Phonics is the link between the sounds in spoken words and the letters that write them. It is how a child works out a word they have never seen, instead of guessing it.
What phonics teaches
Spoken English has about 44 sounds, and written English has 26 letters to spell them with. So a letter does not always make one sound, and one sound can often be spelled several ways. Phonics teaches those links directly, a few at a time, starting with the most reliable ones.
Taught in a planned order, rather than as words happen to come up, phonics gives a child a way to work out any new word instead of guessing it from the picture or memorising its shape.
The order children learn it in
Single letter sounds. The sound each letter usually makes: /s/, /a/, /t/, /p/, rather than the letter's name.
Blending: pushing two or three sounds together until they become a word.
CVC words: three-letter words like cat and sun, where every letter makes its most common sound.
Digraphs. Two letters that make one sound, such as sh, ch, th and ck.
Long vowels and vowel teams. Patterns like ai, ee, oa and the silent e in cake.
Longer words. Splitting words into syllables, and adding endings like -ing and -ed.
Phonics guides
What Is Blending in Phonics? — Blending is turning separate sounds into a word — here's exactly how to teach it, with practice words by difficulty.
CVC Words List for Kids — The full CVC word list, grouped by vowel sound, with audio for every word — tap to hear it, then try reading it yourself.
Phonics Activities for 5 Year Olds — Ten phonics activities you can do with a 5-year-old today, using things you already have at home — no worksheets, no prep.
The English Reading Rule Bank — A structured knowledge base of English decoding: letter sounds, digraphs, vowel teams, syllable types, silent letters, suffixes and schwa — every rule labelled by how reliable it actually is, with its exceptions listed.
Next: reading
Once a child can blend simple words, phonics starts turning into reading. The reading guides cover what to read at that stage and how to practise it.