Rhyming Song
My favorite way to teach preschoolers is by using songs. This rhyming song is perfect to sing with young learners because it makes learning fun, memorable, and engaging!
Importance of Rhyming
Teaching kids to rhyme is a crucial skill for beginning readers. Rhyming is when two words have the same ending sounds. Identifying rhyming words heard when spoken aloud precedes producing them. Rhyming helps kids with phonological awareness, which is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in words. Before children can read a written text, they really need a firm knowledge of units of speech sounds in English.
Rhyming helps with…
- language development
- memory
- creativity
- listening skills
- concentration
Rhyming Song
I created this rhyming song to help my preschoolers learn to listen for sounds in words. The song is sung to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
When you sing the song, you will hold up two cards that have pictures on them. The two pictures rhyme and you’ll have your students say another word that rhymes with it. For example, if you use the words ‘hat’ and ‘cat,’ you may have students say the words ‘rat’ and ‘gnat.’
It is ok for kids to say nonsense words, too! These silly words are important to rhyming instruction because it enables the child to focus on the sound rather than the meaning. So for the word ‘boat’ they may say ‘shmoat’ and that is ok because they are hearing the sound!
I guarantee once kids learn to rhyme, they will want to rhyme all the time!
How to Introduce the Song
If you are introducing rhyming to students for the first time, I recommend following these steps or something similar:
- Tell your students you are going to talk about a big word and it’s called rhyming.
- Share that rhyming is when two or more words that have the same or similar ending sound. Some examples of rhyming words are: bed, red, Ted, and shed.
- Then read a rhyming book and emphasize the rhyming words as you read. I’ll share book recommendations later.
- Then sing the rhyming song and see if any of your students can rhyme with the picture cards.
Don’t be discouraged if they don’t catch on right away. If may take several times of singing the song for students to learn. With more exposure to rhyming through books, songs, and games, your students will start hearing the rhyming sounds.
Free Printable
If you’d like to try this activity with your students, you can fill out the form below!
Frequently Asked Questions
Rhyming is a skill that can be hard for students to learn. Th best way is through LOTS of repetition and meaningful activities. I recommend games, more songs, and lots of books with rhyming words!
I do not. You can simply sing the lyrics to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Yes I do! Check out this page for more!
Have fun teaching rhyming to your students!
