The key skill in phonics is to learn the letters and the sounds they make and how to put them together to make and read simple words. Our selection of phonics apps covers essential phonics topics for various ages and grade levels. There is no shortage of phonics apps, games, and websites out there in the market. From letter sounds to consonant blends to diphthongs to rhyming words, these apps will help children engage with phonics practice in a fun, challenging and exciting way.
Phonics apps are a great way for young learners to practice phonics lessons. These Phonics apps for kids will help your child to practise sounding out words, which will help them to read.
These interactive phonics apps will help teach children the relationship between letters and sounds and develop the skills needed to read and write. These Phonics apps help kids learn essential phonics skills, including recognizing the sounds each letter makes, mastering the alphabet and word building.
Here is the list of the best phonics apps. Most of them are free of charge and available for Android, as well as iOS.
Best Phonics Apps for Kids
Reading Eggs aims to help young children learn basic phonics skills through the fun exploration of phonics games as they make their journeys through different self-paced games. Reading Eggs teaches letter-sound combinations with one-on-one instructional lessons, games and e-books. Children learn to read through phonics as they begin the process of learning this important life skill.
Pros
- Aligned to Common Core Standards
- Interactive lessons for mastering phonics in reading
- Activities aiding in letter recognition, phonics, and reading proficiency
- Tailored lessons adjusted to the child's skill level
- Immediate progress reports for tracking advancement
Cons
- App prone to freezing and loading problems
Ideal age: 5 to 11
Price: 30-day free trial with monthly or annual options
Devices: iOS, Android, Web browsers
If we missed any of the Best Phonics Apps for Kids, tell us about them!
Spelling Bee Games teaches students how to spell words correctly using a unique phonics approach that consists of word lists. Spelling Bee Games & Tests facilitate practice by letting kids practice spelling words after hearing them spoken.
Spelling Bee is an educational experience that will teach your young children early phonics. This app teaches letters' sounds and how to combine them to make short words.
Pros
- Assists busy parents and kids by aiding with spelling lists
- Offers over 1000 grade-appropriate spelling words
Cons
- Editing lists sometimes not working
Ideal age: 6 to 8
Price: 7-day free trial with subscription options
Devices: iOS, Android
With We Can Books, you can create personalized books for new readers and special needs learners. You can use pictures from your device or the app to make each page of the book and choose words that match them. This app helps kids learn to read by using phonics and association. It is a great way to practice sight words at different levels and enhance any reading program or curriculum.
You will learn how to sound out words and understand what they mean. You will also learn how to read sight words in different situations shown on the page.
Pros
- Allows users to craft personalized phonics books
- Offers teachers a time-saving tool to create customized reading materials
- Easily adaptable as pre, formative, and post-assessments tool
Cons
- Adding the ability for students to create simple sentences
Ideal age: 5 to 11
Price: Free with additional costs to print books
Devices: iOS, Android
Hooked on Phonics! is a highly acclaimed program that provides an enjoyable and captivating learning experience for young learners. Your child will love the variety of videos, songs, and games available, which will help them practice their phonics skills and improve their reading ability.
The program is user-friendly, efficient, and perfect for anyone seeking to give their child a head start in reading. Teachers will like the mix of phonics and sight words, while kids will have a blast with the different ways they learn—songs, games, and books.
Pros
- Aligned to Common Core Standards
- Comprehensive phonics-based reading program
- Variety of puzzles, games, songs, activities to build literacy skills
- Additional reading support material is available
- Offline mode available
Cons
- Wonky design which increases load time
Ideal age: 3 to 8 (Pre-K to 2nd Grade)
Price: Offers few lessons free of charge; Subscription starts from $6.99 per month
Devices: iOS, Android, Web browsers
Read with Phonics is a phonics-based app that helps young people to learn synthetic phonics colourfully and interactively. It improves letter sound recognition and is a great stepping stone to help your little ones on their reading journey! Read with Phonics is a simple app that has been extremely well developed by professionals proficient in not only the topic of phonics but also with an excellent understanding of the education and classroom setting.
Pros
- Aligned to curriculum and synthetic phonics programs
- Offers a fun and engaging reading program for children
- Engaging phonics games help systematically learn the 44 English phonetic sounds
- Reward system is motivating
Cons
- Experiencing problems with logging in sometimes
Ideal age: 2 to 6
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Devices: iOS, Android, Web browsers
Teach Your Monster to Read is an award-winning phonics game that's helped millions of children learn phonics in a fun way. You can download this free phonics game for teaching preschoolers and kindergartners.
The game covers everything from letters and sounds to reading complete sentences. Kids can enjoy animated phonics songs for both revising and teaching letter sounds. The songs are catchy and easily adaptable, and children will want to sing along and invent their own.
Teachers highly recommend the app and complements the phonics program used in schools. It covers everything from letters and sounds to reading full sentences. Teach Your Monster to Read is also free to play online.
