DIY Digraph Tiles

 Today one of my reading groups began Unit 14 of our reading curriculum, Read Well. A few of my little scholars struggle with blending words containing digraphs. I supplement the word work portion of Read Well with letters tiles (often building words that cause the most confusion) and today we needed to build the word "dash." I really wanted to my kids to understand that while they are two letters, s and h only make ONE sound. I had some colored foam left over from a craft project so I quickly cut them into one inch squares and created digraph tiles! We used our Lakeshore letter tiles and then the foam digraph tile and we "bumpy and smooth blended" the words dash, trash, dish and wish. When we read our unit readers a few minutes later, my little scholars remembered and said, "s and h make only one sound..shhhh!" Success! :) I had a few drawers left in my letter tile organizer, so I have just enough room for our other digraph friends ch, th and wh! 

What tricks do you have up your teacher sleeve for teaching digraphs?