Free phonological awareness activities and games
14 free activities · no sign-up
Phonological awareness is noticing and working with the sound structure of spoken words, apart from their meaning: hearing that “cat” and “hat” rhyme, clapping the syllables in “butterfly”, or knowing that “map” starts with /m/. The boards cover the range from larger units, rhymes and syllables, down to single sounds.
A typical route is rhyme and syllables first, then first and last sounds, then blending and segmenting sounds, and finally deleting or changing a sound. These are spoken activities: the student does not need to read, and letters can come later.
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All 14 activities
- 1-2-3 Syllable SortSort pictures into 1, 2, or 3 syllable groups.
- Beginning Sound SortSort pictures by their initial phoneme.
- CVC Blending PracticeBlend three-phoneme CVC words letter-by-letter into a whole word.
- CVC Segmenting PracticeSegment CVC words into individual phonemes using finger-tapping.
- First Sound MatchMatch pictures that start with the same sound.
- Last Sound MatchMatch pictures that end with the same sound.
- Phoneme Blending FlashcardsBlend individual sounds into words.
- Phoneme Count — How Many Sounds?Count the phonemes in CVC words.
- Phoneme Deletion GameRemove a sound and say the new word.
- Phoneme Segmenting FlashcardsSegment words into individual phonemes.
- Rhyme Pairs Memory MatchFlip cards to find rhyming picture pairs.
- Rhyme Sort — Does It Rhyme?Sort picture pairs by whether they rhyme.
- Syllable Clapping GameClap and count syllables in picture words.
- Word Families Sort (-at -an -ap)Group pictures by their word family rime.
Questions
- Is phonological awareness the same as phonics?
- No. Phonological awareness is about the sounds in spoken words and can be practiced with eyes closed. Phonics connects those sounds to letters. A student who struggles with the spoken tasks may need them alongside phonics instruction.
- What is phoneme deletion?
- Saying a word without one of its sounds: “Say smile without the /s/” gives “mile”. It is one of the harder tasks, so save the phoneme deletion game for students who can already blend and segment.
- How do I keep phonological awareness practice from feeling like drill?
- Use the game boards (the rhyme memory match, the syllable clapping game, the first and last sound matches) and let the student take the tester’s role sometimes, giving you a word to segment.
Keep the data from every board
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal. Assign any board as home practice through the parent portal.
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