Phonological and Phonemic Awareness: Activities for Your First Grader

Why phonemic awareness is the key to learning how to read

This video is from Home Reading Helper, a resource for parents to elevate children’s reading at home provided by Read Charlotte (opens in a new window). Find more video, parent activities, printables, and other resources at Home Reading Helper (opens in a new window).

Try these speech sound activities at home

Syllable shopping

While at the grocery store, have your child tell you the syllables in different food names. Have them hold up a finger for each word part. Eggplant = egg-plant, two syllables. Pineapple = pine-ap-ple, three syllables. Show your child the sign for each and ask her to say the word.

Rhyme time

“I am thinking of an animal that rhymes with big. What’s the animal?” Answer: pig. What else rhymes with big? (dig, fig, wig)

Road trip rhymes

While you’re out driving in the car, spot something out the window and ask your child, “what rhymes with tree or car or shop?” Then switch roles and have your child spot something and ask you for a rhyme. This can turn into a game of nonsense rhymes (“What rhymes with tree stump?”) but that’s great for practicing sounds, too!

Word families

Word families are sets of words that rhyme. Start to build your family by giving your child the first word, for example, cat. Then ask your child to name all the “kids” in the cat family, such as: bat, fat, sat, rat, pat, mat, hat, flat. This will help your child hear patterns in words.

Silly tongue twisters

Sing songs, read rhyming books, and say silly tongue twisters. These help your child become sensitive to the sounds in words.

Sound games

Practice blending sounds into words. Ask “Can you guess what this word is? m - o - p.” Hold each sound longer than normal.

One sound at a time

Certain sounds, such as /s/ or /m/are great sounds to start with. The sound is distinct, and can be exaggerated easily. “Please pass the mmmmmmmmilk.” “Look! There’s a ssssssssssnake!” It’s also easy to describe how to make the sound with your mouth. “Close your mouth and lips to make the sound. Now put your hand on your throat. Do you feel the vibration?”

Tongue ticklers

Alliteration or “tongue ticklers” — where the sound you’re focusing on is repeated over and over again — can be a fun way to provide practice with a speech sound. Try these:

• For M: Miss Mouse makes marvelous meatballs!
• For S: Silly Sally sings songs about snakes and snails.
• For F: Freddy finds fireflies with a flashlight.

“I Spy” first sounds

Practice beginning sounds with this simple game: ask your child questions like, “I spy something red that starts with /s/.”

Sound sleuth

Choose a letter sound, then have your child find things around your house that start with the same sound. “Can you find something in our house that starts with the letter “p” pppppp sound? Picture, pencil, pear”

“I Spy” blending

Here’s an easy phoneme blending game you can play while talking a walk. For blending, you can say, “I see a sign that says s-t-o-p” Then your child has to blend the sounds to guess your word — stop. (Remember to say only the sounds in the word — not the letters.) Keep the words short, moving from two to three to four sounds depending on your child’s skill level.

Jump, skip, hop!

Create simple picture cards that you draw or cut out of magazines. Have your child, identify what’s in the picture, and then break that word into its individual sounds. For example dog is d-o-g, three sounds (phonemes). Three sounds? You and your child do three jumping jacks, skips, or hops (followed by a high-five). You can also do this game outdoors without the cards, just call out simple words for your child.

Snail talk

Tell your child you’re going to communicate in “snail talk” and they need to figure out what you’re saying. Take a simple word and stretch it out very slowly (e.g., /fffffllllaaaag/), then ask your child to tell you the word. Switch roles and have your child stretch out a word for you.

First sounds

When you’re reading together with your child, pick a word from the book and say it with emphasis on the first sound. Pick another word and compare them. “Zzz-zookeeper and rrr-rhinoceros. Can you hear what sound zzz-zookeeper starts with? Is it the same as  rrr-rhinoceros? 

Sound counting

Using LEGO bricks, beads, or pennies, say a word and have your child show you how many sounds the word makes. For example, top = t-o-p = three sounds, so your child would place three objects in a row. Then have them tap each object as they say the sound. Remember, your child is just showing you the sounds they hear. So the word bike would be = b-i-k (silent e) = only three sounds.

Rime house

Try this activity from the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR). The FCRR “At Home” series was developed especially for families! Watch the video and then download the activity: Rime House (opens in a new window). See all FCRR phonological awareness activities here (opens in a new window).

Phoneme dominoes

Try this activity from the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR). The FCRR “At Home” series was developed especially for families! Watch the video and then download the activity: Phoneme Dominoes (opens in a new window). See all FCRR phonological awareness activities here (opens in a new window).

Picture slide

Try this activity from the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR). The FCRR “At Home” series was developed especially for families! Watch the video and then download the activity: Picture Slide (opens in a new window). See all FCRR phonological awareness activities here (opens in a new window).

More phonological and phonemic awareness resources

• Sounds and Symbols (VIDEO: PBS Launching Young Readers series)
• Clues to Dyslexia in Early Childhood
• Playing with Word Sounds: Stretch and Shorten (In English and Spanish)
• Nursery Rhymes: Not Just for Babies! (In English and Spanish)
• 11 Children’s Books Featuring Fun with Rhyming and Word Sounds
• 8 Children’s Books Featuring Rhyme and Alliteration (opens in a new window) (Understood)