Rhyming is an important building block for your child’s success in learning language and reading. Rhyming helps young children learn how language works. They can hear the rhythm and flow of language. It also allows them to play with language in a fun way. My children always loved to take a familiar rhyme or song and change the words to go with something we were talking about or learning. Sometimes we just changed the words for fun and to be silly.
Rhyming can also help children begin to make predictions as they work with language as they try to anticipate what rhyming word will follow. Rhyming also helps children begin to write. They quickly learn that many rhyming words have the same letters in them. This knowledge helps them to realize that if they can write one word they can write many others within the same word family (ran, fan, pan, tan). Of course this isn’t true for all rhyming words, but it gets them started and gives them confidence and a place to begin.
Of course rhyming is also just fun. Children love to play with language and the rhythm of language. So, it is a great way to get them engaged and have fun.
Nursery Rhymes
Nursery Rhymes are a great place to start when teaching your child to rhyme.
- Read them aloud to your child.
- Read or recite them, but stop when you get to the rhyming word and have your child fill in the missing rhyming word.
- Recite, sing, clap and act out the nursery rhymes.
- A favorite for my children when they were growing up: Keep the tune, but change the words to what you happen to be doing at the time. Have your child help you come up with words that rhyme. Have fun playing with the tune and new words.
Have fun and enjoy the language play.
Rhyming Games
Games are always a great way to get littles engaged in learning. As long as they think it is a game they will play it happily and have fun learning.
- Park Your Car Rhyme:
- Materials: Rhyming Pictures, Construction Paper, Matchbox Cars, Scissors, Ruler
- On either side (long side) of the construction paper draw lines for parking spaces, glue half of the rhyming pictures onto the construction paper in the parking spaces. Make a pile with the rest of the picture cards. Pick a card say the picture and drive the car to the matching rhyming picture
- Rhyming ZAP:
- Materials: rhyming pictures, index cards, marker, basket or bag
- Use the rhyming pictures glue some rhyming picture sets and some non-rhyming sets onto index cards, make some cards say ZAP Trap, put them in the bag/basket, they choose a card say the pictures pictures, if they rhyme they keep the card if it is not a rhyme the card gets mixed back in the bag/basket, if they pull out a card that says Zap Trap all their cards go back in the bag/basket
- Rhyming Memory:
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- Materials: rhyming pictures
- Cut the pictures apart, mix them up, lay them out and choose a card say the picture then turn over another card and say it. If they rhyme you get to keep the rhyme set.
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- Go Fish:
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- Materials: rhyming pictures, index cards, glue
- Cut each of the pictures apart and glue them on individual index cards. mix them up deal them and play go fish asking for a picture that rhymes with your card.
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- Beanbag Rhyme Pass:
- Materials: Beanbag
- Hold a beanbag and say a word (cat) then pass the beanbag to your child and they say a word that rhymes (hat) continue until someone does not say a word that rhymes. Allow for nonsense words as long as they rhyme.
- Rhyme Bingo:
- Materials: rhyming pictures, construction paper, beans for markers
- Make a bingo card using half of the rhyming picture pairs, use the other half of the cards as the calling cards. the child covers the picture that rhymes with the picture you called when they cover a row they have bingo.
Rhyming Books
I always have favorite books. Below is a list of some of my favorite rhyming books. Read the books just as they are written. Then, read the book and when you get to the rhyming word in the book see what rhyming word they would like to put in it’s place. They can choose the word they have heard in the story or make it silly with other words, or even use nonsense words as long as they rhyme it works.
Dr. Seuss is always a favorite for rhyming books. Here is a set of 5 Dr. Seuss books.
Jamberry by Bruce Degen
Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy E. Shaw
Duck in a Truck by Jez Alborough
Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
There’s a Bear on My Chair by Ross Collins
The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen
Bear Snore On by Karma Wilson
Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha
Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae
As always this is just a small list of some of my favorite rhyming books. Please share with us some of your favorite rhyming books.
I would also love to see your littles enjoying some of the rhyming activities shared above.
50 Comments
Beth
I miss my girl being a little. 🙁 I would collect books on games and activities to do with her. Great article!
Barb
I miss mine being little as well. I know get to share all of this with my grandchildren. I love watching them grow.
Joanne
I still remember rhymes from my childhood!
Barb
I do as well. I loved playing with the words as a child.
Angela
Cute games – I love how play is a learning experience. Kids just soak up this stuff – great ideas.
Barb
I believe this is how my students always made so much growth during the school year. I wanted learning to always be fun. Now I want to share it all with others.
Maureen
Couldn’t love this more! As a teacher, I know rhyming is so very important to young children and their literacy development! Great ideas I can use in my classroom! Thank you!
