This is a phonemic awareness activity that focuses on having your child identify and isolate the initial sounds of words. Playing this word game with a puppet can make it a whole lot of fun!

  1. Have a list of random words that begin with different sounds ready for this game.
  2. Tell your child that you’ll be saying some words and that the puppet wants them to repeat only the first sound of each word. Show your child some examples with the puppet’s help before you have them give you the sounds.
  3. Examples:

Parent says: snail … Puppet says: /s/

Parent says: mushroom … Puppet says: /m/

Parent says: shade … Puppet says: /sh/

  • Phoneme isolation is one of the more difficult skills of phonemic awareness, so your child may need some practice with this one. Remember that the words you chose don’t have to be small words because your child is not expected to read them – they just have to be able to say them and repeat the first sound. This is a good chance to expose your child to some new words!