07 Jul Rhyming Words List & Tips on Teaching Rhyming Words to Kids

Fun Ways To Teach Rhyming Words To Kids

Hat, Mat. Say, Play. Catch, Match. Rhyming is pretty simple, right? This is because our brains have learned to recognize and follow rhyming patterns. It is good to start as early as possible (toddler/ kindergarten) stage to teach rhymes to kids.

 Why Are Rhyming Words Important?

Even if the child does not become a poet in the future, it is vital to know how to teach rhyming words. Fact is, rhyming is a crucial, pre-reading skill.

As for most words, they are composed of sounds (phonemes), and recognizing such individual sounds helps the brain make connections between symbols (alphabets) and sounds.

Hence, when the child identifies the difference and similarity between ‘book’ and ‘took,’ she learns to divide words into sounds. This is the first step in learning to read.

 Need For Rhyming Activities

When your child learns rhyming words, she learns to read new words, mode of spelling, and sight words. Words that rhyme mostly aligns with families or groups of words that have similar pronunciation and spelling. For instance, if the child learns to read and spell the word ‘bat,’ it makes it easier to say a less easy word in the family, such as ‘vat’.

Rhyming words are the sine qua non of rhyming poetry. Hence, when the child learns to recognize them, it also aids in developing reading fluency. Fluency implies reading with understanding and expression. The child learns to focus her ear on the subtle stress of a syllable or word, and this focus can make it clear to the child to understand what she hears or reads.

 Fun Ways To Teach Rhyming Words

Teaching rhyming words is a standard element of teaching reading. When kids learn phonics and letter sounds, learning rhyming words can aid them in identifying patterns of letters in the language. Kids who can’t read or write can also learn about rhyming words through speaking these.

Kids can learn rhyming via three basic techniques:

• Listening and learning rhyming
• Reading and recognising rhymes
• Thinking and talking in rhymes

Word lists and activities in rhyming must be fun and simple to make kids confident in such skills. Following are some ideas:

• Build families of words

The concept of word family aids kids in knowing how rhyming words relate to each other. One must introduce one rhyming word family at a time, like those ending with ‘at, ot, in,’ etc. Letter tiles can be used to construct rhyming words from the same family by placing letters of the same ending sound and then stacking the letters to compose various words.

• Make rhyme flashcards

Flashcards of words offer simple tools teaching for several educational concepts, like rhyming. One can make flashcards of one’s own, with one word per card. One can take a set of 3 cards with two of them featuring rhyming words and ask the child to identify the card that does not rhyme.

• Use various resources

Get hold of many story books, verses, songs, and poems that use rhyming words. Read from these books to one’s kids and sing with them daily. One can also use resources like rhyming dictionaries and lap books.

• Fun and games

Make up small crosswords or puzzles that can be easily solved using rhyming words. Children tend to learn more by using games and puzzles.

• Clapping game with rhymes

Teaching clapping cadence and sequence is an excellent mode for engaging kinaesthetic learners and focussing on rhyming words. Start with two rhyming families and assign two different sounds for each (like clapping and stomping). Say a sequence of words and make the relevant sounds like clapping for rhyming word of ‘went’ and stomping for the rhyming word of ‘thing’. Encourage kids to join with their sequence of rhyming words.

In sum, these are some of the facts related to teaching rhyming words in a fun way. Learning becomes easy when kids are encouraged to play rhyming word games.