Phonics & Letter Learning
Do Pictures Actually Help Children Learn to Read?
See what the research reveals about pictures beside letters versus pictures built directly into them.
The short answer
Yes,
but not simply because a picture is present. It depends on where the picture is. Pictures help most when they become part of the letter itself.
What the research found
Five benefits of putting the picture inside the letter
Compared with pictures placed beside letters, or plain letters, children taught with embedded picture mnemonics did better in five ways.
less time to match letters to sounds
Clearer4×fewer mix-ups of look-alike letters
Easier to learn2×the letter sounds in the same weeks
Remembered2.3×better recall one week later
Transfers+2.2points on blending, never taught
Tap a benefit to see the study behind it.
The big idea
More than a clever illustration
Embedded picture mnemonics sit on top of a much older idea. Dual Coding Theory, developed by cognitive psychologist Allan Paivio more than 50 years ago (Paivio, 1971), holds that we remember something better when it is stored in two ways at once, as a word and as an image. Each one gives the brain another route back to it.
But simply adding a picture is not enough. The picture and the letter have to be genuinely connected.
Picture beside the letter
Picture inside the letter
Researchers began testing that specific difference directly in the 1980s. Taken together, embedded picture mnemonics rest on over 40 years of research, built on more than half a century of cognitive science.
Benefit 1 of 5 · Faster
Children match letters to their sounds faster
When letter sounds come quickly, a child has more energy left for blending sounds into words.
At the end of 18 weeks, first graders taught with embedded picture mnemonics finished a letter-sound matching task in more than 40% less time than children in two classes taught with letters and pictures kept separate (Kalender, 2026).
Seconds to finish 20 letter sounds · shorter is faster
41–44% less time than either comparison class, a large effect by research standards.
Benefit 2 of 5 · Clearer
Children mix up look-alike letters less often
When each look-alike letter carries its own picture, there is less for your child to confuse.
In a study where preschoolers learned unfamiliar Hebrew letters, one especially confusable letter was mistaken for its look-alike neighbors far less often when the picture was built into the letter than when it sat beside it (Shmidman & Ehri, 2010).
How often one tricky letter was confused with look-alikes · lower is better
Picture inside the letter
Picture beside the letter
Nearly 4 times fewer mix-ups once the picture was built into the letter.
The benefit went beyond naming letters: the same children also read and spelled new words better with the embedded letters.
Benefit 3 of 5 · Easier to learn
Children learn nearly twice as many letter sounds
The same practice time goes further, so fewer children get stuck at the start.
Both groups had the same seven weeks, the same 32 lessons, and the same 13 letter sounds. One group used letters with an ordinary picture beside them. The other used picture-in-letter characters, each with a short story about it. The character group learned nearly twice as many sounds (Roberts & Sadler, 2019).
Letter sounds learned, out of 13 · higher is better
embedded-mnemonic children were stuck on 3 or fewer sounds at the end
children taught with ordinary picture letters were still stuck there
Benefit 4 of 5 · Remembered
The letter sounds stick a week later
What your child learns on Monday is still there the next Monday.
A full week after the lessons ended, children still recalled the embedded letters more than twice as well as plain ones (Ehri, Deffner & Wilce, 1984).
Sounds still remembered one week later, out of 5
2.3 times better recall. Each circle is one of five sounds.
Benefit 5 of 5 · Transfers to blending
It helps with blending, too
Knowing letter sounds well makes the next step, putting sounds together into words, easier.
After seven weeks, children taught with picture-in-letter characters were better at oral blending, even though blending was never directly taught. They heard two to five separate sounds and put them together into a word (Roberts & Sadler, 2019).
Blending score, out of 10 · higher is better
of embedded-mnemonic children still scored 2 or fewer
of children taught with ordinary picture letters scored that low
The honest version
What the research does, and doesn’t, tell us
Help an abstract symbol become firmly connected to a speech sound in memory.
Children still need instruction in phonemic awareness, blending, decoding, spelling, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
The direct research base is still relatively small, and several studies used modest samples or specific groups of children, so larger, longer-term research would strengthen the conclusions.
Still, studies spanning decades, across different languages and classrooms, point in the same direction: pictures help most when they do more than decorate the page. When the picture follows the letter’s shape and carries its sound, the first steps of phonics become faster, clearer, and easier to remember.
See it in action
All five benefits, in one deck.
The embedded picture mnemonics from these studies, built into a playful card game kids actually ask to play.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions
Do pictures actually help children learn to read?
Yes, but not simply because a picture is present. It depends on where the picture is. Pictures help most when they become part of the letter itself, so the letter’s shape and its sound are stored together in memory.
Are embedded picture mnemonics better than pictures placed beside letters?
In controlled studies with English, Hebrew, and Turkish learners, letters with the picture built into the letter’s shape were learned faster, confused with other letters less often, and remembered better than the same pictures placed beside the letter.
Do embedded picture mnemonics replace a phonics program?
No. They help children connect each letter to its sound. Children still need explicit instruction and practice in phonemic awareness, blending, decoding, spelling, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
References (5)
- Ehri, L. C., Deffner, N. D., & Wilce, L. S. (1984). Pictorial mnemonics for phonics. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(5), 880–893. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.76.5.880
- Kalender, B. (2026). Enhancing letter recognition in first graders with embedded picture mnemonics: Insights from cognitive load and dual coding theories. Frontiers in Psychology, 17, Article 1726843. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1726843
- Paivio, A. (1971). Imagery and verbal processes. Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
- Roberts, T. A., & Sadler, C. D. (2019). Letter sound characters and imaginary narratives: Can they enhance motivation and letter sound learning? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 46, 97–111.
- Shmidman, A., & Ehri, L. C. (2010). Embedded picture mnemonics to learn letters. Scientific Studies of Reading, 14(2), 159–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888430903117492
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