Playing with Alliteration
Another concept to focus on as you nurture the development of your beginning reader is alliteration. Alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. Helping children notice when words sound the same at the beginning — i.e. man and moon — directs their attention to the distinct sounds our language makes. Playing with alliteration helps develop learners’ awareness of similar sounds, and begin to understand individual phonemes (distinct sounds) of the English language.
There are many ways to help a child develop alliteration awareness. In the beginning, it can be helpful to share nursery rhymes, stories, or songs with alliteration. This helps a child develop an appreciation for similar sounds within a single poem, story, or song. Later, you can use his/her resultant sound awareness to sort objects (or pictures of objects) with the same beginning sound. This deepens a child’s understanding of the distinct sounds at the beginning of words. Finally, you can challenge your child to produce a word (or show an object) that has a similar beginning sound as one you provide. For example, “Can you show me something that starts with the same sound as pig? (puppy). Placing the child in the role of producer is a valuable way to assess the strength of his/her understanding.
The lists below provide examples of experiences, children’s literature and games/activities that will help your child develop an understanding of alliteration. At the end of the list are two final suggestions to help your child grow his/her phonological awareness through alliterative play.
Fostering Alliteration Awareness:
Lean In— In the beginning, it can be helpful to use children’s interests to draw attention to alliteration. i.e. creepy crawlies, Peppa Pig, Bob the Builder, Big Bird, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Sesame Street, french fries, etc. Use think-aloud to call attention to the similar sounds at the beginning of each word. Embed these conversations organically within the context of everyday life. For example, if your child asks to watch Peppa Pig you might say something like, ““Listen, I hear the same sound at the beginning of each word. Peppa Pig. P- Peppa, P-pig. Do you hear it?”
Next, transition to sharing nursery rhymes, songs, or stories that feature alliteration. See the list below for examples.
Mrs. Wishy Washy
Then, invite your child to engage with tasks that are designed to stretch his/her developing understanding of letter-sound correspondence.
Games/Activities to Develop Alliteration Awareness:
Alphabet Soup Sorting Set — Each can of soup contains picture cards of objects that begin with the sound of the letter on the can. For example, Alphabet Soup contains picture cards of a wagon, watch, window, waffle, and watermelon. The activity guide included with the set provides suggestions for 8 different activities that work to foster knowledge alphabetic principle, letter-sound correspondence, and rhyme awareness.
Basket Sort — This activity can be easily assembled using objects you may already have at home. The goal is for a child to sort objects into baskets (or bowls) based on the beginning consonant sound of the word represented by the object. For example, the “s” basket below contains soap, soda, and strawberry. The “f” basket contains frog, fish, and feather. The “b” basket contains bananas, butterfly, basket and bread. This activity is especially useful for children who may exhibit disinterest in letter sounds. The tactile nature of the experience makes it more interesting and engaging.
Alphabet Sounds Picture Magnets — The alphabet picture magnet set aims to help children build letter-sound knowledge as they work to sort the pictures into groups based on the letter-sound they hear at the beginning of each picture(word). Begin by allowing your child to explore the set and make whatever connections are meaningful to him/her. Later, separate the set into groups of two or three letter sounds and their corresponding magnets. Challenge your child to sort the pictures into rows based on the sound s/he hears at the beginning of each picture (word).
Alphabet Tubs — Alphabet tubs are designed to provided children with tactile experiences as they build their phonologic and phonemic awareness. This set is pricey, but may be worth the investment if you are working with a learning pod or micro-school scenario this year.
Picture Word Cards — This set is designed to help children practice identifying the letter-sounds they hear at the beginning of words. It includes 140 photos of everyday objects for letter-sound identification. It also includes 100 extra cards that help a learner practice rhyming sounds and syllable segmentation. Produced by Pioneer Valley Books, this set is worth the $22.
Hear Myself Sound Phones — The Hear Myself Sound Phone allows a child to hear the sounds s/he makes when speaking. These are particularly useful when developing a child’s understanding of letter sounds through activities that feature alliteration. In the beginning, invite your child to listen to the sound s/he makes when saying words with the same initial consonant sound (i.e. hat, horse; can, cat; push, pull). Later, challenge him/her to use the Hear Myself Phone to help complete a letter-sound sort (i.e. basket sort, alphabet soup, or alphabet magnet sort). What sound do you hear at the beginning of sun? Does the sound at the front of sun sound like it belongs with socks or robot?
Final Notes
There is sometimes a tendency to think that teaching a child to read requires a focus on printed language. Instead, the early stages of literacy development should center on spoken language. This allows children to focus on the sounds of language. Later, children will use their understanding of sounds to help them read text.
It is also beneficial to encourage children to work with objects (i.e. toys) or pictures of objects as they explore alliteration and build their vocabulary . The tactile nature of object-based learning helps children create connections between the world and the words that abstractly represent the world. In a sense, we want children to create a rolodex of images in their minds that they associate with spoken words. Later, when they read a word they can refer back to the rolodex of images within their mind, locate the image they have stored based on tactile experience, and read abstract text with concrete understanding.
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