Add some variety and improve your child’s phonemic awareness with this great selection of free online games.
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Games That Focus on Initial Sounds...
In this simple but effective game, children have to choose words that begin with the same sound as the picture in the box
All the words are narrated if you click on the pictures and there are plenty of examples and non-examples to encourage children listen and think carefully about the sounds.
Click on the images above to access the game in a new tab.
Students match pictures with the same initial sound in this simple but effective activity.
To access this game, you will need to register with the Literactive site (it’s free). Once you’ve done that, click on the activities tab at the top then on the Level 1 link in the left hand margin. You should be able to locate the Matching Plates game and several other activities.
This is another simple activity from Literactive that would be ideal for kids just beginning instruction in phonemic awareness. The idea is to match pictures that start with the same sound. There are only 3 pictures to choose from so it doesn’t take too long to find the correct one.
To access this game, you will need to register with the Literactive site (it’s free). Once you’ve done that, click on the activities tab at the top then on the Pre-Read 2 link in the left hand margin. You should be able to locate the Picture Match game and several other activities.
Students have to choose the picture that begins with the sound represented by the letter shown in this game. The sounds of the letters are spoken so the game can be played with children who aren’t fluent with letter-sound correspondences.
To access this game, you will need to register with the Literactive site (it’s free). Once you’ve done that, click on the activities tab at the top then on the Level 3 link in the left hand margin. You should be able to locate the Hungry Hippos game and several other activities.
Students have to choose the picture which starts with the same sound as the word above in this game. Different sets of words can be chosen for variety and the words are narrated, so the game is suitable for pre-readers.
Students are given feedback on their answers and the game is narrated very clearly making it easier for students to pick out the sounds.
Click on this link to access the ‘Which Initial Sound?’ game and a variety of other free Vocabulary Spelling City games. You can select different word lists when you click on the game.
Games That Focus on Final Sounds
This game is very similar to the initial sound one by VocabularySpellingCity we described above, except this time students have to choose the picture which ends with the same sound as the word above. Different sets of words can be chosen for variety and the words are narrated, so the game is suitable for pre-readers.
Click on this link to access the ‘Which Final Sound?’ game and a variety of other free Vocabulary Spelling City games. You can select different word lists when you click on the game.
Students have to identify words ending with the sound represented by ‘ng’ in this activity. The words are spoken when you hover over them so it could be played by a child who can’t read yet with a bit of support.
To access this game, you will need to register with the Literactive site (it’s free). Once you’ve done that, click on the activities tab at the top then on the Level 6 link in the left hand margin. You should be able to locate The Hula Pool game and several other activities.
Games for Identifying Multiple Sounds
In this game, students listen to a word and try to figure out how many sounds it contains.
The words are broken up into individual phonemes after the student submits their answer and they can click on the sound counters to hear the phonemes.
Different lists of words can be selected in the game. Click on this link to access the Sound Counter game and a variety of other free Spelling City games.
This game is chapter 3 of a series of stories from the Get Ready to Read site. Children blend simple compound words at the start of the game, but most of the activities focus on identifying beginning sounds and ending sounds in words.
The activities are interspersed in a lengthy animation. We think the storyline maybe goes on a bit too long, but it should be of interest to young children.
Further Resources:
Another way to access free online games and activities is to register with some of the specialist reading programmes that offer free trials.
For example:
Parents and teachers can register for a 30-day free trial with Reading Eggs. This allows you to access over 500 highly interactive games and fun animations for developing Phonemic awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension.
A 30-day free trial is also available from ABCmouse.com. This is a leading online educational website for children ages 2–8. With more than 9,000 interactive learning activities that teach reading, math, science, art, music, and more.
Although it’s not quite free, you can get a 30-day trial with the award-winning Hooked on Phonics programme for just $1.
IXL Learning cover 8000 skills in 5 subjects including phonics and reading comprehension. You can click on the following link to access a 7-day free trial if you live in the US.
If you live outside of the US you can get 20% off a month’s subscription if you click on the ad. below:
Click on the following link to see a variety of other Free Phonics and Phonological Awareness Online Activities and Games.
Or, cllick on the following link for a range of other Free Phonics and Phonological Awareness Resources.
You might also find our article on Phonological/Phonemic Awareness Activities for Parents and Teachers useful.