Phonemic Awareness Preschool Activities

Phonemic Awareness Preschool Activities can be so much fun!

Phonemic awareness is a critical skill to develop reading skill. Phonemic awareness preschool activities are not the same with preschool phonics activities. Phonemic awareness is an understanding about spoken language.

While in the past, most awareness of sounds was introduced in kindergarten, preschool teachers are finding that their curriculums now demand children to hear and become phonemically aware.

In addition, kindergarten teachers are now expecting students to come from preschool with some foundation of sound acknowledgement.

Therefore, the more phonemic awareness activities that preschool teachers can carry out, the better readers they are producing for the future. Consider adding in some of these fun and engaging Phonemic Awareness Preschool Activities to your daily preschool routines.

I Know a Name... -

Rhyming is a key concept in phonemic awareness. Children love to hear the teacher use their names with silly rhymes.

Have the children help you chant while you sing,
"I know a name that rhymes with (Jam).
I know a name, the name is (Sam - a student in the class)."

Clap the Syllable -

Syllables are also a fun way to help children become aware of the parts of a word. Have children begin by clapping the syllables of the children's names in their class. Then move on to other words.

Stretch My Word -

Give each student a headband or similar stretchy band. Say a word and have the students say each individual sound in the word while they stretch out their band.

Finish My Rhyme -

Begin a rhyming sentence and leave off the last word. The children should guess your word.

Examples are:
I once saw a goat wearing a (coat).
I once saw a frog sitting on a (log).
I know a cat that chased a (rat).
I see a fox climb in a (box).

Change the Rhyme -

Most preschool children love nursery rhymes. Have fun with the children by changing the rhyming words. Example: Hickory, Dickory Dee, the mouse ran up the tree.

Echo Read -

Children can learn to hear expression in sounds and words through listening and modeling. Read a line in a book with expression and have the students echo you read.

Beginning Sound Match -

Distribute picture cards to the students making sure that there are matches of beginning sounds for each picture.

Talk about the pictures and ensure that students know what their pictures are.

Turn on music and have students walk around the room. When the music stops, the children should find the person that has a picture that begins the same as theirs.

Same or Different -

Help students become aware of the same and different sounds by saying two words. If the two words are the same, students will give thumbs up. If the two sounds are different, students give thumbs down.

What's My Word? -

The teacher will say the sounds in a word and students will put the sounds together to say the word. For example, the teacher says /c/ /a/ /t/ and the students say cat.

Where's the Sound? -

The teacher will give a sound in which for the students to listen. If the sound is at the beginning of the word, students touch their head.

If the sound is at the end of the word, students touch their toes.

Example: Listen for /t/. Top- students touch head. Cat- students touch toes.

Introducing preschool students to phonemic awareness does not mean that preschool teachers need to develop or use a complete new curriculum or take a designated time slot from their day.

Many of these Phonemic Awareness Preschool Activities can be fun to use to fill in extra time before and after lunch and between other planned activities.