12 Fun Phonological Awareness Activities

Phonological Awareness - refers to the general understanding of the sound structure of words and sentences. The phoneme level of phonological awareness is the most critical for learning to read.

Ever wonder what you can do to help little learners master phonological awareness pre-reading skills?

Well, there are several strategies that will benefit little learners before they go to school and during kindergarten and first grade.

The 12 phonological awareness activities listed below progress from simple to more complex skills.

1. Sing the alphabet song with your little one.

2. Read stories often, letting your little learner choose most of them.

3. Encourage your little learner to draw and/or write about a story you've read. Praise all attempts.

4. Help your little one clap out the beats/syllables in words. Family and friend names work great.

5. Point out letters, especially letters in your little one's name.

6. Point out letters around the house, on cereal boxes, food labels, etc.

7. Rhyme, rhyme, rhyme - play with language. Use regular words and nonsense words that rhyme. Read stories that rhyme.

8. Talk about sounds in words, for example, "the cat caught a canary." Talk about all the words that start with the same beginning sound, "/c/".

9. Ask your little learner to guess what sounds words begin or end with - for example, "What sound does dog begin with?"

10. Play I Spy with letters and sounds. "I spy with my little eye, something that begins with the letter f, or the /f/ sound.

11. Make up card games or board games that help little learners recognize letters and letter sounds.

12. Sing songs that manipulate phonemes, such as The Name Game -- "Tammy Tammy Bo Bammy; Banana Fana Fo Fammy..."

These key strategies will help prepare your little learner for the reading world. Have fun and know that you are doing your part in preparing your little learner for the next step in learning to read.

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