Phonemic Awareness: 7 Ways ​Help Your Kids Sing & Rhyme Their Way to Better Pre-Reading Skills! by Dr. Lynne Kenney

What can you do to enhance phonemic awareness for better reading? A phoneme is the smallest unit in the sound system of a language. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, move and manipulate individual sounds that make up spoken words. Phonemic awareness can be developed through a number of activities, including playing with your 3- or 4-year-old in the following ways:

• Get out those old nursery rhyme books and sing them with your child. Change up the words to make them more positive or inspiring if you wish. Check out the links below for a few books to get you started. 
• Clap the rhythm of syllables.
• Identify and categorize the sounds you hear.
• Blend sounds to form words.
• Delete or add sounds to form new words.
• Substitute sounds to make new words.
• Dance to the words, beats and rhythms.

Read aloud, sing songs and play clapping games with your child. Enjoy playing with sounds through music, clapping and movement. You’ll lay a better foundation for fluency and comprehension with sequencing and pattern awareness.