Sing or read aloud one of your child’s favorite songs or nursery rhymes together. Change the first sound of each word to a different sound or letter. For example, “Twinkle, twinkle little star” becomes “Pinkle, pinkle pittle par.” “Hickory dickory dock” becomes “Sickory sickory sock.”

Listening for and playing with the initial sounds of words helps children hear how words are made of beginning sounds and ending sounds. Another fun game to play is the “name game” where you replace the first letter of your child’s name with several different sounds: “Vickie Vickie bo bickie, banana fana fo fickie, fee fi mo mickie, Vickie!”