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The Phonics Games

Research shows that systematic, synthetic phonics gives children the strongest reading and spelling foundations. Phonics Hero has this at its core. Our education experts have created over 850 fun, varied and motivating games to take your class step by step through the synthetic phonics process.

Move Systematically through the Synthetic Phonics Skills:

Know icon image of cartoon eyeballs.Step 1 – Knowing the sounds

Children learn a group of 4-8 sounds and match the sound with a letter. Some examples:

A screenshot of the Phonics Hero game with a rubber duck in a bath tub and bubbles with letters in them, the player is audio prompted to tap on the right buble Lots of practise at a single sound.

Phonics Hero Part Two. Practise identifying different sounds.

Phonics Hero Part Three. Identify the sounds in amongst a larger group.

Read icon of an open book.Step 2 – Read with these sounds

Children use the 4-8 sounds they’ve learned, to blend them together and read words. Every word a child reads will be 100% decodable; giving them success from the outset. Some examples:

A screenshot of the Phonics Hero treasure hunt game that has players read a word then tap on the related image Match the word to the picture.

Phonics Hero Part Two. Read nonsense words.

Phonics Hero Part Three. Fast reading to build fluency.

Write icon of a pencil.Step 3 – Spell with these sounds

The beauty of synthetic phonics is it is a reversible process; if you can read something, you can also spell it. Children listen for the sounds in a word, and must identify the letter(s) associated with it. Some examples:

a screenshot of the Phonics Hero game with a sentence reading 'the cat' with a barn background Sound substitution.

Phonics Hero Part Two. Spell independently.

Phonics Hero Part Three. Proof reading.

CW Read icon of a book and screen.Step 4 – Read camera/tricky words

Irregular, high-frequency words, or camera/tricky words, such as ‘the’ and ‘was’ are tricky to read but are essential because they occur so often in children‘s books and writing. Some examples:

A screenshot of the Phonics Hero game showcasing a reading test with a woodland background with a troll creature Getting familiar with the camera/tricky words.

Phonics Hero Part Two. Identifying the heard camera/tricky words.

Phonics Hero Part Three. Fast reading to develop fluency.

CW Write icon of a pencil and screen.Step 5 – Spell camera/tricky words

Children also need to learn to spell these irregular, high frequency words so they can move onto writing sentences. Some examples:

A screenshot of the Phonics Hero game with a spaceship background and spelling quiz of the word 'the' with the 'h' missing Spell camera/tricky words with support.

Phonics Hero Part Two. Unscramble the words.

Phonics Hero Part Three. Spell the words unsupported with no hint.

Sentence icon of a stack of books.Step 6 – Read sentences

We put all these skills together to read sentences and short passages of text, cementing those foundations for a love for reading! Some examples:

a screenshot of the Phonics Hero game with a sentence reading 'the cat' with a barn background Decide if the sentence matches the image.

Phonics Hero Part Two. Match the sentence with the correct image.

Phonics Hero Part Three. Complete the sentence.

All 44 Sounds, in 3 Different Accents

Our games cover all 44 sounds in an English, Australian and American accent. The games are mapped to multiple sequences: Playing with Sounds, Letters and Sounds and the NSW Syllabus – Australia. Compare the orders.

Test Phonics Skills, not Hand-eye Coordination

So many phonics games are practising children’s ability to play computer games, rather than their reading and spelling skills. We pride ourselves on games which don’t require advanced hand-eye coordination but get children reading and spelling with just the right level of interactivity. Watch some examples:

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