Pros
- Solid, phonics learning
- Engaging gamified elements
- Offline learning available
Cons
- British accents may take time for US students
Ideal age: 3 to 6
Price: $4.99 on iOS and Android
Devices: iOS, Android, Web browsers
PocketPhonics app covers all the sounds, and children can practise blending and segmenting to read and write words. It teaches students the sounds of different letters and basic words. This app uses the Phonics method, as taught in UK schools, to develop reading skills. It also closely matches the order in which schools usually teach different sounds, as defined in the National Curriculum.
The app demonstrates a clear focus on phonemes: sounding them out, spelling them, and using them to form words. PocketPhonics uses a phoneme-centered approach to teaching kids to read. When kids see a phoneme, they say it, write it, and then use it in a word. When they've completed a packet of phonemes and word constructions, they get several stars (from one to three) based on how well they traced the letters and how many mistakes they made choosing phonemes to form the words.
Pros
- Demonstrates a clear focus on phonemes
- Teachers can get progress reports
Cons
- Game design lack creativity
Ideal age: 3 to 6
Price: $8.99
Devices: iOS
Baby Shark ABC Phonics: Games is an excellent phonics app that teaches letter sounds. The app has fun phonics song animations for alphabets A to Z. The phonics songs are very catchy, and help kids identify the letters and sounds.
With adorable Pinkfong characters, the app can improve children's learning experience and help them stay motivated. The cute images that kids love will make learning more familiar and help engage toddlers.
Kids learn to write each letter with Baby Shark ABC Phonics: Games and have 26 educational games to play with words. With songs and games featured on this app, this is one of the most engaging phonic apps you can download.
Pros
- Quick and easy phonics mastery for children
- Kids' friendly interface for easy navigation and engagement
Cons
- Ads can be disturbing
Ideal age: 3 to 8
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Devices: iOS, Android, Amazon
Phonics Genius is one of the comprehensive phonics apps available to help kids identify letter sounds and their relationship to words. Phonics Genius is an excellent resource for building phonemic awareness and is best for kids who are emergent readers with previous reading experience.
Phonics Genius includes over 6,000 words grouped by phonics sound, so it is fully loaded to teach your child about phonics. The app includes several pages through which you can scroll and find the particular sound you want to work on. You can work on sounds and the beginning and end of words.
Phonics Genius provides three different modes of learning, in addition to multiple quiz modes designed as fun and interactive games. The quizzes are designed according to different levels of learning, beginning with two words and ranging from easy to challenging.
Pros
- Aligns to Common Core Standards
- Easily customizable
- Helps kids recognize phonics to decode words and build reading skills
Cons
- Text box pops up periodically
Ideal age: 3 to 11
Price: $0.99
Devices: iOS
Endless Alphabet will help young kids learn letters, the alphabet and new words. They'll grow their vocabulary and soon use impressive words in conversation. Combining professionally produced animations, interactive puzzles, talking letters and definitions, kids learn all aspects of Engish language using Endless Alphabet. With no time limits or scores, Endless Alphabet is a stress-free and calming learning experience.
Pros
- Child-friendly controls and gameplay
- Engaging graphics, animations, and sound effects
- Kids will learn about the letters of the alphabet and words
Cons
- Need more storage space to install this app
Ideal age: 3 to 5
Cost: $8.99
Devices: iOS, Android
Frequently Asked Questions
What is phonics?
Phonics is a system of teaching kids to read by linking letters to sounds. Phonics are widely used for teaching kids to read, but the exact model varies from country to country. England uses systematic synthetic phonics, and this model is also aligned with the Common Core State Standards.
What is systematic synthetic phonics?
Usually shortened to synthetic phonics, this method teaches pupils to read by sounding out and blending the letters in a word. Much research supports its effectiveness, so many countries have adopted it.
How do kids learn to read with phonics?
Kids learn the phonemes for each letter or letter combination. These are often split into levels or phases, with the easiest first. These phases help provide kids with texts containing only the phonemes they have learned or are learning.
Jolly Phonics is a phonics app designed to help kids practise the phonics they’ve already been taught at school. With beautifully drawn scenes to display the learning content, this app will attract children to engage with it.
See Words app takes the stress out of teaching your child to read. It is an engaging and educational tool that will provide your child with the fundamentals of reading. It is perfect for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and First Grade classrooms and After-School Programs.
Readers trace letters, unlocking a series of photographic images that begin with that letter’s sound, prompting them to say them aloud. Readers build words using word families and the sounds they learned in Level 1. Readers spell words as they are spoken to them, using the sound tiles included. Once a new word has been built, the word is saved for teachers to access and review.
These phonics apps will help the children continue to move toward literacy and have fun at the same time. Do you have a favorite Phonics app that we missed? Let us know!
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