Fun phonological awareness activities for babies and toddlers...
Phonological awareness skills: At this stage, it is important to develop basic listening skills. These can be practiced through fun activities you do together such as repeating simple rhythms, differentiating sound attributes, or connecting sound to thing that makes it. Also, this is a great time to model other phonological awareness concepts such as rhyming and alliteration.
- Play stop and start games, such as musical chairs. (At this age, play a version of the game where no one gets out. This will avoid many tears.)
- Clap simple rhythms together, such as clap, clap, clap or clap pause clap.
- When you hear sounds around you, ask what made the sound.
- Try giving your child one-step instructions. Ask your child to pick something up for you or bring you a book. If he or she is unable to complete the request, do it together and repeat the instruction while you are doing it.
- Play a sound guessing game. Make a familiar sound and let your child guess what made the sound.
- Tap a rhythm like a drum beat on a table or on your lap. Do one rhythm that is very fast and one that is very slow. Talk about the difference in the sound--fast and slow. Then tap more rhythms and encourage your child to label them either fast or slow.
- Read rhyming books together. Repeat nursery rhymes and sing little songs that include rhyming words.
- Read books or repeat tongue twisters with alliteration (the first sound is the same in many of the words). For example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Rhyming Books:
- Jamberry by Bruce Degen
- Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino
- Down by the Bay by Raffi
- Buzz said the Bee (Hello Reader Level 1)
- Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
Alliteration Books:
- Six Sick Sheep by Joanna Cole
- Piggy in the puddle by Charlotte Pomerantz
- Alligator Arrived with Apples: A Potluck Alphabet Feast by Crescent Dragonwagon
- Bernstein's B Book by Jan and Stan Bernstein
- C is for Clownby Jan and Stan Bernstein
Phonological awareness activities for young babies:
- Sing songs and do finger plays such as "Eensy-Weensy Spider" or "This Little Piggy Went to Market".
- Read books that are rhythmic and rhyming, such as Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? or There's a Wocket in my Pocket both by Dr. Seuss.
- Read or sing nursery rhymes together.
To see all of the skills in the awareness and exploration stage, click on the links below:
Letters and Sounds
Sight Words
Beginning Writing
Vocabulary and Oral Language
Concepts About Print
