Phonological awareness (PA) and alphabet knowledge (AK) are two of the strongest predictors of reading acquisition, and evidence shows that many New Zealand children are entering school with low levels of emergent literacy (EL) skills. The current research showed that four-year-old children identified as having low levels of EL, who participated in an evidence-based 10-week intervention using games and books, made significant gains in PA and AK in comparison to a control group. The children were assessed pre-intervention and post-intervention using the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening PreK and it was found that the PA and AK intervention used in this research was effective in significantly raising the levels of upper-case letter naming, letter-sound awareness and beginning sound awareness.