PHONEME AWARENESS 

                    Identify the Beginning Sound of Words                    
                                  Age: Preschool-Kindergarten

1. Hot Potato
The children will all sit in a circle on the floor. Provide them with a small basket with simple picture cards in it. Begin passing the basket around when music starts playing. After a few seconds, stop the music. Have the child who is holding the basket reach in and pull out a picture. The child says the name of the picture and then says the beginning sound of that word. Continue until all the children have had a chance to name a card.
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2. Tongue Twisters
Give each child an egg carton and several dried beans. Instruct them to place a bean in an egg carton compartment each time they hear a certain sound at the beginning of a word. Make up several sentences which contain the same first sound (e.g. “My mother married a mad movie star” would call for 5 beans). Use several different sounds and different lengths of sentences. Repeat sentences as needed so all children are successful.
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3. “I’m Going on a Trip”
Play a variation of the “I’m going on a trip” game by only taking items that begin with a certain sound. Have one child start by saying, “I’m going on a trip and I’m taking a dog.” The child next to him in the circle says, “I’m going on a trip and I’m taking a dog and a doctor. Continue around the circle until the children run out of ideas or someone forgets, and then start a new sequence with a different beginning sound.

4. “Simon Says”
Play a variation of “Simon Says” by having the children stand in a long line with the “finish line” marked several feet ahead of them. Write down 3 words on each of several note cards before the game, some that all start with the same sound and some that don’t. The teacher picks up a card and says “Simon says, man, moon, and mine all start with the /m/ sound.” If the children agree, they can step forward one step. If the teacher reads words that don’t all start the same and the children recognize that, they also get to move forward. Occasionally, the teacher will read the words without saying “Simon says” first and then those children that move have to take a step backwards. Continue until all children have crossed the finish line.
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5. Hungry for K’s
Tell the children, “We are on a special diet – we can only eat things that start with the /k/ sound.” Fill up a lunch box with objects that begin with /k/ (e.g., carrots, corn, cucumbers, ketchup, etc.). To make it interesting, add other objects that start with /k/ but you wouldn’t necessarily eat (e.g., cards, cat, cow, key). “Throw out” any spoiled items (i.e., objects that don’t start with the special /k/ sound).

6. Sound Soup
Tell the children, “Today we’ll be making Sound Soup - all the ingredients must begin with the /s/ sound.” Fill the bowl with items such as salt, spaghetti, and strawberries. Add in some non-food items for fun (e.g., straws, socks, and sleeping bags). For additional fun and practice, have the children stir the soup.

7. Thumbs Up
Choose a sound and tell the children what it is. Begin listing off words that contain and don’t contain your chosen target sound. Have the children put their thumbs up if the word begins with the special sound and thumbs down if the word does not begin with the sound.
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8. Sorting Mail
Have three envelopes with a target sound printed on the outside of each. Have the children draw a picture from a pile and put it in the envelope with the same beginning sound. If you are working with the same number of children as envelopes, assign each child to collect the “mail” that goes in their envelope.
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9. Sound Bingo Game (for groups)
Using the materials provided here, give each child a bingo card. Before playing, review all of the pictures on the Bingo cards by saying the name of the picture and the sound that the word starts with. The teacher will call off the selections by the first sound in the word or picture. The sounds included are: /d, b, k, w, m, p, l, g, f/. The children will then identify which picture begins with that sound. For example, the teacher will call off the sound “kuh” and the children will cover the “king” with a chip or marker. As the children place markers on the pictures, they can call out “Bingo” when they have a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line of words that have been covered. The first child who covers four pictures horizontally, vertically, or diagonally is the winner.
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10. Alphabet Search
Find items/pictures in a catalog/magazine that begin with different sounds of the alphabet. Glue or draw the items on a paper that has that letter of the alphabet/sound at the top. This could be the child’s very own alphabet book!

11. “Let’s Label the House!”
Make labels using index cards. Write a different sound on each card. Have the children draw the sound out of a bag and then find something in the house/classroom that begins with that sound. When they find an object, tape the sound to the item.

12. I Spy
Say the poem, “I spy with my little eye, something that begins with the ____ sound.” (Put a sound in the blank.) Have the child guess what you may be looking at. After the child discovers what you’ve spied, they can try to fool you by spying an item. This activity also works great in the car when traveling.

