There are specific games and exercises that parents can do to help increase phonological awareness in their child.
Toddlers and preschoolers
- Play games associating different sounds with different objects or animals, for example, "moo," car sounds, doorbell.
- Read books that rhyme.
- Make up rhymes with your child.
- Give your child’s toys rhyming names such as Brian Lion or Fat Cat.
- Teach songs that focus on sounds, for example, Old MacDonald had a Farm.
Junior and senior kindergarten
- Have your child give words that rhyme.
- Name objects, and have your child tell you the first sound in the name. Emphasize and drag out the sound if your child has trouble: "mmmother starts with m."
- "I spy something that starts with ‘m’."
- Once your child is able to identify words that begin with the same first sound, begin working on the final sound.
Senior kindergarten and Grade One
- Continue working on isolating beginning and ending sounds in words.
- Teach sound-letter associations explicitly. Reinforce this by playing variations of "Go Fish" or "Concentration."
- "What sound does _____ make?" If your child has trouble initially, take three objects or pictures, give the sound(s) for one of the objects, and have your child pick the appropriate object. Increase the number of objects as your child’s skill improves.
- Review rhyming word families (mat, rat, fat, sat, cat, hat, bat, and so on).