Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the individual sounds, or phonemes, in spoken words. It is a crucial skill for developing reading and writing abilities, as it helps children understand how sounds combine to form words. For example, a child with strong phonemic awareness can identify that the word "cat" consists of three distinct sounds: /k/, /æ/, and /t/. This skill is different from phonics, which involves the relationship between sounds and their corresponding letters. Phonemic awareness is typically developed through activities like rhyming, segmenting sounds, and blending sounds, making it an essential foundation for literacy.