Phonics Alphabet Games

Fun Phonics Games for Kids – Teach Letter Sounds A to Z

These phonics games are designed for teachers to use in class to help children learn letter sounds in a fun and interactive way. Perfect for kindergarten, elementary, and beginner ESL learners, these games require no prep and are free to use in your lessons. There are two game types: the Phonics Train Game, a fast-paced memory challenge where students guess missing words as the train speeds by, and the Alphabet A–Z Guessing Games, where students guess words from pictures slowly drawn on screen. Both formats keep students engaged, support vocabulary development, and make learning phonics enjoyable.

The Phonics Train Game – What’s Missing?

Play the Phonics Train game to review phonics sounds and words in class. Preview the example game below, then read on for how to play, teaching tips, and a link to all our Phonics Train games for letter sounds A–Z and CVC words.

How to Play the Phonics Train Game

To play, just show the video in class. Students will see the Phonics Train pass by with 5 phonics flashcards on it. For example, on the first train, they will see flashcards for apple, ball, cat, dog, and elephant. Next, the train will pass by one more time, but this time with one of the cards missing. Students must then tell you what is missing by saying the word out loud.

Here are some ways you can make this game more effective and enjoyable:

  • Encourage students to say the words as the train goes by. This not only helps them practice saying the letter sounds, but also helps later when they must recall the missing word.
  • Pause or rewind the video if students need more practice. If your students have difficulty saying the words, you can pause the video and model how to say each word. Once students can say each letter sound confidently, play the video again to get to the fun part, guessing what’s missing.
  • Play along with flashcards. To make it even more fun, you can give each student some phonics flashcards. When they’re ready to guess, they can find the missing flashcard and hold it up while saying the word aloud.
  • Use across multiple lessons. Young learners often don’t learn all letter sounds in one lesson. The A to Z Phonics Train game is divided into sections covering 5 letters at a time, making it easy to use the game across multiple lessons as you introduce more and more letter sounds.

The above Phonics Train Game example is just one of 6 games we have that cover letter sounds A to Z, as well as CVC words for the different CVC word families. You can find these on YouTube on our Phonics Train Game playlist.

Alphabet A–Z Guessing Games

These phonics games are perfect for lessons teaching individual letter sounds for letters A to Z. In each game, students see an outline drawing of something beginning with that letter sound. For example, in the letter C video students might see cat, car, candy, cap, etc. They then have 5 seconds to guess the word. Here’s an example of one of the games. Read on to see tips on how to play in class.

How to Play in Class

To play, just show the video in class. Each game focuses on a particular letter from the alphabet. Students should watch closely as an outline of something beginning with that lesson’s letter sound is drawn on the screen. They then have 5 seconds to guess the word. All words are ones that young learners will likely know.

These games are great for helping students build confidence with individual letter sounds and for expanding their vocabulary at the same time. To make it even more effective, after each game, you can then ask what other words they know beginning with that letter, write them on the board, and then drill all the new words with students again.

There are individual games covering each letter of the alphabet from A to Z, making them perfect for a quick warm-up at the start of your phonics lessons. If you play one per lesson, you can use this game over 26 lessons. For the full set, see our A to Z Phonics Games playlist on YouTube.

More Alphabet and Phonics Teaching Resources

We have lots of free resources to help you create fun and engaging phonics lessons. Here are some we think you will find useful:

All Activity Videos