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There are a lot of important skills that kids need to learn in order to be successful readers. One of those skills is blending sounds together to form words. And yet, many struggle with blending words well into the middle and high school years.

You may have some students that know all their letter sounds and still they segment every word, every single time, even if they already decoded that same word in the previous sentence; and you're not sure what else you can do.

Although it can be more difficult for some students to learn how to blend sounds, there are some fun, easy, and highly effective ways to help teach blending sounds!

What is blending?

Blending is the process of putting together individual sounds within a word to say the word aloud. It is an important skill for students to develop when learning to read.

Blending helps children read unknown words by breaking them down into individual sounds. Once children are able to blend sounds, reading becomes easier and more fluent.

Because blending involves segmenting words, students should learn both skills at the same time. Early phonemic awareness skills are key!

How To Teach Blending Sounds

Teaching blending is actually pretty easy. There are just a few things to consider, along with the amount of practice. It really takes a lot of practice!

Start with Oral Blending

Introduce oral blending early on. Students who are able to blend at the oral level will have an easier time blending in print.

This is why developing those phonemic awareness skills early on will help. Students can practice orally blending syllables, onset and rime, and then individual phonemes orally before they ever do it in print.

Check out my Phonemic Awareness Activities Daily Task Cards for some quick daily no prep practice with oral blending and other phonemic awareness skills.

Use Continuous and Stop sounds in the right places

Are you familiar with continuous and stop sounds? If you have a sound wall or are familiar with explicit phonics instruction then you probably know this. But when I started teaching I didn't!

Continuous sounds are sounds that we make with a continuous flow of air from our mouth or nose. These sounds are easy to extend or 'stretch' out without changing the sound.

Take for example the /m/ sound. We can stretch this sound and continue to say it without any interruption or change in sound.

Continuous sounds are the easiest to start off with when working on blending. They work really well when used as the first sound.

Continuous sounds include: /m/, /n/, /s/, /l/, /f/, /r/, /v/, /z/.

Stop sounds are the opposite of continuous sounds. When you say a stop sound, air from the mouth is first blocked and then released, resulting in a small puff of air. The sounds are short, and they cannot be extended without changing the sound by adding an 'uh' (or schwa) at the end.

You want to use stop sounds at the end of the word. For example, you can try blending /m/ /a/ /d/ which includes a continuous sound first and a stop sound last.

As students become more proficient in blending, you can add stop sounds to the beginning.

Stop sounds include: /b/, /d/, /g/, /k/, /p/, /t/.

Stretch The Sounds

When teaching blending, be sure to really stretch out the sounds. Model how to connect each sound to the next one, which is easier to do when we stretch out the sounds.

Connect The Sounds

Along with stretching each sound, make sure to model how to connect each sound. This is where I see many struggling students trip up. They stretch the sound, but then they pause and start the next sound. It's important to get them to connect the sounds.

Introduce blending words in print early on

You can start blending sounds as soon as students know 2 sounds! If they have learned one consonant and one vowel, show them how to blend.

As students learn more sounds, continue practicing blending them, even if they don't make real words.

I used to teach sounds in groups, starting with the group s a t i p n. After learning these 6 letter sounds, we would work on blending. There are so many words you can make with the 6 letters alone, such as sat, sit, sun, pin, pat, pan, tip, tan, tin, sip, etc.

It doesn't really matter what order you use, just be sure to start teaching blending once students know a few letter sounds.

Make It Multisensory!

Slide a finger down your arm or across a surface as you blend, mimicking the sounds connecting to each other.

When using visuals, such as flashcards or letter tiles, push the letters closer to each other as you blend them together.

Lots Of Practice!

I'm repeating this with its own bold title to really drive the point that practice is key! Students need a lot more practice than we think to become fluent at blending.

Blending Activities & Strategies

Below are some blending activities and strategies you can use to teach blending.

Continuous Blending (Successive Blending)

Continuous blending is really good for those kids who seem to be stuck sounding out every word and don't seem to move on. This technique simply involves really stretching out each sound so it's a continuous flow of sounds.

