Why This is Important
Phonological awareness prepares children’s ears for working with words and sounds. It includes identifying and making oral rhymes, clapping out the number of syllables in a word, and recognizing words with the same initial sounds like mom and make.
Goals for Strong Readers
- Show understanding of the connection between sounds and letters.
- With help, separate and say the first and last sound they hear in words.
- Explore and recognize rhyming words.
- Recognize own name.
Quick Activity

- Say a word that has a rhyme (such as cat, which rhymes with hat).
- Ask your child to fill in the rhyming word for your word. Examples: I say cat. You say _. Your child fills in hat.
- Continue for as long as this game is enjoyed by you and your child.
- Note: You may accept nonsense words from your child that rhyme with your words. (ex. night gight or rain zain).
More Activities and Games

- Recite simple tongue twisters with your child.
- Encourage your child to slowly repeat each word you say until the tongue twister can be said smoothly.
- Examples:
- She sells seashells by the seashore
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
- Make up a tongue twister with your child’s name: Lucy loves to lick lemon lollipops

Beginning Sounds:
- Say a letter sound such as /t/. Repeat the letter sound three times.
- Play I Spy, asking your child to identify something in the room that begins with a /t/ sound (such as table). I spy something that sounds like /t/ at the beginning.
- Repeat the letter sound three times.
- Give your child time to look, think, and answer. Give clues, if your child needs a hint.
- Continue with other letter sounds that begin the names of objects in the room.
- Then, switch, and ask your child to name a sound, and you identify something in the room that has that beginning sound. Example: I spy something that sounds like /p/ at the beginning (such as paper).
Ending Sounds:
- Say a letter sound such as /k/. Repeat the letter sound three times.
- Play I Spy, asking your child to identify an object in the room that ends with the /k/ sound (such as clock). I spy something that sounds like /k/ at the end.
- Repeat the sound three times.
- Give your child time to look, think, and answer. Give clues, if your child needs a hint.
- Continue with other letter sounds that end the names of objects in the room.
- Then, switch, and ask your child to name a sound, and you identify something in the room that has that ending sound. Example: I spy something that sounds like /k/ at the end (book).