Rhyming Activities For Young Kids

When children begin school, they will be asked to listen for the different sounds that make up words. Sound segments, or phonemes, are the basis for our language. When a child can identify the distinct sounds in a word and he knows which letter makes that sound, he can begin expressing himself in writing (encoding). And when a child recognizes that letters make sounds and sounds comprise words, he can begin sounding out (decoding) words. To say it another way - the foundation of reading and writing is the recognition of sound units and the knowledge of the letters associated with those sounds.

So how does a child begin to "tune his ear" to pick up on these sound units? By listening to rhymes! Because rhymes are pairs of words with identical sounds at the end, children must "tune into the ending sounds" of words to identify the rhyme. And fortunately, there are tons of rhyming songs, chants or picture books to help a child practice this important skill.

- Find a nursery rhyme collection and carefully select real rhymes to repeat to your child. Repeat them often so that eventually your child will be able to join you in reciting them.

- When reading rhymes to your child, you will inevitably come across a "near miss." Continue reading to keep the cadence of the rhyme, but go back at the end and point out the "not quite rhyming pair." (See my explanation below!)

- Point out rhyming phrases you hear in commercials. "Leggo my Eggo!" is a popular one. (Don't fall for the miss: "Trix are for kids!")

- Get creative and make up little rhymes on the spur of the moment. Once you get started, you'll see how easy and how much fun it can be. For example, let your child know that dinner is ready; "It's time to eat. You're in for a treat." or "Lunch is on the table. Come if you are able." Tell your child that you are going to be making up rhymes. Ask him to let you know when he hears one!

- Look for rhyming pictures in books or magazines. Cut them out and ask your child to paste the pairs on a piece of construction paper. Then ask your child to draw a line connecting the rhyming pictures.

- Teach your child rhyming chants, such as "One, two, buckle my shoe." The rhythm and the rhyme make these fun to say. Clap to the rhythm to add to the fun.

- Make a "rhyming train" with your child by taking turns saying a word that rhymes with the first word said. See how long the "train" can get. Let your child know that nonsense words are okay, too! For example, your train could sound something like this: "Cat, bat, sat, mat, gat, lat, pat, zat, hat, dat . . ."

- Point out rhymes on store names, such as "Hobby Lobby" or "The Craft Raft" or on television shows, such as "Blues' Clues."

- Visit the library with your child. The librarians will be delighted to help you select some marvelous rhyming books.

- Read the same rhyming book several times over the course of a few days. When your child is becoming familiar with the book, read it but stop before saying the second word in the rhyming pair. Ask your child to complete the rhyme for you.

- Play a guessing game with your child, giving him rhyming clues. "I'm thinking of something you wear on your foot and rhymes with the word blue." (shoe)

- Create a variation of the guessing game by playing "Guess the Color." Give your child clues about a color using rhyming words. "This color rhymes with bed." (red)

If you are curious about how well developed your child's phonemic awareness skills are, consider completing a basic kindergarten readiness test that includes questions relating to phonemic awareness and rhyming. An assessment will introduce you to a variety of phonemic awareness skills -- including rhyming -- your child should likely be able to complete by the time he or she starts kindergarten and will give you a nice sense of your child's existing skill set.

If your child's rhyming skills are not yet fully developed, consider working with your child on some kindergarten worksheets that focus on matching rhyming pairs of words or identify words that all rhyme with a particular word. Once your child can successfully identify a rhyming pair of words, he will be ready to start creating his own rhyming pairs!

When we think about rhymes, the first thing that comes to mind are Nursery Rhymes. These go way, way back in time and are classics. We can all recite a dozen or more from memory, I'm sure. And we begin reciting them to our children when they are very young.

But - - - beware!! These classic ditties often take "poetic license" with their rhymes. While the bulk of a piece generally rhymes, it is not uncommon to find an "almost rhyme" in the poem. Here is an example and see if you can find the "near miss" before I point it out!

"Hickory, dickory, dock."
"The mouse ran up the clock."
"The clock struck one."
"The mouse ran down."
"Hickory, dickory, dock."

I'm sure you saw it! The words 'one' and 'down' do not rhyme. Close, but no cigar!

Here are some common "rhyming misses" that you can watch out for.

- words ending in "n" and "m." 'Lamb' and 'man' do not rhyme, for instance.

- words ending in the sounds of S and Z. A boy named Lance may have some fans, but 'Lance' does not rhyme with 'fans!'

- words ending with "n" and "nd." You may find a can in the sand, but again, 'can' and 'sand' are not true rhymes.

- words ending with "een" and "ing." An example of this miss: A king may wear green, but 'king' and 'green' do not rhyme.

Check out these great Kindergarten worksheets:
Tracing worksheets
Following directions worksheets
Color words worksheets
Shapes worksheets
Compare and contrast worksheets
Days of the week worksheets

And enjoy these wonderful Reading skills worksheets:
Dolch sight words
Sight word games
Word family worksheets

And check out these kindergarten math worksheets:
100s Chart
Counting worksheets
Pattern worksheets
Skip counting worksheets
Bar graph worksheets
Pictograph worksheets
Tracing numbers worksheets
Ordinal numbers worksheets