Isolated Blending

Isolated blending is when you say the first letter the loudest to emphasize it, and say each consecutive sound softer so the last sound is the lowest.

Final Blending

Final blending is when you blend the first two sounds together then add the final sound.

Sound Boxes

Elkonin boxes, or sound boxes, are great for segmenting and blending, especially when they have the directional arrow and colors that students can use as a guide.

I like to place a phonogram card in each box then have students blend each one to read the word.

Blending Boards

Blending boards are a great hands on method for blending sounds. I recommend you use a system where the cards are not simply letters but graphemes that represent one sound such as phonogram cards. For example, when blending the word 'chop', use a card that contains the digraph CH on one card instead of a C card and an H card. Sounds should be represented in units, or graphemes, and not as individual letters.

Blending Cards

Blending cards are word cards that contain a dot under each letter with a curved line that swoops across connecting each sound. Students slide their finger on these dots and lines to guide them in blending the word. See the image below for an example. These are from my CVC Blending & Segmenting Cards.

Blending Drills with Phonogram Cards

I've mentioned these a few times already, but phonogram cards are great to use when blending because they contain graphemes and not just individual letters. They help students see units of sounds and solidify their visual representation.

I typically use them in 2 or 3 piles of continuous sounds, vowels, and stop sounds (similar to above). For example, when working with CVC words, the first pile is continuous sounds, the middle pile is vowels, and the final pile is stop sounds. Then students flip cards from different piles to blend the sounds together.

Letter tiles & magnets

Letter tiles and magnets are a fun visual way to practice blending. Again, try to use tiles that contain graphemes and not just letters. These are a great option.

Word Families & Sorts

Using word families and sorts helps students recognize patterns within words. After lots of practice, they should orthographically map the word family to make blending words faster.

Blending Games

Of course, we need to make it fun by playing games that practice blending skills. There are many free and paid printable games on TPT, or you can make your own.

Bottom Line

Blending words is an important skill that all students need to learn in order to be successful readers. By providing lots of practice and using fun activities, you can help your students become fluent at blending.
Want to remember this? Save Blending Words: How To Teach Blending Sounds to your favorite Pinterest board!

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Blending Words: How To Teach Blending Sounds

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Blending words is an important skill that is needed in order to be a successful reader. Teach students how to blend sounds into words with these effective strategies and activities.

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I've pushed the learning of letter sounds all year, but the penny is not dropping on blending."

Blending has been a challenge and the kids are getting frustrated with it. We've decided to go back to the letter sounds."

When I hear things like this my answer is always "Blend! Blend! Blend!"

I say this because I don't believe we do enough of it. Is it because we feel it is too difficult for young children to achieve? Or is it just easier for us to allow children to simply over-learn the letter-sound correspondences in isolation?

Either way, it can't be overlooked; blending is a crucial skill that every child needs to start reading unknown words. It's so critical that in England, the Year One Phonics Check gives children nonsense words to assess if the child can (or probably more accurately - check the teacher has taught the child) to blend. Australia is also looking at introducing the Phonics Check, but so far, South Australia is the only state that has mandated this assessment. More on the Phonics Check.

What is Blending?

Blending is the skill that helps us read, especially when confronted with unfamiliar words. For young children, most words are unfamiliar and they will need to blend many of the words they encounter. It involves pushing together the sounds of the letters in the word in order to create the whole word. For example, a child trying to read the word 'fish', will isolate each of the letter sounds. When these three sounds are said in sequence, the word 'fish' is spoken.

How Do We Teach Blending?

Blending is not a difficult skill to master. It simply requires PRACTICE and lots of it. It's critical to introduce children to the phonemic awareness skills of oral blending at an early age. Modelling how to orally blend to create a spoken word and how to break a word apart is how to start a child's blending and segmenting journey. Once children can blend at an oral level, the blending of words in print becomes a lot easier. There is a great blog post on oral blending and segmenting.

