THE WORD NUTS Reading SYSTEM
Not sure where to begin? Answer six quick questions and we’ll point you to the right starting set.
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ONE SYSTEM. THREE STARTING POINTS.
Begin where your child actually is.
01
Starter
Sounds → first words
Knows some letter sounds, but isn’t blending words reliably yet.
Explore Starter →
02
Expanded
Simple words → bigger patterns
Reads simple three-letter words and is ready for digraphs, blends, and vowel teams.
Explore Expanded →
03
Reader
Decoding → automatic recognition
Handles richer sound patterns and is ready for sight words and Magic-E.
Explore Reader →
WHERE IS YOUR CHILD RIGHT NOW?
Start with their age or grade. Then check what they can do.
Age and grade ranges are a guide, not a rule. Every child learns at their own pace.
CARDS + HARDWARE + GUIDANCE
GROWS WITH THE READER
READY FOR THE NEXT CHILD
STARTER
Pre-K through early Kinder
For children learning letter sounds and beginning to blend their first words.
Starter is for the very beginning: learning the sounds and putting them together to read simple words.
If your child can say c-a-t but cannot quite pull it together as cat, you are not doing anything wrong. That little jump is a big one—and many children need more practice there.
Starter gives you a simple, hands-on way to practice it together. Begin with sounds that still feel shaky. Then build small words on the bolt, changing one sound at a time. The routine stays familiar, so your child can focus on the sounds—and you always know what to do next.
If your child is just starting, Starter builds the base. If reading already feels hard, it helps make that base steadier.
$69
$59 early bird
Reserve my Starter set
WHAT COMES WITH IT
• 12 rotating sound blocks
• 32 raised-letter cards
• The Word Nuts bolt + vessel
• Card storage box
• Complete video lesson series
The bolt and vessel stay with you as your child moves through the rest of the system.
A GOOD FIT IF
Your child is still learning letter sounds, knows some but not all, or can say the sounds in a word but cannot yet blend them together.
WHAT YOU’LL PRACTICE
Knowing letter sounds more quickly. Blending simple words like map, sit, and fun. Changing one sound at a time to make a new word.
WHY IT STARTS SMALL
Starter leaves out blends, digraphs, and harder vowel patterns on purpose.
Your child does not need the whole language at once. They need enough room to make the first part feel strong.
EXPANDED
Mid-to-late Kinder through 1st grade
For children who can read simple three-letter words and are ready for bigger sound patterns.
Once words like cat, map, and sun come easily, English starts getting busier. Two letters can make one sound. Vowels team up. Consonants bunch together.
This is where a child who was doing well with short words may suddenly slow down. That is normal. They have reached the next layer of reading.
Expanded brings those new sounds onto the same bolt and into the same short routine. Your child may be building ship, rain, and clap instead of cat—but they already know how the practice works.
The words get bigger. The routine stays simple. And “I can read short words” begins to grow into “I can read.”
Already own Starter? Expanded is also a $39.99 upgrade pack.
$99
$89 early bird
Reserve my Expanded set
WHAT COMES WITH IT
• 20 rotating sound blocks
• 64 raised-letter cards
• The Word Nuts bolt + vessel
• Two card storage boxes
• Complete video lesson series
Expanded includes everything in Starter, plus the next layer of sounds. A new family can begin here, while Starter owners can add the Expanded pieces later without buying the main hardware again.
A GOOD FIT IF
Your child can read simple three-letter words without stopping at every sound and is beginning to meet patterns like sh, ch, ee, oa, ar, bl, and tr.
If most short words still need to be worked out one sound at a time, Starter will give them a steadier place to begin.
WHAT YOU’LL PRACTICE
Reading two-letter sounds like sh and ch. Blending vowel teams like ai and ee. Working with sounds like ar and er, plus blends like bl, cl, dr, and tr.
Your child meets each pattern on the raised-letter cards first. Then it moves onto the bolt, where practice helps it become familiar.
WHY IT STOPS HERE
Every word in Expanded can still be sounded out. Sight words and Magic-E are left for Reader, after these patterns feel strong.
Your child does not need every kind of word at once. They need the next layer—without losing their footing on the one below it.
READER
Late Kinder through 2nd grade
For children who can read many sound patterns and are ready to move through a page with fewer stops.
By this point, your child can sound out a lot of words. But reading may still feel slower than it should.
Small words like the, was, and said can stop a sentence in its tracks. A silent e can turn cap into cape or hop into hope. When your child has to pause and solve each one, there is less attention left for what the sentence means.
Reader gives those two trouble spots focused practice. Common words become easier to recognize right away. Magic-E becomes a change your child can see and build—not just a rule they have to remember.
As those pauses get smaller, something important happens: your child has more room to follow the sentence, picture the story, and enjoy where the words are taking them.
Less work on each word. More attention for what the words mean.
$129
$119 early bird
Reserve my Reader set
WHAT COMES WITH IT
• 25 rotating sound blocks
• 96 raised-letter cards
• The Word Nuts bolt + vessel
• Three card storage boxes
• Complete video lesson series
Reader includes everything from Starter and Expanded, plus the sight-word cards and Magic-E pieces. It is the complete Word Nuts system in one box.
A GOOD FIT IF
Your child can read words like ship, rain, fork, and clap with little help, but still pauses at common words like the, said, and was—or gets tripped up by Magic-E words.
If sounds like sh, ee, and ar, or blends like bl and tr, still take a lot of work, Expanded will give them more room to practice.
WHAT YOU’LL PRACTICE
Recognizing common words like the, and, was, said, and they without stopping each time.
Seeing how silent e changes cap to cape, kit to kite, and hop to hope.
Moving through sentences with fewer pauses, so your child can hold onto what the words are saying.
WHERE IT LEADS
Reader is the top of the core Word Nuts path. From here, practice begins giving way to more time in real books—building language, knowledge, and a love of the story.
The goal is not to keep adding more practice. It is to help word reading become steady enough that the tool can step aside and the book can take over.
01
Why does Word Nuts cost more than basic flash cards or word builders?
Because it does more than either one alone. Word Nuts combines tactile sound cards, hands-on word building, and a guided path through early reading. The same hardware grows with your child and can be reused with siblings. You are buying one connected system that stays useful.