The Best Practice Activities for Blends and Digraphs

In this post, I share information and resources to help you teach blends and digraphs. Grab a FREE printable Blends and Digraphs word list and learn about the best blend and digraph practice activities.

The Science of Reading tells us that for a student to become a skilled reader, they need explicit and systematic phonics instruction and lots of meaningful practice. In fact, according to Wiley Blevins, students need 4-6 weeks of review to master the skills we teach. 

In an earlier blog post, I shared information on how to teach blends and digraphs.  While you found that info helpful, I heard from many of you who wanted more suggestions for low-prep activities that help students master these skills. So today I am happy to provide you with a list of low-prep, SoR-aligned activities and games that give students the practice and review we know they need to master blends and digraphs. 

Before diving into blends and digraph activities, let’s review a bit of information about these important phonics skills….

Blends vs. Digraphs 

What are Blends?

Blends (sometimes called consonant clusters) are made up of consonants representing separate sounds. In a blend, you can still hear each sound. For example, in the word glum, you can still hear the individual /g/ and /l/ sounds in the “gl” blend.

Blends can be made up of 2 or 3 letters and come at the beginning or end of a word.  Blends that come at the start of the word are referred to as beginning blends.  Those that come at the end of a word are called final blends.  

What are Digraphs?

A digraph is two letters that come together to make ONE sound. There are consonant digraphs (often referred to simply as digraphs) and vowel digraphs (often referred to as vowel teams). Common digraphs include ch, sh, th, wh, ph, and ck.  

You may also come across trigraphs.  This is when three consonants represent one sound, such as in the word match.

FREE Blends and Digraphs Word List

To help you teach blends and digraphs to your students, I am happy to offer you FREE phonics skills word lists! These lists serve as excellent teacher references and can be used in many ways:  whole group instruction as you introduce and practice new phonics patterns, small group work, fluency reading, and much more.

In one download you’ll get word lists for CVC words, Blends, Digraphs, Long vowels, R-Controlled vowels, Diphthongs, and Multisyllabic words!

Drop your email below to receive these FREE Phonics Skills Word Lists instantly!

*please consider using a personal email address as strong school filters often block emails

Practice Activities for Blends and Digraphs

In an earlier post, I shared activities you can do with students to help teach them words with blends and digraphs.  The activities I will share today are great options for when you want to give students additional practice and review.  These activities are all low-prep and aligned to the science of reading.  You can use them as a small group activity or in a literacy center to give students the practice they need to read and write words with blends and digraphs with ease! 

Spin-a-Word

These Blends and Digraphs Word Mapping Spelling Games help early readers strengthen their sound-to-symbol connections and master decoding skills.  Students spin and say the word, then map each sound they hear. Then they write each sound and finally write the word on the line.

This is a NO PREP resource that includes 10 Blend and Digraph Spin-A-Word games. It makes an engaging small-group phonics activity or literacy center game!

Blend and Digraph Nonsense Words

This Nonsense Words & Sentence Writing activity gives students practice decoding and writing words with blends and digraphs. Students decode each word determining if it is a real or nonsense word.  They then write the word in the correct column and write a sentence using the word. This low-prep resource is perfect for literacy centers, small-group instruction, or independent practice.

Blend and DIgraph Mystery Word Sentences

Kids LOVE Blend and Digraph Mystery Word Sentences! It is a no-prep literacy center activity that lets students uncover a mystery word by isolating the first phoneme of each picture, gradually revealing a secret sentence. After students reveal the mystery sentence, they read it for decoding practice and finally re-read it to improve fluency.

This resource includes 90 CVC Secret Code Sentences (50 for blends, 40 for digraphs). You can easily differentiate this activity by giving students sentences that focus on the blends or digraphs they need more practice with. It’s a fun and effective way to reinforce blend and digraph sounds while engaging students in meaningful phonics practice!

Blend and Digraph Slides and Ladders

These Slides and Ladders Board Games offer an engaging way to help students practice decoding words with blends and digraphs.

These fun and interactive Slides & Ladders phonics games are NO PREP for you! Simply print, cut, and play! You can easily differentiate by choosing a game board with specific blends and digraphs or a mixed blend and digraph board for review.

Blend and Digraph Bingo

These blend and digraph Bingo Games are the perfect phonics review activity. This SoR-aligned, low-prep resource includes 10 decoding games that provide students with practice reading blends and digraphs.

These phonics board games can be used in literacy centers, in small groups, or for engaging partner activities. They are low-prep and quick to set up, allowing you to focus on teaching rather than planning and prepping!

Decodable Sentence Strips

These Blend and Digraph Decodable Sentence Strips provide students with the review and practice they need after blend and digraph words have been introduced. This resource combines blend and digraph word reading practice with WH questions (who, what, where) so partners can review phonics patterns while working on reading comprehension.

As students read and re-read the sentences with blends and digraphs and high-frequency words, they build their sight vocabulary and their fluency improves. The Decodable Sentence Strips make an engaging, low-prep literacy center or small group activity!

I hope the information and resources I shared here today will help you bring effective blend and digraph word instruction and practice to your students! Be on the lookout for my next post where I’ll share tips and activities to help students master CVCe and Vowel Team words!

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