Updated: Nov 23, 2021
Phase One: Rhythm and Rhyme
Purpose: To develop awareness of rhythm and rhyme in speech. Recognising rhymes is an incredibly important skill for learning to read and spell.
I have made a video that you can watch with your child all about rhyming words. You don't need any resources to be able to join in with the video. The rest of the blog post explains how to play this game at home.
You will need a mixing bowl, a spoon and some objects including some that rhyme e.g. a car, jar and bar (of soap) and some that don't rhyme.
Sing the song:
"I'm making a rhyming cake,
I'm making it for my tummy.
I'm going to put it the oven,
To make it nice and yummy.
In goes a..."
Choose one of the objects that rhymes and put it into the bowl. Say the name of the object e.g. cat and encourage your child to say the word out loud and listen to the way it sounds. Invite them to stir the cake.
Look at the other objects and say what they are. Encourage your child to name one of the objects and then say the name of the object in the bowl again. Ask them if they think the two words rhyme or not. If it rhymes add it to the bowl and sing the song then recite the list of rhyming words. Repeat until you have added all of the objects that rhyme.
Objects you could use:
fox, socks, box
car, star, jar
man, can, van
Rhyming teaches children how language works. If a child can recognise when words rhyme it can help them to understand that words that share common sounds often share common letters e.g. Frog and log both have an ‘og’ sound pattern. If they recognise the pattern, they can attempt to read or spell another word with the 'og' sound at the end.
Generating rhymes is a difficult skill to master and there is no need to delay starting Phase Two if they haven't mastered it by the end of Nursery. They will need to hear lots of rhyming words before they can identify them independently. You could make the game easier by using only objects that rhyme to give them the opportunity to hear lots of rhyming words rather than having to try to work out if it rhymes or not.
Some children confuse the concepts of rhyme and alliteration. Remind them that we are looking for words that sound the same at the end e.g. car and jar, not words that have the same sound at the start e.g. cat and car. To make it easier, you could avoid using objects that begin with the same sound.
If you have a go at this activity and share any photos on social media I would love to see them. Please tag @miniwritersclub and use #miniwritersclub and let me know how you get on.
Anna