If you teach phonics, you know that hearing a sound once is the easy bit. Children need to hear it again, say it accurately, spot it in words and then remember it when they come to blend, read or spell.

That is where a good phonics song can be genuinely useful.

There is research behind the idea too. One study of children aged 9 to 11 found that those who learned a list of words through song remembered around 20% more than children who heard the same words spoken. They were still remembering around 17% more 15 minutes later. [1] Other studies have found benefits for vocabulary and word learning in younger children too. [2][3]

So where can songs actually earn their place in a phonics lesson?

1. Use them for a quick revisit

Songs are particularly handy when you want to bring a sound back without simply repeating yesterday’s lesson.

A two-minute song at the start of a session can quickly get children saying the sound again and remembering words they met previously. You can also bring the same song back later in the week when that sound appears in blending, spelling or reading.

That kind of revisit matters. England’s Reading Framework, for example, recommends regular consolidation of previously taught grapheme-phoneme correspondences and plenty of practice with oral blending and reading words. [4]

2. Give children a job while they listen

Don’t just press play and hope the learning happens.

Give children one thing to listen or look for. You might ask them to:

• make a signal every time they hear the target sound
• listen for a particular word
• repeat words containing the sound
• spot the grapheme when it appears
• think of another word with the same sound

It only takes a few seconds to set up, but it changes the song from something children watch into something they are actively listening to.

3. Choose songs children actually want to hear again

This matters more than it might sound.

If a song is funny, catchy or has a character children enjoy, they are much more likely to join in and much less likely to switch off halfway through. And when repetition is exactly what you need, having children ask to hear something again is rather useful.

For example, this phonics song for the /z/ sound is deliberately silly and fun, while still keeping the /z/ sound at the centre of the song. Children get repeated practice without it feeling like repeated practice.

4. Pause before the song gives them the answer

You do not have to let the video do all the work.

If a word is coming up, pause and ask children to listen for the sounds or predict the word. If the song separates a word into phonemes, stop before the complete word is said and let the children blend it first.

For example:

/z/ /i/ /p/

Pause.

Can they blend it into zip?

That small pause turns a song into a quick bit of phonics practice and gives you an immediate idea of who is blending confidently and who needs another go. Explicit practice in blending individual phonemes into words is a core part of early reading instruction.

5. Take the sound straight into reading and spelling

Once the song finishes, use the same sound again while it is fresh.

Children might:

• build words with magnetic letters
• sort words by their sounds
• blend a few words containing the focus grapheme
• find the grapheme in a decodable text
• segment a word and write it
• think of another word containing the sound

This is the bit that makes the song useful rather than just enjoyable.

If children have just sung about /z/, move straight into words such as zip, zap or buzz, depending on the GPCs they have already been taught. Let them hear the sound, find it, blend it and use it.

A phonics song has really done its job when the sound does not stay in the song. Children can carry it into the words they read and spell afterwards.

Written by Trisha Highton

Trisha Highton is a primary educator and contributor to Silly School Education, creating practical learning resources for young children.

References

[1] Knott & Thaut (2018), Front. Educ., 3:31. DOI: 10.3389/feduc.2018.00031.

[2] Lawson-Adams et al. (2022), Early Child. Res. Q., 58, 87–102. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2021.06.008.

[3] Ma et al. (2024), Q. J. Exp. Psychol., 77(2), 343–362. DOI: 10.1177/17470218231172494.

[4] Department for Education, England (2023), The Reading Framework.