Educational and Appealing Online Phonemic Awareness Games for EVERY Skill

New readers need as much phonemic awareness practice as they can get to build those important skills. These free online phonemic awareness games are the perfect way to provide repetition for kids!

Technology can be such an amazing learning tool if used correctly. I love to utilize it to practice skills that require a lot of repetition and practice. My kids love it because it’s fun and super engaging. It is a win-win! 👏

The games I am highlighting here focus on specific phonological and phonemic awareness skills. All of these games are free to play (as of July 2019)!

Phonological Awareness VS Phonemic Awareness

Before we get started, do you know the difference between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness?

I used these terms interchangeably for years, but they’re actually quite different.

I’ve explained it all (and even created a little cheat sheet for you) which you can read about here: The Difference Between Phonological Awareness and Phonemic Awareness.

Online Phonological Awareness Games

Sound and Word Discrimination

Sound Match

In this interactive game, players practice sound discrimination by matching the beginning sound of the picture in the box with one of the pictures below. The words populate on the side of the screen as they create matches.

Chicken Coop

This fun game gives players the chance to practice beginning sound discrimination by matching the beginning sound of the picture in the bin to one of the chicken’s nesting boxes. All words are said aloud as the boxes are highlighted. This keeps any word confusion at bay and allows the player to really listen to how words are the same and different.

Word Gobble

In this (favorite of many of my students) game, players practice sound discrimination by listening to the middle sound in a each word. The monster gobbles up the correct word after it is clicked followed by many giggles ☺️

Rhyming

Rhyme Time with Sesame Street

Students love to control the train by choosing the correct tunnel in this interactive game. They practice rhymes by matching the picture in the cloud to a rhyming picture above the tunnel. In between tunnels, they can control the speed of the train which is just a fun bonus 😉

Partners in Rhyme

In this rhyming game, players practice by listening the the different words to find the match. They can look at the photos and say the words aloud or click on them to listen to the words read which also helps with vocabulary. 🙌

Rhyme Time with FunBrain Jr.

In this engaging game, players match the rhyme the monster thinks of to the one in the net. They capture rhymes to collect treasure. They can click on the different pictures to hear them said aloud as well.

Syllables

SillyBulls

In this silly syllables game, players listen to the word and move it to the box with the matching number of syllables. Words are in text form but can be listened to rather than read. (Ideally they would be pictures but I haven’t found a good syllable game that features pictures yet. If you have a recommendation, let me know!)

Blending

The Hay Loft

In this blending game, players practice blending words as they listen to a CVC word said in parts. They match the blended word to the picture on the hay bale. I was so excited to find this game because it provides SUCH vital practice that is hard to find elsewhere 🥳

Online Phonemic Awareness Games

Phoneme Deletion

Pumpkin Patch

In this fun and challenging game, players look at the object in the lamb’s hand. They hear “This word is book. Take the /k/ away. What word do you have?” As they move the mouse over the pumpkins, they hear different word options. This is one we come back to over and over again because phoneme deletion can be TRICKY. So glad this game is available for free! 🙌

Phoneme Manipulation

Lanonlin’s Greenhouse

Students love to practice changing phonemes in words to make new words in this game. For example, they are asked to change the /s/ in sock to an /r/ sound. Then they click on the word they made. This is another one we come back to again and again because the repetition is just what we need. 🙌

Don’t those games look fun? You may have noticed that several came from the same website. Orson’s Farm, funded by the Indiana Department of Education, is filled with different phonemic awareness activities.

I kept this page pulled up on a computer for centers at the beginning of the year. Students were encouraged to play any of the games on this page.

Online phonemic awareness games are such a fun way to practice these skills after they have been taught. Do you have a favorite way to give your new readers extra phonemic awareness practice? Let me know below! 👇