Roses are red, violets are blue. Sugar is sweet and I love you.
Sugar might be sweet, but violets aren’t exactly blue. They’re purple, but what rhymes with purple? And why is it so important to rhyme?
As children learn and explore language, they become aware that individual words are made of sound parts and that these parts can be put together to make new and different words. The ability to rhyme shows the development of this key concept. This phonological awareness is a key indicator of readiness to read. Not all children will understand this idea before kindergarten. Playing word games and reading stories helps children with kindergarten readiness and developing this awareness. Tomorrow, I’ll include an idea for another word game–the sounds words make at the beginning, but for today, rhyme away! 1, 2 a hug for you. 1,2,3, a hug for me. Can you think of a rhyme for 1,2,3,4? (and one for purple?)