Phase 2 Phonics at Home: Sounds, Games & Worksheets

In This Article9 min read

Phase 2 phonics teaches 19 grapheme–phoneme correspondences in five sets, in a fixed order: s, a, t, p; i, n, m, d; g, o, c, k; ck, e, u, r; h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss
The sets are ordered so that a child can build real three-letter words within the first two sets (sat, tap, pat, pit)
Oral blending — saying sounds separately and having your child say the whole word aloud, with no letters in sight — should come before any printed word
A handful of tricky words (the, to, I, no, go, into) cannot be sounded out and are taught by sight alongside the sound sets
A calm two-week routine of ten minutes a day, plus watching for two common mistakes, covers everything most children need at this stage

What Phase 2 Phonics Covers

Phase 2 phonics teaches the first 19 letter sounds in five sets, in a set order (s, a, t, p; i, n, m, d; g, o, c, k; ck, e, u, r; h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss), plus oral blending and a small bank of tricky words that cannot be sounded out, such as the and to. It is usually the first phonics phase taught in Reception, most often across the autumn term.

Phase 2 is part of the Letters and Sounds programme (or a similar systematic synthetic phonics scheme most schools now use), which runs in numbered phases from Phase 1 (general sound awareness in Nursery) through to Phase 6 (spelling patterns in Year 2). Phase 2 is where reading actually begins: the point at which sounds turn into real words on a page. The Reception phonics worksheets on RaisoActive follow the same five sets in the same order.

This guide sets out the five Phase 2 sets in order, why oral blending has to come before print, how tricky words fit in, a two-week home routine, and the two mistakes that slow children down more than any other: using letter names instead of sounds, and adding an extra vowel sound (a schwa) onto consonants.

The Five Phase 2 Sets, in Order

The order of the five sets is not arbitrary. Set 1 (s, a, t, p) and Set 2 (i, n, m, d) between them make enough real words — sat, pat, tap, pit, tip, nap, pan, sit, pin, and more — that a child can start reading and building whole words after learning only eight sounds. Later sets add sounds that combine with the earlier ones to widen the pool of words further.

Set 1: s, a, t, p — enough on their own for sat, tap, pat
Set 2: i, n, m, d — adds pin, tin, man, dad, sand, and combines with Set 1 for sit, tip, mat, dip
Set 3: g, o, c, k — adds got, dog, cat, cot, kid, and words like pig, tag, sock
Set 4: ck, e, u, r — adds neck, back, sock, red, ten, run, mud, cup
Set 5: h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss — adds hat, big, fun, off, log, doll, miss, and a first look at double letters at the end of short words

19 correspondences

is the number of grapheme–phoneme correspondences taught across the five Phase 2 sets, enough for a child to blend and read simple CVC words such as sat, pin, dog and mud without any further sounds

Source: Letters and Sounds, Phase 2

Introduce sounds through their sound and a picture (s for snake, m for mouse), not through the letter name. A useful home rule: if your child says "ess" instead of the hissing "sss" sound, gently model the sound back rather than correcting mid-word; letter names are taught later and mixing the two now slows blending down.

Oral Blending Before Print

Blending is the skill of holding separate sounds in mind and merging them into a word: hearing c-a-t and saying "cat". It is the single skill that turns letter knowledge into reading, and it can and should be practised with no letters on the page at all, using everyday words and toys.

Say a familiar object in separate sounds — "shall we get your c-u-p?" — and see if your child can say the whole word before fetching it
Play "Robot Talk": say three items in sounds (h-a-t, s-o-ck, p-e-n) and ask your child to point to or fetch the right one
Segment instead of blend sometimes: say a word normally and ask your child to say it back in separate sounds, which is the reverse skill needed for early writing
Keep the gap between sounds short; a long pause between each sound makes blending harder, not easier
Move to printed letters only once oral blending with 3 sounds is reliable, then use the same words with letter cards or a worksheet

Children who can blend orally tend to read printed CVC words within days of seeing the letters, because the hard part (holding sounds in mind and merging them) is already secure. Children pushed straight to print without oral practice often "sound out" a word correctly and then guess a different word entirely, because the blending step never happened. Free CVC words worksheets are a good next step once oral blending is solid.

Tricky Words: The Ones You Cannot Sound Out

A handful of very common English words do not follow regular sound-letter rules and are taught by sight alongside the Phase 2 sets. Letters and Sounds calls these tricky words (later phases use the term common exception words). In Phase 2, the usual list is: the, to, I, no, go and into.

the: the "th" sound is regular, but the vowel sound does not match any single letter taught yet
I and no and go: single-letter or short words where the vowel is pronounced as its letter name rather than its short sound
to: the "o" is pronounced "oo", not the short "o" sound taught in Set 3
into: a compound of in and to, useful once both parts are familiar

Teach tricky words by sight through repetition in context — pointing to them in a shared book, or a matching game — rather than by trying to sound them out. Free sight words worksheets give short, repeated practice with exactly this small set of words.

