Sound Games to Build Phonemic Awareness

Beginning Sounds (game 1): (ages 3 and up)

Directions: Together with your child, gather a collection of 3-5 objects from around the house. Make
sure they are objects your child can easily identify. Try and find objects that BEGIN with VERY
different sounds (such as lemon, turtle, spoon, and a fork). Click each step to hear an example of
what to do.
• Step 1: Begin by introducing all of the objects and overemphasizing the first sound of each word.
For example, “This is a spoon. Ssssspoon starts with sssss.”
• Step 2: Play, I-Spy! “I spy with my little eye, something that starts with sssss.” The child should
answer the spoon. If the child is unsure or responds incorrectly, that is okay. Pick up the object
and say, “I am holding something in my hand that starts with sssss.”
• Step 3: Repeat step 2, covering all objects collected.
• Step 4: On a different day, collect other objects. With practice, you can expand the game to
include items on a shelf, items in a room of the house, or objects outside!

*Note: for this game and the others, objects are not necessary at all. You can play I spy games using
the articles of clothing your child is wearing or items in the kitchen. Make it fun!

Ending Sounds (game 2): (ages 3 ½ and up)

Directions: Together with your child, gather a collection of 3-5 objects from around the house. Make
sure they are objects your child can easily identify. Try and find objects that END with different
sounds (such as a spoon, a fork, and a turtle). Click each step to hear an example of what to do.

• Step 1: Begin by introducing all of the objects and overemphasizing the last sound of each word.
For example, “This is a spoon. Spoon ends in nnnn.”
• Step 2: Play, I-Spy! “I spy with my little eye, something that ends with nnn.” The child should
answer the spoon. If the child is unsure or responds incorrectly, that is okay. Pick up the object
and say, “I am holding something in my hand that ends with nnn.”
• Step 3: Repeat step 2, covering all objects collected.
• Step 4: On a different day, expand the game to include items on a shelf, items in a room of the
house, or objects outside!

Middle Sounds (game 3): (ages 4 and up)

Directions: Together with your child, gather a collection of objects from around the house. Try and
find objects that have various middle sounds and varied vowel sounds (such as a spoon, a fork, a
lemon, and a pig).
• Step 1: Begin by introducing all of the objects and emphasizing the middle sound of each word.
For example, “This is a spoon. Spoon has ooo in it” or “This is a pig. Pig has /i/ in it.”
• Step 2: Play, I-Spy! “I spy with my little eye, something that has oooo in it.” The child should
answer the spoon.
• Step 3: Repeat step 2, covering all objects collected.
• Step 4: On a different day, collect other objects. With practice, you can expand the game to
include items on a shelf, items in a room of the house, or objects outside!

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Words that have the sound in it (game 4): (ages 4 and up)
Directions: This game does not require any objects
• Step 1: Invite your child to think of words that have a particular sound in it. The sound can be
anywhere in the word (beginning, middle, or end). For example, “Let’s think of words that have
ssss in it.” The words spoon, snake, dress, bus, and ask are all great choices.
• Step 2: Invite your child to decide what sound you will try next!

Sounds in a word (game 5): (ages 4 and up)

Directions: Collect a group of familiar objects for this game
• Step 1: Review the name of the objects and state the sounds you hear in each word. For example,
“Pig: /p /i/g/ ” Or “Turtle: /t/ur/t/le/”
• Step 2: Invite the child to try identifying each of the sounds In the word.
• Step 3: Play I spy using multiple clues: “I spy something that ends with /g/ and has the sound /i/ in
it? The child should reply, “pig!”

Note: // are used to denote sounds (as opposed to letter names)

Unsure how to make the sounds of the various letters?

• Visit alldayprimary.com to see the cursive symbols and hear their associated sounds/phonemes.
• Review “Teaching Phonics the Montessori Way” to read how to make the sounds

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