How to Teach Letter Sounds: Saying Them Right, the Order and the Mistakes to Avoid

Letter sounds are the first real step towards reading. A child who knows that s says /s/, a says /a/ and t says /t/ can push those sounds together and read sat, long before they know the alphabet song by heart. You don't need to be a teacher to help. You need to say the sounds cleanly, go in a sensible order, and keep it playful.

I'm a dad, not a teacher. This is what I learned while building a free reading program for my daughter, checked against the guidance schools use.

Sounds first, names later

The name of a letter and its sound are different things. "Em" is the name; /m/ is the sound. Letter names don't help a child read: as Oxford Owl puts it, they don't always match the pronunciation ("double u", "em"). Read c-a-t with letter names and you get "see-ay-tee", which is no help at all.

So start with the sounds. The names can come later, usually from the alphabet song and from school, and children pick them up easily once the sounds are secure.

How to say the sounds

This is where most of us go wrong, because we learned the sounds with extra bits stuck on.

• No "uh" on the end. /m/, not "muh". /b/, not "buh". /t/ is a tiny tap of the tongue, not "tuh". With the "uh", c-a-t blends to "cuh-a-tuh", and the word disappears.
• Short and clean. Say each sound as briefly as you can. Some sounds, like /s/, /m/, /f/ and /l/, can be held a moment longer to help with blending, but never with a vowel added.
• Short vowels first. a as in apple, e as in egg, i as in insect, o as in octopus, u as in umbrella.
• Check yourself. Many schools share videos of the pure sounds with parents, and Oxford Owl has one too. A couple of minutes of listening is worth it.

English has about 44 sounds, many with more than one spelling, and children often keep learning them until around age seven. Start with one sound per letter and build from there.

The order most schools use

Schools don't teach the alphabet from A to Z. They start with letters that make lots of short words straight away. The order used by the UK's Letters and Sounds programme, and by many schools elsewhere, begins:

1. s, a, t, p: already enough for sat, tap, pat.
2. i, n, m, d: pin, sit, map, dad.
3. g, o, c, k: dog, pig, cat, kid.
4. ck, e, u, r: duck, red, sun, cup.
5. h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss: hen, bus, off, bell, kiss.

A few sounds a week is plenty. What matters most is that each new sound is used in real words quickly, so your child feels the point of it: "Now you can read sat!"

Blending: putting sounds together

Knowing sounds is half the job; blending them is the other half.

• Start out loud, with no letters. "Can you find your h-a-t?" "Let's go to the p-a-r-k." Children learn to hear the word in the sounds before they see it.
• Then with letters. Point to each letter, say its sound, then sweep your finger under the word and say it smoothly: s-a-t, sat.
• Short words first. Three letters, one sound each: sat, pin, dog. Leave the and was (the "tricky" words) for later.

Five games for letter sounds

1. I spy, with sounds. "I spy something that starts with /b/." Then let your child pick.
2. Sound basket. Fill a basket with things that start with the same sound: a sock, a spoon, a star. Add one odd one out to find.
3. Sound of the day. Choose one sound at breakfast and hunt for it all day, on signs, packets and books.
4. Magnetic letters on the fridge. Make sat, change one letter to make pat, then pit. Each change is a new word to read.
5. Write it in the air. Say the sound while tracing the letter big in the air, in sand or on a steamy window. Writing helps the sound stick, and our guide from scribbles to letters explains why.

Mistakes to avoid

• Adding "uh". The most common one, and the easiest to fix.
• Starting with letter names. They get in the way of blending.
• Going too fast. A child who knows ten sounds well can read more words than one who half-knows twenty-six.
• Turning it into a test. Little and often, a few minutes a day, stopping while it's still fun.

By age

• 2 to 3: listening games, rhymes, I spy with sounds, the first sound of their name.
• 3 to 4: the first letter sounds (s, a, t, p…), oral blending ("your h-a-t"), tracing letters.
• 4 to 5: most single letter sounds, blending short words, writing simple words from sounds.

Every child moves at their own pace, and starting early is a gift, not a race. Our guide when can a child start learning to read? has the signs your child is ready. Our school readiness checklist shows where letter sounds fit with everything else.

Where Bubba helps

Tiny Hands Learn: Reading teaches letter sounds exactly this way, in this order, from age two. Bubba the whale says every sound cleanly, out loud, so your child hears it right even if you're not sure yourself, then moves on to blending, writing and little stories. It's free for every family, because we believe every child, wherever they're born and whatever their family can afford, deserves an early start on reading. A grown-up makes a free account first, so each child's progress is kept.

Our guide on how to teach your child to read and write at home covers the next steps: tricky words, reading aloud and writing. Looking at other apps too? See our reading apps compared.

Questions parents ask

What's the difference between letter names and letter sounds?

The name is what the letter is called ("em"); the sound is what it says in a word (/m/). Reading uses sounds, so teach those first.

Which letter sounds should I teach first?

Most schools start with s, a, t, p, then i, n, m, d. They make lots of short words quickly, like sat, pin and map.

At what age can a child learn letter sounds?

Many children enjoy sound games from two, and some are ready for their first letter sounds soon after. There's no rush: little and often, while it's fun.