Below is a child who began his reading journey at 3.5 years of age. While it is not fluent, it is a start. Keep watching the footage as we see the same child 6 months later.

The key is to ALWAYS incorporate blending activities when teaching letter sounds. Do not wait until all the sounds of the alphabet are done. After a handful of sounds have been learned, words can be blended. Take the following group of letter sounds:

After only these 8 letter sounds are taught, we can begin teaching children to blend words such as sat, pan, tap, mad.

Using No-Prep Phonics Lessons to Teach Blending

Having to provide students with a bank of decodable words and sentences, which are also differentiated, mid-lesson can leave you flustered. Phonics Hero's click-and-go Phonics Lessons are designed to ease the workload of planning a great phonics lesson. It contains over 3,700 decodable words and over 2,400 sentences - all with sound buttons, blending support and pictures to check understanding. Check out this whistle-stop tour of a blending lesson:

You can start a 30-day trial of the no-prep Phonics Lessons with a Teacher Account.

Top 5 Tips to Help the Blending Penny Drop

1. Immerse the children in oral blending as early as you can.

This can be done through games such as:

I Spy. E.g. "I can spy with my little eye a h-a-t."

Lesson breakers - while giving an instruction break one of the words into isolated sounds: "Can you please put this in the b-a-g?" or "Put the c-u-p on the table." My children loved hearing me do this. What I was doing was modelling the spelling strategy while they were practising blending.

Oral bingo - my children developed blending because they became proficient at oral blending. Download my oral bingo game. I also like to use this with older students who are having difficulty with the blending strategy.

2. Grab some magnetic letters and physically show the letters crashing into each other as you blend the word. This visual representation of blending can often be that 'lightbulb moment' for a child where blending starts to make sense.

3. Always have pictures ready for the words the children are blending. These pictures are not there to encourage guessing but as a confirmation after blending. This will help them blend easily because they can see the spoken word that has been formed through the pictures. Eventually, blending becomes automatic and pictures will not be needed. Our reading worksheets are a great tool to help you practise with pictures ( teachers access them or parents can purchase them).

4. If children are not saying the correct word when blending isolated sounds, try these other blending techniques:

Isolated blending - say the first sound the loudest and then get softer as you get to the end of the word. Children do tend to start blending with the loudest sound they heard. So make sure your first sound is the loudest.

Final blending - blend the first two letter sounds together and then snap it with the final letter sound. For example:

This helps with children who are not following through with their blending or with those who just cannot hear the spoken word being formed.

Successive blending - stretch the word in a continuous flow of sounds. For example:

I find that most children who struggle with blending get it with this technique.

In this short video I demonstrate these three blending techniques:

5. Blend! Blend! Persevere! Blend! Blend! These skills of blending and segmenting do not develop automatically. They must be modelled and explicitly taught. Don't give up and your students will reap the rewards of your perseverance.

Older Children who are Struggling with Blending

It can feel like a real challenge for a Year Three teacher who has students who can't blend 'cat' and also those who are reading chapter books! For these older students, it's often the same issues the beginning reader is having.

In this instance, firstly, don't soldier on with learning more complicated sounds (two-letter digraphs or three-letter trigraphs), you will be overloading a child's working memory. Go back and start with the basic single letter sounds.

Next, check their phonological and phonemic awareness skills. These are the underlying skills that a child needs to make the 'blending penny drop'. Read this blog post on assessment.

Go back to the basics. You might need to stop blending with letters and go back to oral blending. It may feel like you are going backwards if the child is much older but this skill needs to be firmly embedded. Ask yourself, are you teaching where they are at, or where they should be?

For 99% of children the blending penny will drop - it just needs lots of modelling, repetition, practice and a steadfast determination that every child will learn to read!

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Blending - How to Teach Blending When it's Tough | Phonics Hero

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Making the leap to blending can be tough for some students. How to teach blending, techniques for those who are struggling and free blending resources.

