Teach children all of the SOUNDS we make when we speak. Play with the sounds by breaking words up into sounds, and by blending them together again to make words.

Silly Sound Games You May Remember

Some of the games in the following list may already be familiar to you as games that you remember playing in the car while traveling, or while having fun with language in your home when you were growing up:

What's that Sound?

Have your children close their eyes (or use a blindfold) and listen to the sounds in their environment, or sounds that you make with objects from around the house.

Mixed Up Poems and Songs and Rhymes

Mix up the words and sounds in familiar poems and songs and see if your children can tell you what has been switched around. For example, "baa baa orange sheep...", or "Mary had a little cow". Or, switch the first sounds in words: "Old MacDonald had a farm, tee-igh-tee-igh-toe", or "Binkle, Binkle, little bar...". Or, mix up the order of the words "Song a Sing of Sixpence...", "One potato, eight potato, six potato, four..."

Speed it Up, Slow it Down

Speak very quickly and then very sl-ow-ly. Your children will get practice in blending smaller sound units into words and they won't even know that they are learning an important skill!*

Play with Rhymes

Read lots of "Phonemic Awareness" books (see "This is Not a Complete Reading Program"), and let your children fill in the last word. Make the rhyming word stick out from the other words by whispering or by making it louder. Or, start with a word (i.e.: "cat") and see if everyone can find a different rhyming word for that word. Nonsense words are encouraged (i.e.: lat, zat, dat).

In My Suitcase... I packed a ball, broom, basket, boat,banana. Take turns telling what you would pack that starts with the same letter. This game could be harder if the suitcase were packed with things that all have the same middle sound (ie:... meat, cream, teeth,street, leek, peas), or the same last sound (treat, pit, cat, plate, coat).

Put it in my Hoop...

Put it in my hoop, If it starts like "h...h...h...", Put it in my hoop! Have your child pick things from the house that all begin with the same letter. See if they can find ten things in ten minutes (If this is too easy have them find things that have the same middle or last sound).

Where is that sound?....

Give your children three cups and some little objects (popcorn, seeds, etc.). Ask your children to put the object into the correct cup like this: Where is the "b" sound in club? (child places the object in the third cup) Where is the "e" sound in sheep? (child places object in the middle cup)*

Silly Sentences...

Make up a silly sentence so that all of the words begin with the same sound....(don't forget to include the sounds th, ch, sh, and qu) "Goofy got giggling gulping grape juice in the garden." "Miss Molly made a magic mop move to the music"

Hello.... My name is Allison, My friend's name is Alex, and we live in Alberta. Take turns making up names that all begin with the same sound. Some children like to talk about what they like to eat, or which animal they have for a pet. (ie: my name is Nancy, my friend's name is Nick, we live in Newmarket, we like to eat Nuts, and we have a pet Newt.)

Last Sound/First Sound....

Name a place (or food, thing, person, etc.) and then have the next person name a place that begins with the LAST sound from the last place named.(i.e.: England. Denmark. Canada. Africa.) Remember that the focus should be on the sounds - not spellings.

Find me A-Z...

When travelling, try to find something that begins, and ends, with each letter of the alphabet (airplane, book, cloud, deer, etc.).

* Some games have been adapted from "Games For Reading" by Peggy Kaye (Pantheon Books, 1984), or "Phonemic Awareness in Young Children" by M.J. Adams, B.R. Foorman, I. Lundberg, and T. Beeler (Irwin Publishing, 1998)

Alphabet Action Sounds

Magic Sounds! This game will introduce your children to the idea that words are made up of smaller units of sound. In this game, children are encouraged to think carefully about the first, middle, and last sounds in words, and to think about HOW they make these sounds with their mouths and voices. STEP 1 Check "Alphabet Action Sounds" to learn how to say the sounds in words. STEP 2 Give your child some examples of how sounds can be pronounced separately (ie: mom starts with the sound .....mmmm......teeth has the sound ....eeee.....in the middle, and work ends with the sound...kkkk....). STEP 3 Read a group of 20 words from the list below (or make up your own), and ask your child to find the first sound in the word. At first you may have to over-emphasize the beginning sound, but soon you will be able to give your child any word, and he/she will be able to tell you the first, middle, or last sound in the word. FIRST SOUNDS LAST SOUNDS (LAST sounds are easier to hear than middle sounds) MIDDLE SOUNDS MAN NAIL SEE TAKE BALL CAKE DOOR FAN HAT KITTEN PARTY TREE USE WATER YELLOW ZEBRA MILK SOMETIMES LOOK TAKE WASTE RAIN SNOW WILD SIGH HOME TEETH TABLE SHEEP FROG ANGEL CROSS CAME ZOO OVER OFF CUP LIFE MEAT HIDE FOOD MADE THIEF RIGHT SAME FEET COAT LEAD NAME MOON BOAT CLOWN SMOOTH MOP SICK WHITE PART