What Is Alphablocks?
Alphablocks is a BBC CBeebies series from the same creators as Numberblocks. Each character is a letter of the alphabet — A through Z — and words are formed when the letter characters join hands, blending their sounds together to create real words. The show teaches synthetic phonics, the method of reading instruction most strongly supported by reading research.
First broadcast in 2010, Alphablocks predates Numberblocks by several years. It is available on BBC iPlayer, Netflix, and YouTube, and is widely used in reception and Year 1 classrooms in the UK.
How Alphablocks Teaches Phonics
Alphablocks uses a character-based approach to make letter sounds memorable. Each letter character has a distinct personality tied to its sound: A is energetic and enthusiastic, S is quiet and sneaky, T is tidy and precise. This character-sound association helps children remember letter sounds through narrative and personality rather than rote repetition alone.
When characters join together, they blend their individual sounds to make words — 'c-a-t' becomes CAT when the C, A, and T characters link up. This visual-narrative representation of the blending process directly models the cognitive operation that reading requires, making it one of the most pedagogically accurate representations of reading on screen.
Alphablocks Songs: What They Teach
- •**Individual letter sound songs** — Each letter character has their own musical theme that reinforces their sound.
- •**CVC word songs** — Simple three-letter word formation (consonant-vowel-consonant) demonstrated through character combinations.
- •**Blending songs** — The process of running letter sounds together to make words.
- •**Digraph episodes** — Two letters that make one sound (sh, ch, th) introduced as letter characters who work together.
- •**Vowel songs** — The five vowels (A, E, I, O, U) have particular emphasis as 'the most important Alphablocks'.
Is Alphablocks Better Than Traditional Phonics Apps?
Alphablocks is not a replacement for systematic phonics instruction — it is a supplement that builds phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge, and early blending skills in an engaging narrative format. Research supports its effectiveness as a complement to formal phonics teaching.
Compared to phonics apps, Alphablocks has the advantage of narrative engagement: children become attached to the characters and motivated to watch more, which increases exposure to phonics content without the 'this is practice' framing that can reduce motivation in young children.
The Research Behind Synthetic Phonics
Alphablocks teaches synthetic phonics — the method of learning letter sounds and then blending them to read words. This approach is strongly supported by the scientific evidence on reading acquisition. A major 2006 UK government review (the Rose Review) concluded that systematic synthetic phonics is the most effective approach to teaching early reading, and this conclusion has been replicated across multiple international studies.
Countries that shifted to systematic synthetic phonics instruction — including England following the Rose Review — have seen measurable improvements in reading test scores at national scale. Alphablocks makes this evidence-based approach available to children at home, in an engaging character-based format that most children find far more motivating than workbooks or flashcards.
Following the Alphablocks Sequence at Home
Alphablocks introduces letters in a specific order designed to maximise early word-building opportunities. The first letters introduced — S, A, T, P, I, N — can be combined to make dozens of three-letter words immediately, giving children early reading wins that build confidence.
Following this sequence at home — rather than going through the alphabet in A-B-C order — accelerates early reading. When your child has mastered S, A, T, P, I, and N through Alphablocks, practise building words: sat, pat, tap, nap, pit, tin. These early successes are foundational.