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Blending: guess-the-word game

This activity, from our article Phonological Awareness: Instructional and Assessment Guidelines, is an example of how to teach students to blend and identify a word that is stretched out into its basic sound elements.

Objective: Students will be able to blend and identify a word that is stretched out into its component sounds.

Materials needed: Picture cards of objects that students are likely to recognize such as: sun, bell, fan, flag, snake, tree, book, cup, clock, plane

Activity: Place a small number of picture cards in front of children. Tell them you are going to say a word using "Snail Talk" a slow way of saying words (e.g., /fffffllllaaaag/). They have to look at the pictures and guess the word you are saying. It is important to have the children guess the answer in their head so that everyone gets an opportunity to try it. Alternate between having one child identify the word and having all children say the word aloud in chorus to keep children engaged.

​Blending: robot talk

Talking in "Robot Talk," students hear segmented sounds and put them together (blend them) into words. See robot talk activity ›

See all Blending/Segmenting Activities from the University of Virginia PALS program

Blending slide

The "Reading Genie" offers teachers a simple way to teach students about blends. Teachers can use a picture or small replica of a playground slide and have the sounds "slide" together to form a word. See blending slide activity ›

Oral blending activity

The information here describes the importance of teaching blending skills to young children. This link provides suggestions for oral sound blending activities to help students practice and develop smooth blending skills. See oral blending activities ›

Sound blending using songs

This activity (see Yopp, M., 1992) is to the tune of " If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands."

If you think you know this word, shout it out!
If you think you know this word, shout it out!
If you think you know this word,
Then tell me what you've heard,
If you think you know this word, shout it out!

After singing, the teacher says a segmented word such as /k/ /a/ /t/ and students provide the blended word "cat."

Segmenting cheer activity

This link provides teachers with information on how to conduct the following segmentation cheer activity. See segmenting cheer activity ›

Write the "Segmentation Cheer" on chart paper, and teach it to children. Each time you say the cheer, change the words in the third line. Have children segment the word sound by sound. Begin with words that have three phonemes, such as ten, rat, cat, dog, soap, read, and fish.

Listen to my cheer.
Then shout the sounds you hear.
Sun! Sun! Sun!
Let's take apart the word sun.
Give me the beginning sound. ( Children respond with /s/.)
Give me the middle sound. ( Children respond with /u/.)
Give me the ending sound. ( Children respond with /n/.)
That's right!
/s/ /u/ /n/-Sun! Sun! Sun!

Segmenting with puppets

Teachers can use the activity found on this website to help teach students about segmenting sounds. The activity includes the use of a puppet and downloadable picture cards. See segmenting with puppets activity ›

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Children who can segment and blend sounds easily are able to use this knowledge when reading and spelling. Segmenting and blending individual sounds can be difficult at the beginning. Our recommendation is to begin with segmenting and blending syllables. Once familiar with that, students will be prepared for instruction and practice with individual sounds.

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Use the words or sentences within the passage for other activities.

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Into Reading provides a page in the teacher's manual that has small group activities that support the whole group instruction.

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Use broken pencils or crayons to force their grip to be more appropriate.

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Heart Word Magic - Read and Spell High Frequency Words | Really Great Reading

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Heart Word Magic - Help Students Learn to Read and Spell High-Frequency and Sight WordsHeart Word Magic is a complimentary teaching tool designed to help students learn to read and spell high-frequency words and sight words, particularly those that aren’t very decodable. Show your students the animations, then try these fun, hands-on free Student Practice

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conversations with researchers and Educators

The collection of knowledge and advice about best practices in literacy education is always evolving. This is both a gift and a challenge. In my new podcast for educators,I interview leading researchers and scholars to understand current, relevant, and digestible answers to all things literacy, learning, and best-practice, regardless of an educator's approach to literacy instruction. I'm joined by colleagues from my consulting team, and classroom educators, to debrief the researcher interview and answer the question, "How will we take what we've learned to the classroom?"

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To the Classroom: Conversations with Researchers and Educators - Jennifer Serravallo Author & Consulting

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