Milwaukee Public Library


Phonological Awareness
Phonological Awareness is being able to hear and play with the sounds in words:
Sing songs Play word games---clap syllables, substitute sounds, drop letters (“train” becomes “rain”) Share rhymes
Activities you can do together :
Recite nursery rhymes Read books that rhyme Make up nonsense rhymes
0 – 2 years old
Play Pat a Cake with your baby. Put his or her name in instead of Baby: Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker’s man Pat me a cake as faaaaaaast as you can. Roll it and prick it and mark it with J And put it in the oven for Jordan and me. Use your child’s name to make rhyme. The rhyming word does not have to make sense: Your name is Jerry, And it rhymes with berry! Your name is Jessica, And it rhymes with lessica! You can make up many more. Ask a Librarian to help you find a book of nursery rhymes.
Diddle Diddle Dumpling by Tracey Campbell Pearson	Moo, Baa, La La La! by Sandra Boynton
My Very First Mother Goose edited by Iona Opie	¡Pío Peep!: Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes by Alma Ada
Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee	Sleepytime Rhyme by Remy Charlip
The Baby’s Lap Book by Kay Chorao	The Baker’s Dozen by Dan Andreasen
This Little Chick by John Lawrence	Time for Bed by Mem Fox
2 – 3 years old
Help your child become aware of words that rhyme. Read a Jesse Bear book. Then say some of the words that rhyme, that sound alike. For example, bear and wear. You can do this with any book that rhymes.
Baby Danced the Polka by Karen Beaumont	Balloons, Balloons, Balloons by Dee Lillegard
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin	Buzzy’s Boo Boo by Harriet Ziefert
Does a Cow Say Boo? by Judy Hindley	Duck’s Key, Where Can it Be? by Jez Alborough
I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge	Llama Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney
Raise the Roof! by Anastasia Suen	Ten Little Fish by Audrey and Bruce Wood
3 – 5 years old
Choose a book that rhymes, for example, The Lot at the End of My Block by Kevin Lewis . Read it together. When you read it again, read a page and ask your child which words rhyme. When you read it again, read part of a page and leave out the rhyming word. Let your child say the word that rhymes. If they know, give them the starting sound. You need not do this with every rhyming pair, or on every page. Just enough for some fun.
A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson	Ants in My Pants by Wendy Mould
Can You Growl Like a Bear? by John Butler	Circle Dogs by Kevin Henkes
I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont	Jazz Baby by Carole Boston Weatherford
Mortimer by Robert Munsch	Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root
Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee	Wiggle by Doreen Cronin