Once children have mastered the 26 individual letter sounds, digraphs are the next big step — pairs of letters that combine to make a single new sound. TH, SH, CH, WH, PH and CK appear in hundreds of everyday words. Teaching them well opens a whole new layer of reading and spelling that children can feel and hear in their own spoken language.
What Makes Digraphs Tricky
In ship, the S does not say /s/ and the H does not say /h/ — together they make the single sound /sh/. For children who have just worked hard to learn individual letter sounds, this can feel like the rules changed without warning. An explicit explanation helps enormously: "Sometimes two letters work as a team and make a brand new sound together." That framing turns confusion into curiosity.
Introduce digraphs one at a time, spending at least two to three days on each before moving to the next. SH is a good starting point because children can see and feel the mouth shape clearly — lips rounded, breath rushing out. TH follows naturally because it is equally distinctive (tongue tip between teeth).
The Right Teaching Sequence
Teach in this order for best results: SH (ship, shop, fish), CH (chin, chip, much), TH (the, this, thin, bath), WH (when, which, while), PH (phone, graph), CK (duck, back, clock). Note that TH has two sounds — voiced in the and unvoiced in thin. Introduce this distinction only if confusion arises; most children absorb both through exposure.
Our Digraph Sounds Worksheets: PH, WH, TH, SH, CH, CK ($2.99) covers all six digraphs with sort activities, word-building exercises and reading sentences in one organised, no-prep pack.
Games That Make Digraph Practice Stick
Digraph card hold-up: Write target digraphs on large cards. Call out a word and the child holds up whichever digraph they hear. Fast, engaging and easy to differentiate — beginners work with two digraphs, more advanced learners juggle four.
Word hunt: Open any picture book and search for words containing the target digraph. Tally marks on a whiteboard add a quantitative element children enjoy.
Build and swap: Write a word like shop on a whiteboard. Erase SH and replace with CH to make chop. Watching words transform reinforces that the digraph is a unit, not two separate letters.
Also see Letter Hunts and Scavenger Hunts for Alphabet Practice for more engaging phonics search activities.
Frequently Asked Questions
My child can identify digraphs on worksheets but misses them when reading. Why?
Isolated recognition and in-context application are different skills. Bridge the gap with decodable texts that include digraph words — in-context reading generalises the skill quickly.
Are digraphs the same as blends?
No. A blend like str has three distinct sounds blended together. A digraph like sh makes one entirely new sound that neither letter makes alone. Teach digraphs before blends for most children.
Open Up a New World of Words
Digraph mastery is a genuine reading milestone — hundreds of new words become accessible almost overnight. Explore our full phonics worksheet range to find the right next step for your reader.
