
Felt FONEMZ® is an extremely effective and fun tool for improving articulation, phonemic awareness and literacy skills for students 9 months to 90+ years old.
Felt FONEMZ® are made of colored felt which matches Fun FONEMZ, Magnet FONEMZ, FONEMZ Plus and the FONZABET. The use of these is beneficial in many ways:
Felt FONEMZ®:
• Can be used with individuals or a whole class for teaching sound symbol association.
• Can be used to make syllables and words
• Can be used with puppets
• Can be crumpled and retain original shape
• Will adhere to most fibrous clothing and felt boards
• Teaches turn taking
• Is a multi-sensory tool to be used in interactive activities
• Allows students to feel in control of their learning
The following video demonstrates introducing FONEMZ to preschool children with severe speech articulation difficulties and no phonemic awareness.
Teaching turn taking:
Place the target FELT FONEMZ on the shirt of the teacher. The teacher makes the sound. Then, when it is next adhered to the child's shirt, the same behavior/sound is expected. This becomes clear very quickly.
Puppets eat FONEMZ:
Another useful attribute of felt is that it retains its original shape even if it is crumpled. It can, therefore, be placed within ones hand, in a container or in a puppets mouth and be smoothed out to its original form.
Place the target FELT FONEMZ on the shirt of the teacher. The teacher makes the sound. Then, when it is next adhered to the child's shirt, the same behavior/sound is expected. This becomes clear very quickly.
Puppets eat FONEMZ:
Another useful attribute of felt is that it retains its original shape even if it is crumpled. It can, therefore, be placed within ones hand, in a container or in a puppets mouth and be smoothed out to its original form.
The following video illustrates how FONEMZ has been introduced to preschoolers who are deaf, have apraxia, and Down Syndrome. A pocket is the "container" being used. The placement of the Felt FONEMZ shape on the body clarifies "turn taking" for each child.
These little girls had never repeated verbally until using FONEMZ!
More ideas for FELT FONEMZ, FUN FONEMZ and Magnet FONEMZ activities are in the Teacher's Guide.
Many informative videos concerning FONEMZ can be pulled up simply by typing “FONEMZ” on YouTube.