Phonological Awareness Activities for the Kindergarten-Age Child

The Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) is pleased to announce the release of two research-based booklets designed to help kindergarten children with phonological awareness.

The first booklet, titled, Promoting Reading Success: A Teacher’s Guide to Phonological Awareness Activities for the Kindergarten Child, is intended for use by teachers and can be purchased on the Publications page of the CPA website. The booklet is available in both English and French. The second booklet, titled, Promoting Reading Readiness: A Parent/Caregiver’s Guide to Phonological Awareness Activities for the Kindergarten-Age Child, is intended for use by parents and caregivers, and can be downloaded for free by clicking here – you also can find the link to this booklet on the Publications page of the CPA website.

If you know of any teachers, parents, or caregivers who may benefit from these booklets, please share this information with them.

Background and Additional Information:
In January 2024, the Ontario Ministry of Education announced the launch of a new “back to basics” kindergarten curriculum model. According to the Ministry “mandatory learning will include the understanding of sound-letter relationships, developing phonics knowledge and using specific vocabulary.”  Embedded in the model, scheduled to be implemented in September 2025, is the need for training at the kindergarten level in phonological awareness to help children avoid the risk of reading failure.

When a similar situation arose several years ago, the CPA, together with the Canadian Association of School Psychologists (disbanded in 2019), produced a booklet titled, Promoting Reading Success: Phonological Awareness Activities for the Kindergarten Child in 1998. The booklet, which was well received and distributed widely, contained a series of empirically derived activities for use in the classroom.

To address the current situation, the CPA is pleased to announce the availability of an updated, more user-friendly version of this publication specifically intended for teachers. To learn more about this booklet, you can read the Preface here. Further, because of the well-documented significance of involving parents and other caregivers in this extremely important early phase of instruction, the CPA also has produced a free, online version of this booklet for use by parents and caregivers. To download the booklet and read the preface, click here.

For any questions regarding the booklets, please contact the CPA’s Science Director, Dr. Lauren Thompson, at [email protected]