Games for Emerging Readers
Isolating Sounds
With these phonics games your child learns to isolate the first or last sound from the rest of
the word.
Guess the Animal
Think of an animal and tell your child the first sound (not the letter name) of the animal’s
name. Ask him/her to guess which animal you are thinking of (e.g., “I am thinking of an
animal beginning with /d/. What is it?” When he/she has guessed correctly, ask him/her to
choose a name for the animal that begins with the same sound as the animal’s name. (e.g.,
“Should the dog’s name be Dingo or Bingo?”).
Sort by Sound
Put several different objects that all start with one of three different sounds in a big bag. Label
the outside of three small boxes with the letters associated with the sounds you have chosen.
Ask your child to pick one object at a time from the bag and place it in the box that is labelled
with the first sound of the object’s name. You could also play this game using picture cards,
as in the Sound Detective game below.
Sound Detective
Cut out various pictures of objects that your child knows the names of and glue them onto
index cards. Try an image search on Google if you want to find pictures of particular objects
you know your child will enjoy. Several of the pictures should start with the same sound. Lay
the cards on the floor, choose a sound, and pick up all the cards with pictures starting with
your chosen sound. Give these cards to your child and tell him/her that you are thinking of a
sound and all these pictures start with that sound. Ask him/her to be the Sound Detective and
work out which sound you are thinking of. As your child’s experience grows, you can make
the game more challenging by choosing a sound and having your child pick up all the cards
with pictures starting with your chosen sound or having your child focus on ending sounds.
Words Beginning With…
Say your child’s name or ask him/her to pick a friend’s name, and then ask him/her to tell you
all the words that he/she can think of that begin with the same sound as the friend’s name
you have chosen.
Tongue Twisters
Ask your child to choose a letter (perhaps the first letter of his/her or a friend’s name) and
then help him/her make up a silly sentence with lots of words that all start with the same
sound (e.g., “Bouncy Boris blew bubbles by the bed.”)
Going on Vacation
Choose a sound and then say, “I’m going on vacation, and I’m going to take a …” Follow with
the name of an object beginning with your chosen sound. Then tell your child that it is his/her
turn. He/she should repeat the phrase and add his/her own object to the end, which must
also start with the same sound. Continue to take turns until you run out of objects. Then you
can repeat with another sound. To make the game more challenging, you and your child can
repeat all of the previous answers as you add new ones (e.g., You: “I’m going on vacation,
and I’m going to take a diaper.” Your child: “I’m going on vacation, and I’m going to take a
diaper and a dog.” You: “I’m going on vacation, and I’m going to take a diaper, dog and
dish.”)
Blending Sounds
With these phonics games your child learns to blend individual sounds to make a word.
Blending Game
Think of a three-sound word (e.g., fun, cat, red). Say each sound individually, isolating it as
much as possible (e.g., for “f” say “fff” not “fuh,” otherwise your child might end up saying
“fuhun.”) Ask your child to put the three sounds together to guess the word.
Stretch the Story
Tell your child that you are going to read him/her a story, but you will stretch out some of the
words so that he/she can hear all of the sounds in the word. His/her job is to put the stretched
words back together. Read your child the story and when you get to an important place,
character or object in the story say that word stretched out – saying each of the individual
sounds in the word isolating each sound as much as possible (e.g., for “d” say “ddd” not
“duh”). Pause to allow your child to put the word back together before continuing with the
story.
Segmenting Sounds
With these phonics games your child is practicing breaking down words into their individual
sounds.
Segmenting Game
This is the same as the Blending Game above but with you doing the guessing. Ask your
child to think of a word and, without telling you the whole word, say each sound individually.
You have to guess the word.
Word Building
Think of a three-letter word that is simple to spell (e.g., fun, cat, red) and write each letter on
a small card – one letter per card. Draw three lines on a separate piece of paper. Tell your
child the word and ask him/her to make the word by arranging the three cards in the correct
order on the lines of the paper. If he/she needs help, try running your finger along the three
lines as you slowly say the word, but do not segment the sounds in the word for him/her. This
phonics game also works particularly well with magnetic letters and a magnetic white board.
More Word Building
Create cards, as in the Word Building game above, of the following letters: a, c, f, m, o, p, s
and t. Start by spelling ‘cot’ using three of these letters. Ask your child if he/she can change
one of the letters to make ‘pot’. Then continue to make other words, always changing one
letter at a time (e.g., ‘pat’, ‘fat’, ‘mat’, ‘cat’, ‘sat’, ‘sap’, ‘tap’, ‘cap’, ‘map’, ‘mop’, ‘cop’, ‘top’,
‘pop’). This phonics game also works particularly well with magnetic letters and a magnetic
white board.
Rhyming
With these phonics games your child is learning to recognize and generate rhyming words.
Point and Rhyme
While you are around the house or out and about, point to an object and say its name. Then
ask your child to think of as many words as he/she can that rhyme with the name of the
object. Let him/her use nonsense words too – the point is that he/she gets the hang of
rhyming even if the words are made up. Words that work well for this game include hat, coat,
book, bed, toy, pot, chair, sink, bell, rug, car and dog.
Odd One Out
Say three words, two of which rhyme and one which does not (e.g., pen, bin and hen) and
ask your child to tell you the two words that rhyme.
Guess the Rhyme
Think of two words that rhyme. Tell your child one of them and ask him/her to guess the
other, based on your brief description of it. For example, say “I am an animal that rhymes with
hat. I fly around at night and hang upside down when I sleep. What am I?”
Awareness of Syllables
With these phonics games your child is learning to break down longer words into parts, which
will eventually help when reading and spelling long words.
Sort by Syllables
Gather together several objects that your child knows the name of and put them in a bag.
Label three boxes 1, 2 and 3. Ask your child to pick one object at a time of out of the bag and
place it in the box that is labelled with the number of syllables in the object’s name. Box 1
should contain all objects with one-syllable names (e.g., cup, pen, hat). Box 2 should contain
all objects with two-syllable names (e.g., pencil, teddy). Box 3 should contain all objects with
three-syllable names (e.g., umbrella, elephant). You could also play this game using picture
cards rather than actual objects. Try an image search on Google if you want to find pictures
of particular objects you know your child will enjoy. Cut out pictures of different objects with
one, two and three syllables and glue them onto index cards. Ask your child to sort the cards
into three piles based on the number of syllables in each word.