The second letter in the alphabet is B. The letter B starts the words bat, boo, and ball which are perfect for young children and rhyming play. About the age of 3, children begin to figure out words that rhyme. Ears and brains need to hear gazillions of words for this ability to develop.
Children’s books often have text that rhymes and there are wonderful ones for this time of year. In the story Peek-a-WHO by Nina Laden, there are only a few words but it builds on the peek-a-boo game that is is universal and loved by kids. The pages have special holes for looking thru to the next page with a hint for what comes next. This gets kids really involved as they guess the word that rhymes with who, like boo and moo.
We can play word games with kids and just say a long string of words that rhyme, asking them to suggest a few. Here are some made with letters on the fridge to rhyme with bat: cat, sat, mat, vat, hat, and more. Make up a silly story to use the words like: Once upon a time, there was a bat on a hat. A rat put on the hat and sat on the mat. Now, along came a … cat. But what is that? The cat fell in a vat. Oh, drat! And that is that, or maybe not, said Pat.
This fun and wonderful rhyming box is from Passionate About Play, as shared on one of the pages she follows – Becky’s Treasure Baskets and created by Lynne Pepper. Each of the objects in the box rhymes with one other item and kids say the names of them to find the two that rhyme. This means lots of talking to hear the sounds for whale/snail, car/star, tree/key, truck/duck, and log/dog.
You can make a rhyming game at home. Pick out some of your child’s toys for ones that rhyme. This is a skill that is developing at this age, so it will not always be accurate. You can say the ones that rhyme and play with your child. The brain needs massive amounts of stimulation to understand that words are made of bits of sounds put together like puzzle pieces. This is called phonological awareness and will impact learning to read.
Since it’s fall, take a ball outside and rhyme some more with fall, tall, small, and some other words. This game gets kids movin’ and groovin’. What are some other fun ideas for children and rhyming?
P.S. Mrs. A invites you to come and play, any day on 123kindergarten, okay?