Rock talk is lots of fun and can help kids with kindergarten readiness. In case you hadn’t guessed rock talk is words and rhyming. Being able to rhyme words is a skill that develops about the age of 4, but in the meantime kids need to hear many, many words and be exposed to rhymes.
What’s so special about words and rhymes? Words are made of bits of sounds; for instance, the word rock as an ‘rrr’ sound at the start, an ‘aw’ sound in the middle and a ‘kkk’ sound at the end. The word rock can be divided up into these sound bits and then recombined to make new words such as sock, talk, lock, stock, or walk. Bone, cone or moan rhyme with stone. This ability to hear the sound pieces that make up words (called phonological awareness) is critical to later learning how to read. Different languages will have other words to rhyme with rock or stone.
This week, there has been news coverage about the lawsuit against the company Your Baby Can Read and it’s products. Parents and caregivers can help young children by reading books, telling stories, singing songs, and sharing conversations. Hearing and using language encourages brain connections that are needed for the reading process.
How many words do kids need to hear? Would you believe millions and millions? A study by Hart and Risley found that some children hear more than 40 million words before they start school!! Now, if words were rocks and stones that would be mountains! When it comes to kindergarten readiness, talk rocks. Today, can you build some mind mountains for your child by using lots and lots and lots of words?