Barb
Almost all the idea posted are classroom tested. Some of them are ideas I shared with parents to work with their kids at home. I have done all of the ideas either in my classroom or at home with my own children or grandchildren. Feel free to follow my blog and use as many ideas as you can.
Kymberly Irwin
Great material. Kids are having fun while they’re learning!!!! Great activities!
Barb
Playing games is what makes it fun. Learning should not be boring.
Haley Kelley
These are the best ideas ever! Thanks for sharing!
Barb
I hope you can use them. I love helping others make learning fun.
Kendra
Great ideas! Rhyming is fun! We absolutely love the Llama Llama books, but I’m thinking I need to add the Giraffes Can’t Dance too!
Barb
You will love the Giraffes Can’t Dance books.
Brittany
Great ideas! I have a 4 year old who loves singing and rhyming. These games will be perfect to share with her.
Barb
Please try them with her and share how she likes them. My students always loved them. Feel free to follow me as I am building my blog to help make learning fun with books and games.
Melissa Jones
Such fun ideas! I love it!
Barb
I hope you can share the ideas with your littles. If you do pleas,e share how they liked them.
Suzan
Car rides were our favorite time to rhyme. Great offerings and suggestions!
Barb
I used to take songs we were listening to and change the words to see if they were listening. Then we would get a whole different song going from what we were listening to on the radio. It was so much fun.
Karla
Very timely. Thanks! I have twin 5 year olds and we are playing with rhymes right now to help with mild language delays. We are having a ball!
Barb
I am so happy this can help you. Enjoy the activities. feel free to follow my blog for all kinds of learning fun for your littles. Share some of their fun with me as they enjoy the activities.
Ruth Iaela-Pukahi
Great rhyming activities! Kids love rhyming words! I’m an elementary school librarian and I love to read books and poems to the younger levels and have them listen for the words that rhyme. It becomes a game and so they listen extra carefully. So fun!
Barb
Children do love to play with rhyme. I am glad to hear you do make a game out of rhyming with your students.
Catherine
This is such a good idea! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Barb
Thank you!
Jennifer
These are such great ideas!! My kids would enjoy these!
Barb
Please try some of the ideas with your littles and come back and let me know how they liked them.
Magan
I love your ideas! Sometimes parents know all of these games, but they just slip from your mind when it’s a perfect time to play them. Great reminder of all those childhood games we played and some new ones, too.
Barb
Thank you. It is something many parents did as a child. You can’t remember everything and I am hoping to give reminders an maybe something new to try.
Tricia Snow
What a great idea! I never thought of doing rhymes with my grandchildren.
Barb
Please try these ideas with your grandchildren. Let me know how they liked them.
Stephanie Dee
These are amazing ideas! I now have grandsons that we can play this way with. Love the rhyming books and believe it makes such a difference in their language development.
Barb
Please use the ideas. Come back and let me know how your grandchildren liked them.
Lina
These are great ideas! My boys love singing and rhymes. Even now at 7 years old, he still loves it… Hoping it to last a bit longer….
Barb
My kids loved singing and rhyming for a long time, especially changing the words to songs.
Heather
We always did rhyming games in the car on long trips. It was such fun. I loved that we were teaching them things, but being silly too.
Barb
They love to learn and making it fun is always the best way.
Michelle
Aww these are so fun! We love the nursery rhyme books and she loves to fill in the gaps too. Another thing she does really enjoy is the show Super Why – it’s all about reading, spelling and rhyming! If we have screen time happening, that show is at the top of the list. It’s helped her so much with reading already!
Barb
I will have to look at that show. It is a new one I haven’t heard of. My grandson may enjoy it. Thanks for sharing.
Christina Furnival Real Life Mama
My kids LOVE rhyming. These are great ideas for how to do rhyming games in different ways.
Barb
That is wonderful. I hope you will try some of the new games with your littles.
Yolanda
Thanks! I need something fun, but that will provide educational value to the children while on summer break. I’m going to use this.
Barb
Awesome! I hope your littles enjoy the activities. Please come back and share how they liked it. Follow my blog for more fun activities to do with your littles.
Cindy
Rhyming books and games are so fun and a great way to develop language. Dr. Seuss was definitely on to something with his playful stories.
Barb
He sure was. I love to read Dr. Seuss books.
jen
Rhyming still works for my kids even though one is in elementary and one is in college!
Barb
Rhyming is just a fun activity for everyone. We love to change the words to songs especially when stuck in traffic.
Annette Durbin
Exposure to early literacy development skills are sooo important for education!!! Love the books and games recommended!!
Barb
It is very important and should always be done as a game or fun way. The activities are all classroom tested and used with littles at home.