A Two-Week Home Routine

Ten minutes a day is enough. This routine assumes your child's class is working through the sets in order; adjust the weeks to match wherever your school actually is, since schools vary in pace by a few weeks either way.

Two weeks, one focus each

Days 1–3: Learn the current set through sound and picture

Introduce four new sounds through a picture and an action, not a letter name. Play spot-the-sound around the house: "can you find something that starts with sss?"

Days 4–6: Oral blend with the new sounds

No letters yet. Say two or three familiar words in separate sounds and have your child blend them aloud. Use Robot Talk as a five-minute game at snack time.

Days 7–9: Bring in print

Show the same words with letters this time: point under each letter as you say its sound, then run your finger smoothly under the whole word for the blend. One or two worksheet pages fit well here.

Days 10–12: Build and change words

Use magnetic letters or letter cards to build a word (sat), then change one letter at a time (sat to sit to sip) and ask your child to read the new word each time.

Days 13–14: Mix in a tricky word and review

Add one tricky word from the current list into a simple sentence with the CVC words already learned, for example "I sit." Review all sounds taught so far with a quick sound-picture matching game.

👋The two mistakes to watch for

Letter names instead of sounds: if your child says "es-ay-tee" instead of "s-a-t", the blend will not work; go back to sound-and-picture practice with no letter names at all
The added schwa: saying "suh-a-tuh" instead of a crisp "s-a-t" adds an extra vowel sound onto each consonant and makes blending much harder; model consonant sounds as short and clipped, cut off quickly rather than drawn out
Keep sessions to ten minutes and stop while it is still going well
Praise the attempt to blend, not just a correct answer; guessing confidently and self-correcting is part of learning to read
Follow the class order rather than skipping ahead to Phase 3 sounds; a mismatch with school pacing causes more confusion than it saves time

Key Takeaway

Sound before letter, blend before print, order before speed.

Phase 2 works because it is sequenced: eight sounds make real words, oral blending comes before the eye has to do the work of reading, and tricky words are kept to a short, taught list rather than left to guesswork. A child who can blend three sounds aloud with no letters in sight is more ready to read than one who can name all 26 letters but cannot merge sounds into a word. Follow the five sets in order and the reading will follow.

Frequently Asked Questions

What order are the Phase 2 phonics sounds taught in?

The usual Letters and Sounds order is: Set 1 (s, a, t, p), Set 2 (i, n, m, d), Set 3 (g, o, c, k), Set 4 (ck, e, u, r), and Set 5 (h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss). The order is chosen so children can build real three-letter words as early as possible: after Sets 1 and 2 alone, a child can already read sat, pat, tap, pin, tin, nap, dip and many more.

Should I teach letter names or letter sounds first?

Sounds first. Phase 2 phonics teaches the sound each letter makes (a hissing "sss" for s, not "ess"), because blending depends on sounds, not names. Letter names are usually introduced later, once blending is secure, often alongside handwriting. Mixing names and sounds too early is one of the most common reasons a child struggles to blend, because "es-ay-tee" does not merge into a recognisable word the way "s-a-t" does.

What is oral blending and why does it matter?

Oral blending is merging separately spoken sounds into a word with no letters involved — hearing "c-a-t" and saying "cat". It matters because it is the actual skill of reading, isolated from the extra demand of recognising letters at the same time. Children who can blend three sounds aloud read printed CVC words far more quickly once letters are introduced, because they only need to learn the letter-to-sound link, not the blending itself.

What are tricky words and why can't they be sounded out?

Tricky words (also called common exception words) are common English words whose spelling does not follow the regular sound-letter rules taught so far, such as the, to, I, no, go and into. In Phase 2, the vowel sounds in these words do not match any sound yet taught, so children learn them by sight through repetition in books and games rather than by sounding them out letter by letter.

My child knows all the Phase 2 sounds but cannot blend. What should we do?

This is common and usually means blending needs more oral practice away from print. Go back to saying familiar words in separate sounds with no letters in sight — "can you fetch your c-u-p?" — and build up from two sounds to three. Keep sounds short and clipped, without an extra vowel added on. Once oral blending with three sounds is reliable, printed words usually follow within a couple of weeks.

Are Phase 2 phonics worksheets free on RaisoActive?

Yes. Every worksheet, including the Phase 2 sound-set and CVC word pages, can be downloaded free as a watermarked PDF once you create an account, up to five downloads a day, and prints on A4 or US Letter. An annual [subscription](/subscribe) removes the watermark and the daily limit, which is useful if you are printing a page most days while working through the sets.

Getting Started This Week

Check which set your child's class is currently on, then spend three or four days on oral blending with that set's sounds before reaching for a worksheet at all. Once blending is solid, print one page from the phonics collection or the letter tracing pages to pair sound with letter formation, and keep each session to ten minutes so it stays something your child looks forward to.