Phase 2 Grapheme/Picture Match: Reading VC/CVC Words (x4 Sets)

What’s included?

x17 sheets for all Phase 2 sounds.

Letter/picture cards (to match) in portrait orientation, plus an Answers sheet (x5). 'Word boards’ (to organise letter/picture cards on and read words) - in landscape orientation (x12), PDF format.

What's it for?

This hands-on phonics activity develops two core skills: grapheme-phoneme correspondence and phoneme blending. Learners match picture and grapheme cards, then read VC/CVC words on displayed on the Word Boards. Words include phoneme dots for clear segmenting.

Who’s it for?

Designed for Early Years children learning Phase 2 phonics, Year 1 pupils requiring reinforcement and adaptable for older learners who need to revisit foundational sounds.

Phonic Progression (Set-by-Set)

This activity set helps learners practise and reinforce all Phase 2 sounds.

This activity is structured into four progressive sets (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green) to ensure learning is steady and successful. Each set builds directly on the last, allowing children to continuously practise previously learned sounds while only introducing a few new ones at a time. Sets 1 and 2 introduce a single sound from the next set to increase the variety of VC/CVC words available, while consolidating knowledge. The final set uses sounds from all sets.

How to use it?

Learners match each letter (grapheme) card with its picture. Learners then place these pairs on the correct 'Word Board' and sound out the corresponding VC/CVC words.

Answers are included in a clear format for learners to reference themselves, encouraging autonomy.

Resource Details

Phase 2 sounds have been grouped into four sets to make it easier to focus on individual sounds as necessary.

'Red Set 1' s a t p i n

In addition to Set 1 sounds m (Set 2) is also used here.

• s - sap
• a - ant
• t - tap
• p - pan
• i - imp
• n - nip

'Orange Set 2' m d g o c k

a, t, p, i, n (Set 1) are used and u (Set 3).

• m - map
• d - dog
• g - gum
• o - on (VC word)
• c - cod (not to be mistaken for 'fish')
• k - kit

'Yellow Set 3' ck e u r h b

p (Set 1) is used and d, g (Set 2).

In this set one sound is at the end

• ck - duck (end sound - make learners aware)
• e - egg (VC word)
• u - up (escalator - arrow indicates this) (VC word)
• r - red
• h - hug
• b - bud

'Green Set 4' f ff l ll ss

i (Set 1) is used as well as g, o, c, k (Set 2) and e, u, b (Set 3).

In this set three sounds are at the end

• f - fob
• ff - cuff (end sound)
• l - leg
• ll - bell (end sound)
• ss - kiss (end sound)

Resource Preparation

Print resources onto card (rather than paper) to improve durability. Cut along dotted lines to separate cards.

Important message

Any issues with this resource please let us know - we are happy to make changes.