9 Easy Activities to Boost Syllable and Phoneme Awareness

*Today’s post has been adapted from the chapter “Teaching Phonemic Awareness” by Lucy Hart Paulson, in Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills, Fourth Edition, edited by Judith R. Birsh & Suzanne Carreker.

Syllable and phoneme awareness—two early literacy building blocks—focus on blending and segmenting tasks. Blending is the ability to combine or synthesize a sequence of isolated word segments of syllables, onsets (initial sounds), or phonemes to produce a recognizable word (e.g., hearing kan – ga – roo and saying “kangaroo”). Segmentation is the ability to analyze the segments of a word and isolate them by syllables, onsets, and individual phonemes (e.g., saying kangaroo as “kan – ga – roo”).

Along with intentional lessons teaching phonological and phonemic awareness in an explicit, sequenced, and systematic manner, early childhood teachers can embed syllable and sound play in everyday routines and activities. Here are some examples of helpful instructional activities in preschool and kindergarten:

Segment and blend students’ names while taking attendance, first by the syllables, then with a focus on initial sounds, followed by a focus on ending sounds.

Have children say new vocabulary words by segmenting and blending the syllables to help them establish a phonological representation for the words and make more connections to deepen their learning.

Play an I Spy game by segmenting the word for an object or picture for children to identify by blending the word segments at their developmental level. For example, say, “I spy a blan – ket.” Then, have them take turns segmenting a word for a partner to blend.

Sort objects by beginning sounds. Have children think of words that begin with a particular sound.

Segment the onset–rime in consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words for children to blend together while holding a picture of an object from their view. Do the same activity with a focus on the final sounds in single-syllable words. When children are successful at this level, try the middle sound of CVC words. As their skills progress, go to the next level by including CCVC and CVCC words.

Use Elkonin boxes to tap a finger or place chips in designated boxes to match the number of syllables in words.

When giving directions, use “robot reporting.” For example, say, “To – day – we – are – go – ing – to – the – li – bra – ry.”

Compare picture pairs, using a balance scale and counters, to see which word “weighs more” according to its number of syllables or phonemes. For example, a picture of a kangaroo will have three counters (representing its three syllables), in contrast to a picture of a donkey with two counters (for two syllables). The word kangaroo “weighs” more than donkey.

Find pictures and cut them into picture puzzles based in syllables, initial sound, and individual phonemes. Have the students find the pieces for the puzzle pictures and segment and blend the word segments. Letters on the pictures provide a connection to the spelling patterns for the sounds and syllables in the words.

All of these strategies need to be developmentally appropriate. Remember to consider children’s level of development along the linguistic hierarchy. For preschool children to succeed in playing with phonemes, they may need more support from you, and so will children who are displaying difficulty with phonemic awareness learning.

For more specific guidance on planning instruction focused on phonemic awareness, see the dedicated chapter in Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills, Fourth Edition.