Phoneme manipulation is an important, yet challenging, skill for young students to develop on their journey to become confident and fluent readers. In order to teach this skill to kindergarteners, it’s helpful to have a wide variety of engaging activities in your teacher toolbox! In this post, I’m going to share some of my favorite phoneme manipulation activities for small groups. You and your students will love these engaging activities!

What is Phoneme Manipulation?
Phoneme manipulation is considered an advanced phonological awareness skill in which students change the sounds within words. They do this by either adding, removing, or substituting phonemes in different word positions.
As we can see in Hollis Scarborough’s Reading Rope infographic, phonological awareness is an essential strand in the rope that leads to skilled reading. By practicing phoneme manipulation with your students, you are helping them strengthen their phonological awareness. Since this is such an essential part of reading development, it is vital to give students plenty of opportunities to practice phonological awareness skills like phoneme manipulation.
Small Group Phoneme Manipulation Activities
Phoneme manipulation is an important foundational skill but it is also challenging for young learners! This is when small group instruction can be very beneficial, so students can get more targeted support with phoneme addition, deletion, and substitution.
These engaging activities are a great way to help students get the repetition they need with phoneme manipulation while keeping them motivated to practice! These activities do not include any letter identification, so students are able to focus solely on these phonological awareness skills.
1. Hungry Alligator
It is recommended that students practice phoneme deletion first when developing their phoneme manipulation skills. The first sound in a word is easier for students to distinguish, so removing this phoneme from a word is a great place to start!
This activity comes with a fun poem about a hungry alligator to get students excited for the game. Then, you can say the word and the sound that the hungry alligator has munched. The students will then respond by saying what’s left after the first sound has been removed. The alligator visual is a fun addition to the game!
2. Sound Off!
This activity is another fun way to practice deleting initial phonemes in words. Students will listen to a word, remove the first sound, and then identify the new word that they created by removing the sound. For example, “spin” without /s/ is “pin”.
For this activity, students will have a grid of six pictures that represent the different words they will create by deleting phonemes. It’s helpful to identify these pictures with students before starting the game.
After identifying a new word, students will find the corresponding picture and cover it with a small chip or other manipulative. Play will continue until all of the pictures have been covered. This engaging activity is always a hit during small group literacy practice!
3. Add It!
Another important phoneme manipulation skill that you can practice during small group time is phoneme addition. Students can learn how to add initial phonemes to words to create a new word.
This game is very similar to “Sound Off” but it focuses on phoneme addition instead. You will say a word and then ask students to add a given initial sound in order to create a new word. After reviewing the pictures with your students, you can say a word along with the sound they need to add. Once they’ve figured it out, they will cover the picture with a chip or manipulative.
4. Sound Change
Phoneme substitution is a multi-step process, so it is one of the more advanced phoneme manipulation skills. Students need to be able to identify the phoneme within the word and then change the phoneme to a new sound.
This activity gives students the chance to listen for phoneme substitution and identify the phoneme that has changed. You can show students a card with two pictures. They will identify the first word and the word that it has been changed to. Students will listen closely to the phoneme that has changed and identify the position of that sound in the word.
Once they have figured out with phoneme has changed, they will place a plastic chip or manipulative on a train mat to indicate the position of the phoneme. The train engine is the first sound and so on down the line.
5. Change It!
Once students have had a chance to practice identifying phoneme substitutions in different word positions, it’s time for them try changing phonemes! This activity uses a chameleon friend since chameleons are known for changing their colors. However, the chameleon for this activity is special because he can change sounds!
For this activity, students will listen to a word and then change the sound as directed by the teacher. For example, you might say “ran” and then ask students to change /r/ to /t/. Students will then substitute the sound as directed and identify the new word that they created.
Depending on the students in your group, you could choose to focus on one specific word position or to alternate between substituting beginning, ending, and medial sounds. One of the benefits of reviewing phoneme manipulation in small groups is that you can target the specific skills your students need to practice.
Printable Phoneme Manipulation Activities and Lesson Plans
All of the activities that I shared in this post are included in one time-saving set of Phoneme Manipulation Activities! These activities will help your students manipulate phonemes in words as they strengthen their phonemic awareness and build a strong foundation for reading.
Each activity includes a detailed lesson plan to help you make the most of your small group instructional time. If you’d like to take a closer look at everything included in this resource, you can find it in my TPT store.
Save These Activities for Phoneme Manipulation Practice
If you’re short on time, be sure to save this post so you can come back to it later. Just add the pin below to your favorite literacy board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find these phoneme manipulation activities when you’re planning your small group instruction.