They help students build phonological awareness by segmenting words into sounds or syllables.
They teach students how to count the number of phonemes in the word (not always the number of letters).
They help students better understand the alphabetic principle in decoding and spelling.

Set your little one up for reading success with these interactive games that will build phonological awareness—the ability to recognize and understand sounds in words. Your child will learn to master vowel sounds, digraphs, blended sounds, and more as they find themselves embarking on a photoshoot, playing bumper cars, or soaring through the sky in these fun-filled phonics games!

Students can play three games for free.

Phonological awareness skills are important in order to develop good reading and spelling skills. Having good phonological awareness skills means that a child is able to manipulate sounds and words, or “play” with sounds and words. For example, you might ask your child to break the word “cat” into individual sounds: “c-a-t.” Important: These skills deal with SOUNDS not letters. For example, /t/ represents the sound and not the letter name “tee.” You will not use any written or visual letters when working with phonological activities. These activities are done with listening and speaking only. Learning the letter names and their corresponding sounds is also very important but should be taught and practiced at a different time of the day. This resource will have a weekly activity for your to work on with your child/student(s). It will include a handout with information and guidance, as well as a video to help support you and the learner. CLICK THE WORDS "INFORMATION FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS" TO GET STARTED (do not click on view description).

Kindergarten - Blending Syllables - Week 1 - Teacher asks students to connect the two word parts of a word that she says separately, then repeat the word out loud. She gives correct answers.Week 4 - Teacher asks students to connect the two word parts of a word that she says separately, then repeat the word out loud.Week 7 - Teacher asks students to connect the two word parts of a word that she says separately, then repeat the word out loud. 

Kindergarten ELA - Isolating Initial Sounds Week 3 - Teacher will say a word, asks student to repeat first sound. Week 6 - Teacher will say a word, asks student to repeat first sound. Week 9 - Teacher says two words: asks if the words start with the same sound.

Kindergarten ELA - SegmentingWeek 2 - The teacher says a word, student is asked to say the two parts - separately, out loud and with clapping. Week 5 - The teacher says a word, student is asked to say the two parts - separately and out loud. She introduces the word 'syllables".Week 8 -  The teacher says a word, student is asked to say the two parts - separately and out loud. Suggests slapping with the word parts.

Phonological awareness skills are important in order to develop good reading and spelling skills. Having good phonological awareness skills means that a child is able to manipulate sounds and words, or “play” with sounds and words. For example, you might ask your child to break the word “cat” into individual sounds: “c-a-t.”

Important: These skills deal with SOUNDS not letters. For example, /t/ represents the sound and not the letter name “tee.” You will not use any written or visual letters when working with phonological activities. These activities are done with listening and speaking only. Learning the letter names and their corresponding sounds is also very important but should be taught and practiced at a different time of the day.

This resource will have a weekly activity for your to work on with your child/student(s). It will include a handout with information and guidance, as well as a video to help support you and the learner.

CLICK THE WORDS "INFORMATION FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS" TO GET STARTED (do not click on view description).

Orthographic Mapping is the process of forming letter-sound connections
in order to combine and recall the spelling, pronunciation, and the
meaning of words. It is the mental process we use to permanently store
words for immediate, effortless retrieval. Orthographic mapping is a skill
that develops from phonemic awareness and grapheme-phoneme
knowledge.

The following is an example from 2018-2019 of what parents can do at home to support phonological awareness with their child at home.
Each month has approximately 10 or more very short activities you can do with your child, and it includes the answers you should expect from your child.

The following is a collection of phonological awareness resources teachers may find useful when setting up their early literacy programs in Kindergarten and Grade 1.

Elonin boxes (or "sound boxes") are an effective instructional strategy to build phonemic and phonological awareness in students. This guide is full of links to deepen teachers' understanding of the strategy as well as links to lesson plans, resources, templates, and articles.