Phonological awareness…that big, fancy phrase… can essentially be boiled down to word play.

That’s right…play!   

Phonological awareness activities should be FUN, light-hearted, and yes, playful.

Improve Students’ Reading with These Phonological Awareness Activities! 

Phonological awareness is the ability to hear, recognize, and manipulate sounds/phonemes (the smallest unit of sound). It’s purely auditory and it’s NOT phonics.

As soon as letter knowledge is brought into an activity, it becomes phonics and is no longer phonological awareness.

Here are some phonological awareness activities that you can begin using with your students today. They are listed from least to most difficult.

• Recognizing Rhyme
  • cat, sad, bat – Which two words rhyme?

• Clapping and Counting Syllables
  • How many syllables in the word breakfast?

• Onset and Rime Manipulation
  • /m/ /ad/ – What’s the word?

• Producing Rhymes
  • What is a word that rhymes with star?

• Isolating Initial Sounds
  • What’s the first sound in bake?

• Isolating Final Sounds
  • What’s the last sound in mouse?

• Isolating Medial Sounds
  • What’s the middle sound in big?

• Compound Word Deletion
  • Say Now say it without snow.

• Syllable Deletion
  • Say sandwich – Now say it without 

• Blending 2 – 3 Phoneme Words
  • /h/ /ă / /t/ – What’s the word?

• Segmenting Words with 2 – 3 Phonemes (no blends)
  • What are the sounds in dog?

• Segmenting Words with 3 – 4 Phonemes (including blends)
  • What are the sounds in snake?

• Phoneme Substitution of Initial, Medial, and Final Sounds
  • Say sit – If I change the /s/ to /h/, what new word do I get?

• Deletion of Initial Phoneme (no blends)
  • Say bat without the /b/.

• Deletion of Final Phoneme
  • Say dream without the /m/.

• Deletion of Initial Phoneme (including blends)
  • Say frog without the /f/.

• Deletion of Phoneme in Initial Blend
  • Say train without the /r/.

• Deletion of Phoneme in Final Blend
  • Say slept without the /t/.

GRAB your FREE Cheat Sheet for 18 Phonological Awareness Skills and Begin Implementing These Activities TODAY!

So, there you have it! Eighteen phonological awareness activities that are quick, easy, painless, and FUN!

If you are a parent of a young one, these activities are perfect to engage your kiddos in while driving in the car.

If you are a teacher, these activities are a perfect addition to your morning meeting.  Or, if your day is jam-packed, do them while your students are in line. Just, pretty please, don’t neglect this critical component to your students’ reading program.

Click HERE if you want to learn more about WHY building students’ phonological awareness is so important.

Wishing you JOYFUL engagement in your first grade classroom!

Cindy & Becky

Primary Bliss Teaching