Digraphs (and other phonics terms) explained

Phonics made simple!

Digraphs (and other phonics terms) explained
by Natalie Keeler

If you've heard your child's teacher talking about digraphs and you aren't sure what this means – don't panic! Put simply, a digraph is two letters that come together to make one sound. This could be two vowels, two consonants, a vowel and a consonant.

Watch our video with Giggly's group editor and education advisor Steph Cooper, where you'll hear about some of the digraphs and trigraphs your child will meet as they're learning to read.

Some of the digraphs your child will learn first are 'ch', 'sh', and 'th' – these are called consonant digraphs. Other sounds they'll come across are vowel digraphs, like 'oo', 'ai', and 'oa'.

'Igh' is an example of a trigraph – this is a single sound made up of three letters, and your little one will find it in words like 'night', 'right', and 'light'.

For even more phonics fun, make sure you download these free phonics worksheets, too, which we've created to help your child learn letter sounds from sets 1 to 9. These activities are also an extension of Giggly Literacy Magazine, which is available now on the Giggly shop!