                       Identify the Ending Sound of Words                      
                                  Age: Preschool-Kindergarten

 1. Which One Doesn’t Belong?
Provide the children with a worksheet with several rows of pictures on it, 3 in each row. Two of the pictures have words that end in the same sound and one doesn’t. Give the children the worksheet and several plastic markers/chips and have them block out the one in each row that doesn’t end like the other two (e.g. pig/log/cat and they would block out the cat picture). When finished, they can go back and make up silly sentences with the two pictures remaining in each row (e.g. “The pig tripped over the log” and share it with the class).
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2. B-I-N-G-O
Make a Bingo board with a mixture of pictures of objects that end with the same sound and some that don’t. Give the children the boards and plastic markers and call out the picture names one at a time. The children can only place markers on those pictures that have the targeted final sound. As the children place markers on the pictures, they can call out “Bingo” when they have a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line of words that end with the same sound.
(If you do not have time to make your own, go to the link below to create the cards. These cards will not have “Bingos” with pictures that have the same last sound all in the same row. With these, when a child gets a “Bingo,” have her name off the picture and the last sound in that word. )
- To create your own B-I-N-G-O cards by selecting a category or theme, go to: http://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo/

3. Hot Potato
Have the children line up in two lines. Give each child at the beginning of the line a beanbag. Start playing some favorite music and have the children all face forward and pass the beanbag to the person behind them alternating between over their heads and between their legs. When the music stops the clinician names a picture from a basket and the person in each line holding the beanbag tells the class what the last sound in that word is. The music starts again and the game continues until all have had a chance to respond.
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4. Teacher’s Helpers
Select three children from the group to stand in front of the class. Give two of them small white pieces of paper and give the third child a larger red piece of paper. Tell the children that they are going to help sound out some words that all have 3 sounds in them. Begin by saying a word like ‘Sam’. When you say the /s/, have the first child hold up a small white paper, the /a/ child also holds up a small white paper, and when the last sound, the /m/ is said, the child holds the large red paper high above his head. Direct the children’s attention to the last sound of the words in additional three-sound words.
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5. Sing Along
Sing to: “London Bridge is Falling Down”

(Teacher Verse)
~ What’s the last sound that you hear?
~ That you hear, that you hear?
~ What’s the last sound that you hear?
~ In dog, dog, dog?

(Student Response)
~ /g/ is the sound that I hear,
~ That I hear, that I hear.
~ /g/ is the sound that I hear
~ At the end of dog.

                       Identify the Middle Sound of Words                      
                                  Age: Kindergarten-First Grade

1. Meet in the Middle
Collect sets of three pictures or objects that have the same middle sounds (e.g. pig/fish/king; hand/cat/lamb; sock/mop/pot; bell/men/pet). Tell the children that you are going to try to sort all of the pictures into the right boxes based on the sound that comes in the middle of the word. Help the children begin sorting them into small boxes with a vowel sound taped to the outside. When sorting is complete, take all the cards out from each box and review the words and their middle sounds.
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2. Say it Loud
Ask three children to be your assistants in the front of the group. The child on the group’s left crouches down on her hands and knees. The middle child stands tall and the child on the right is on her hands and knees. When you say a three-sound word like ‘bell’ have the first child say the /b/ in a very quiet voice, the second child says the middle sound loudly and the third child says her sound very quiet. Emphasize the middle sounds of several words.
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3. Name that Sound
Explain to the children that you are going to play a game with sounds and you need them to listen carefully. Say three words that have the same middle sound (e.g. game/lake/paint; soap/nose/goat; hat/rap/Sam). If they can identify the middle sound correctly, they can call on the next child after the next three words are said.
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4. Memory
Using ten pairs of cards with familiar 3-sound pictures on them, shuffle the cards, turn them over in a 4X5 grid and play a game of Memory with the cards. As each card is turned over, the child will tell you the middle sound of each word and try to find its match. Play continues until all matches have been found. Review the words and emphasize the middle sounds.
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5. On the Farm
Sing the song, “Old McDonald Had a Farm.” In the song, call attention to the animals or objects on the farm. For example, when singing “Old McDonald had a “cat,” ask the child to identify the sound they hear in the middle of the word “cat.” Use simple words such as cat, pig, dog, duck, goose, mouse, etc. 

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