Which skill involves playing with sounds in words through adding or deleting phonemes?

The skill that involves playing with sounds in words through adding or deleting phonemes is phoneme manipulation. This capability allows individuals, especially children, to explore the sounds within words, enhancing their understanding of phonemic structure. By adding or deleting phonemes, individuals practice altering words, which helps develop critical skills necessary for reading and spelling. For example, if a child is asked to change the word "cat" by removing the initial sound to create "at," they are engaging in phoneme manipulation.

Understanding how to manipulate sounds in this way is foundational for developing stronger phonemic awareness, which is crucial for literacy skills. This ability to mentally isolate and modify phonemes supports children in recognizing patterns in sound and helps them decode words more effectively as they learn to read.