As your child approaches three years old, her Awareness of Sound Patterns skills, or her ability to recognize sounds and rhythms, are expanding greatly. In particular, you will notice that she will possess a greater awareness of the sounds heard in the spoken language.¹ This is more than just fun and games. It turns out that children who notice sounds and practice playing with them “have an easier time learning to read and write when they start school.”²

(SPECIAL OFFER: Sign up for Playful Bee’s Bee Well developmental learning program to give your baby the best start in life. The first 10,000 children enroll for FREE! Sign up today.)

Your child may start by realizing that her name begins with a “b” sound and that the “b” sound starts other words, like “ball,” “boy,” or “blue.” Or, she might notice that “Mommy” starts with “m,” and so do a bunch of other words. As she becomes better and better at identifying sounds, challenge her by asking her to identify the sound a word ends with!

You can also play with sound together by making new words or sounds.³ Try changing the first letter of a word to create a new word. For example, while playing with your family dog, ask your child, “Is Rex a wog? No. Is Rex a pog? No. What is he? Oh, yes, a dog!” This will draw your child’s awareness to the different sounds you are using. She may get into the game and start inventing new words to try to “confuse” you.

Rhymes are another good way to draw your child’s attention to the sounds of speech.⁴ There are three different stages: “hearing words that rhyme; discriminating rhyme, which involves picking out words that rhyme from a list of words; and producing rhyme, which involves naming words that rhyme with a given word.”⁴ So, you can start by reading nursery rhymes and poems or singing songs and then pointing out the rhyme. As your child becomes better able to hear the rhyme, start asking her to find a word that rhymes with one you suggest, taking ideas from the things you see while out and about.²

She’s developing the ability to draw attention to syllables by moving to the beat of the sound. She will also start to understand that certain words are made up of more than one phrase or syllable. Try clapping or stepping to the syllables in different words or to the rhythm of favorite songs.

Overall, there are many fun ways to encourage your child to have an awareness of the sounds and rhythms of speech. Pick a few and get started!

(SPECIAL OFFER: Sign up for Playful Bee’s Bee Well developmental learning program to give your baby the best start in life. The first 10,000 children enroll for FREE! Sign up today.)

Play Tips:

Do you want to know how you can support your child’s development of Awareness of Sound Patterns skills at this age? It’s easy! Read on for some simple tips to incorporate into your daily play time together.

1. Emphasize the sound at the beginning of your child’s first name. Show her how this sound is used to start other words by slowly saying her name and then saying another word. Make a game of it, and in no time, your child will learn the starting sound of her name and notice this sound in other words!
2. Engage in active conversation throughout the day and use clear adult language (as opposed to “baby talk”).^1,5 Describe your actions as you do them, and encourage your child to tell you what she sees and does too. Listen and restate what she says to you to show her you understand what she’s saying and to encourage the “give and take” of conversations.
3. Play games with words and sounds.³ There are a number of ways you and your child can play with words. For example, you can say a number of simple words that rhyme (e.g. cat, bat, mat) and ask her to add one to the list. Or, take a word that she says and play with different ways to say it (e.g. slowly, quickly, loudly, softly, etc).

Developmental Milestones:

Has your baby achieved the following Awareness of Sound Patterns developmental milestones yet? If yes, check off all the skill(s) she has already mastered to date using Playful Bee’s developmental milestones tracker. It’s absolutely FREE and easy to use, just click HERE!

• Notices words that start with the same sounds.

(SPECIAL OFFER: Sign up for Playful Bee’s Bee Well developmental learning program to give your baby the best start in life. The first 10,000 children enroll for FREE! Sign up today.)

Sources:

¹Maryland State Department of Education (2010). Healthy Beginnings: Supporting Development and Learning from Birth through Three Years of Age.

²Center for Early Literacy Learning (2010). Sounds Like… Center for Early Literacy Learning. Retrieved October 10, 2014, from http://www.earlyliteracylearning.org/pgparents.php.

³Center for Early Literacy Learning (2010). Fun and Games with Sounds. Center for Early Literacy Learning. Retrieved January 7, 2014, from http://www.earlyliteracylearning.org/pgparents.php.

⁴Reading-Tutors. Tips for Teaching: Phonological Awareness. Reading-Tutors. Retrieved October 10, 2014, from http://www.reading-tutors.com/tips/TH_Tips_PhonAware.pdf.

⁵American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Activities to Encourage Speech and Language Development. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Retrieved January 7, 2014, from http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/parent-stim-activities.htm.

• About
• Latest Posts

Playful Bee

Education Team at Playful Bee

Playful Bee is an e-Preschool that delivers inquiry-based preschool learning from the classroom to your home. Our preschool curriculum was created by our talented team of rock star teachers. With years of hands-on preschool and Kindergarten teaching experience, they've developed a high-quality preschool experience that is convenient-to-use and easy-to-teach by you, grandparents, or your nanny at home.

Latest posts by Playful Bee (see all)

• Have a Super Fortune Cookie Friday! - February 9, 2018
• All Kinds of Shapes: Your Child Is Learning Simple Shapes, and Drawing Them Too! - November 13, 2017
• Fishing for Sneakers: Create your own Hand-Eye Coordination Fun - November 11, 2017