How to Teach Letter Sounds at Home: A 10-Minute Phonics Routine

Teaching letter sounds at home sounds simple until you try it with a three-year-old who would rather be a dinosaur. The good news is that the work fits into ten minutes a day, needs almost no equipment, and goes far better when it feels like a game than a lesson. Here is what to teach, in what order, exactly what to say, and what to try when it isn't sticking.

What "knowing letter sounds" actually means#

There are two skills hiding under the word "phonics", and they develop at different speeds.

The first is hearing sounds in spoken words. Can your child tell you that sun starts with /s/? Can they hear that dog and log rhyme? This is all done with ears and mouths, no letters at all.

The second is linking a sound to a written shape: seeing m and saying /m/. Both matter, but the listening skill is the foundation. A child who can't yet hear the /s/ at the start of sock will find the letter s a meaningless squiggle, however many times you point at it.

So if your child is three, or if earlier attempts ended in tears, spend a week or two on listening games before showing a single letter.

Pure sounds, not "buh" and "muh"#

How you say each sound matters more than most parents expect. Try to say them "pure", without an extra uh on the end.

• Stretchy sounds can be held for as long as you like: mmm, sss, fff, lll, nnn, rrr, zzz. Hold them for a second or two.
• Bouncy sounds can't be stretched, so keep them short and crisp: /b/, /d/, /g/, /p/, /t/, /k/. Whisper them if the uh keeps creeping in. A whispered /t/ is almost impossible to say as "tuh".

Why bother? Because later, when your child blends sounds into a word, "muh-a-tuh" doesn't sound like mat. "Mmm-a-t" does.

Tune the ear first: three listening games#

These need nothing but you and a few minutes, so they suit the car, the bath or the queue at the shop.

I spy with sounds. Swap the usual "something beginning with ess" for the sound: "I spy with my little eye something that starts with /mmm/." Give a strong hint at first ("it's on the table and you drink from it", mug). Then let your child have a turn at being the spy.

Robot talk. Talk like a slow robot, splitting a word into sounds, and your child says the whole word. "Touch your h-ea-d." "Where is your n-o-se?" "Can you find the b-a-g?" This is oral blending, and it is the skill that turns letter knowledge into reading later. Start with three-sound words and give lots of help.

Silly rhymes. "Cat, hat, mat, zat!" Made-up words are allowed. Ask: "Does fish rhyme with dish? Does fish rhyme with cake?" Children usually find hearing rhymes easier than producing them, so ask the yes/no version first.

Once your child can play robot talk with short words and spot the first sound in a few words, they are ready to meet letters.

Which letters to teach first (hint: not A, B, C)#

Alphabetical order is fine for a song, but it is a poor teaching order. Many phonics programmes start with a small group of very useful letters that combine into dozens of real words straight away. In England, schools follow a systematic synthetic phonics programme, and a common first set is s, a, t, p, i, n. You can read about how those programmes are chosen in the UK government's guidance on phonics teaching programmes.

Two new sounds a week is a gentle pace for a four-year-old. Some children go faster; some need three weeks on the first set. Both are fine. The whole point of a short, useful set is that by week three your child can read a real word, and reading a real word is hugely motivating.

If your child's school uses a different order, follow the school. Consistency beats any perfect plan.

The 10-minute routine#

Same time, same place, same order, nearly every day. Predictability is what makes it short. Just after breakfast or straight after a snack tend to work better than late afternoon.

Here is roughly what step 2 sounds like in practice:

"This is a new one. It says /p/. Can you say /p/? Put your hand in front of your mouth: /p/. Feel the puff? Let's draw it in the air: down, up, and round."

Use the same short script every time you introduce a new letter. After a few weeks your child will start saying it with you, which is exactly the point.

For the writing step, short and chunky is better than a full worksheet. A single row on one of our letter tracing pages is plenty at this age. If pencil control is still very shaky, our guide to pre-writing skills explains what to practise first.

Games that make sounds stick#

Rotate these so the routine doesn't go stale. Swap one into step 3 or step 5 each day.

1. Sound basket. Put five objects in a basket, three starting with the sound of the week (sock, spoon, sticker) and two that don't (cup, ball). Your child sorts them into "yes" and "no".
2. Post it. Cut a slot in a cereal box. Say a sound; your child finds the matching card and posts it. Keeps hands busy and attention up.
3. Splat. Lay four letter cards on the floor. Say a sound; your child splats it with a fly swatter or a flat hand. Ridiculous, effective, loud.
4. Treasure word. Hide three letter cards around the room that spell a word. Once all three are found, blend them: p-i-n, pin.
5. Colour by sound. On a colouring page, colour everything that starts with /s/ in green and /t/ in red. Say each word out loud as you go. Many of our phonics worksheets work the same way.
6. Wrong-sound puppet. A puppet "reads" words and makes mistakes ("This says dop!"). Your child corrects it. Children love catching an adult out.

When it isn't sticking#

Every child hits a patch where the sounds seem to fall straight out of their head. Here are the common sticking points and what tends to help.

"They knew it yesterday." Completely normal. A sound isn't secure until your child has met it on several separate days. Keep yesterday's letters in the review pile for a week before trusting them.

They mix up b and d (or p and q). Expected at four and five, and often at six. Teach the two letters in different weeks rather than side by side, and give each a different "hook": for b, "bat then ball" (the line first, then the round part).

They add "uh" to every sound. Whisper the bouncy sounds together for a week. Whispering takes the voice away, and the uh goes with it.

They can say the sounds but can't blend. Go back to robot talk with no letters at all, and make the gap between sounds tiny: mmmaaat rather than m... a... t. Stretchy sounds blend most easily, so try words like sun, man and fan before bat or dog.

They refuse to sit down at all. Drop the routine for a few days and play only the listening games, on the move. Then come back with a shorter version: three steps instead of five. A five-minute session that happens is better than a ten-minute one that becomes a battle.

Nothing has changed after several months. Some children need more time, and that alone is no cause for alarm at three or four. If your child also struggles to hear rhymes, has had frequent ear infections or speech that is hard to understand, mention it to your nursery, health visitor or doctor. A hearing check is a sensible first step.

Little ways to keep sounds in daily life#

The ten-minute slot does the teaching. Everyday talk does the remembering.

• Point out the first sound of your child's name on cereal boxes, signs and number plates.
• When reading a picture book, pause on one big, clear word and sound out the first letter together. A rhythmic book such as Boom, Boom, Awa's Drum is perfect for this.
• In the bath, stick foam letters on the side and ask your child to find "the one that says /a/".
• At dinner, play "I'm thinking of a food that starts with /p/": pasta, peas, potato.

If you're also wondering how phonics fits with the short list of "tricky" words children get sent home with, we've written about sight words versus phonics. And if you'd like letter sounds to sit inside a wider plan, see our daily learning routine for preschoolers.

Pick your first two sounds tonight, write them on cards, and play one round of robot talk tomorrow before breakfast. That's the whole first step.