come back to them once the spelling makes sense.
Little Wandle's list is longer. It starts with is, I and the in Autumn 1, then adds words such as "and", "has", "his", "she", "we" and "be" in Autumn 2. If your child brings home a word that isn't on the list above, that's probably why.
Why does my child's school teach the sounds in a different order?
Your child's school may follow a different phonics programme with its own order, so don't worry if their list doesn't match the table above. Every validated programme teaches the same skills, but each one sequences the sounds slightly differently.
In 2021 the Department for Education removed the 2007 Letters and Sounds handbook from its list of validated programmes, because on its own it didn't include the resources and training a full programme needs. Your child's school may well use one of the validated programmes instead. Little Wandle, for example, teaches s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o, c, k, ck, e, u, r, h, b, f and l in Autumn 1, then moves on to sounds such as j, v, w, x, y, z, ch, sh and th in Autumn 2. The word "phase" has stuck around anyway, which is why you still hear it at the school gate.
The simplest fix is to ask your child's teacher which programme they use and which sounds your child has covered so far. Ask whether there's a sound mat you can keep at home, too.
What is blending, and how can I help?
Blending is saying each sound in a word in order and pushing them together until you hear the word: "d-o-g" becomes "dog". It's the skill that turns knowing letter sounds into actually reading.
You can practise it out loud, with no books at all. Say "Can you touch your h-a-t?" or "Where's your c-u-p?" and let your child work out the word. They're doing the blending in their head, which is exactly the skill they need on the page.
When they start blending written words, let them point to each letter as they say the sound. If they get stuck, say the sounds a little faster each time until the word pops out. Keep it short. Five minutes that ends with a success beats twenty that ends in tears.
What I learned in the classroom
In my 22 years teaching children in Taiwan, I found that blending isn't only about teaching the right method, although that matters a lot. It's just as much about the encouragement that comes after.
Children need encouragement and they love it, whether the step is big or small. A big, expressive "Great! Fantastic! Brilliant!" with a thumbs up does wonders for a child's confidence and for how well they learn. That's something we believe in at BAMJOY.
It works even better when you say what they did: "You blended d-o-g all by yourself!" Your child hears that you noticed, and knows exactly what to do again next time.
How should I say the sounds?
Say each sound short and clean, without adding an "uh" on the end. That means "mmm", not "muh", and "sss", not "suh".
Oxford Owl's guide to pure sounds explains why this matters: it is important "not to add an 'uh' to the end of the letter." The extra "uh" makes blending much harder. "Muh-a-tuh" doesn't sound anything like "mat", but "mmm-a-t" does.
This one catches lots of parents out, because most of us were taught letter names ("em", "ess") rather than sounds. If you're not sure, ask your child to show you. They usually love being the teacher.
What Phase 2 activities can we do at home?
The best home practice is little and often, uses the sounds your child already knows, and feels like a game. Ten minutes a day does more than an hour at the weekend.
Sound hunt: pick the sound of the week and find things around the house that start with it. "S" gives you sock, spoon and sofa.
I spy with sounds: play I spy, but say the sound, not the letter name. "I spy something beginning with /c/."
Robot talk: talk like a robot, saying words sound by sound ("p-a-t the d-o-g"), and ask your child to work out what you said.
Magnetic letters: put out three letters that make a word, such as s, a, t. Let your child say the sounds and blend them, then swap one letter to make a new word: sat, pat, pit.
Read to them every day: choose books above their own reading level. Phase 2 gives them the tools to read, but hearing stories gives them the words and the reason to want to.
Are there free Phase 2 phonics games?
Yes. BBC Bitesize has a free Phase 2 phonics section with short activities for each set of sounds, which makes it a safe first stop.
Keep screen time short and use it as a top-up, not a replacement for saying sounds together. A game can practise a sound, but it can't hear whether your child is adding an "uh".
BAMJOY creates personalised stories with your child as the hero, built around the Letters & Sounds phases. You can try a free story to see how it works.
What comes after Phase 2?
Phase 3 comes next, and it's also taught in Reception. In the original guidance it lasted up to 12 weeks, and it introduces the rest of the alphabet and more sounds made with two or three letters, such as "sh", "ch", "ai" and "igh".
Don't rush to get there. A child who can blend Phase 2 words confidently will pick up Phase 3 faster than one who was hurried through.