Ruth,
Your daughter has cleverly caught onto to “near rhyme”, also called “slant rhyme”, “half rhyme”, or “imperfect rhyme”. Poets use near rhyme frequently! Near rhymes are just one sound away from being perfect rhymes, like tracker and tractor or eye and symmetry (from William Blake’s poem “The Tyger”).

Very technically, a perfect rhyme is when two words are identical in sound beginning with the stressed syllable (aka accented syllable) of each word and remain identical sound for every syllable after that stressed syllable. This is why abreast and infest rhyme and father and other do not. The last syllables of abreast and infest are stressed, so they are the only part that have to have the same sounds in order to rhyme. However, father and other both have their first syllables stressed and since their first syllables are not identical in sound they do not rhyme, even though their second syllables are identical.

However, talking about stressed syllables with young children is probably not best. It is a difficult concept to grasp even in upper elementary. Rather, your definition that rhymes have to sound the same at the end of the word works quite well for little ones. You may want to talk to her about near rhymes as well, however, as she is likely to find more. They are fairly common in song lyrics. Praise her for hearing it even when she didn’t know what it was!

You’re welcome, Gaby. The wagon activity was a favorite in my home!

Sammi,
Thank you for letting us know that your son is loving the rhyming games!

Melanie,
Yes! Rhyming songs and games are especially great for helping small children with learning to rhyme as they typically have very predictable rhythms and often have accompanying hand movements that add a kinesthetic aspect to the learning. Clapping along with “Miss Mary Mack (Mack, Mack)” or having the spider climb up the water spout helps stress the rhyme for little ones.

Elya,
It’s important to work on rhyming but be sure to make it fun too!

Mary,
What great timing for you to have these activities right after your speech pathologist spoke of rhyming! Have fun with these.

You are welcome, Jackquelynne! We are happy to help in these ways.

Renee,
Yes, rhyming and other phonological awareness skills like being about to identify the first or last sound in words are very important reading readiness skills, but they are often overlooked. Everyone knows students need to know the alphabet, but being able to hear and manipulative the sounds of language is just as important.

Thank you, Eva! We really appreciate feedback from homeschool veterans like you.

You are welcome, Tawnya. We hope you and your student has a lot of fun with these activities!

April,
“Gramma School” sound like it would be fun!

You’re welcome, Jennifer. :D

Michelle,
I know this post is titled “Teaching Rhyming to Preschoolers”, but the tips and activities outlined in it would apply to a wide range of ages. I used similar techniques with my son when he was 6 and 7 and still struggling with rhyming. The activities in this post come from All About Reading Pre-reading Level, which I have used with Kindergarten aged children twice now.

So, yes, these will work well with your Kindergartner too.

Renae,
Glad to help you make it fun!

Anna,
I haven’t heard of a child become angry when listening to rhyming books, but I do know some dislike them a lot. Your sister did a wonderful thing with your son.

Thank you for sharing his struggles.

Yes, and rhyming is only the beginning of phonological awareness skills needed to be able to manipulate sounds well for reading.

Amye,
I’m sorry that your daughter is struggling with the rhyming games and getting frustrated there.

The ability to rhyme helps phonological awareness, which in turn helps reading. But the absolute most important precursor for reading is “motivation to read,” so I’d back off on the rhyming activities with a child who was very resistant, and would concentrate on the other skill areas.

Instead of the Pre-reading rhyming activities, try reading lots of rhyming books to her. Nursery rhymes, rhyming games, songs, poems … anything that she wouldn’t mind hearing over and over again. Play (or sing or read aloud) with rhyming for a few minutes each day, but keep it light hearted and fun.

When a child has a problem with a phonological awareness activity, Marie tries to turn it into a kinesthetic activity, when possible. Let them “feel” what we are asking for. This can work with rhyming too: clapping games like Miss Mary Mack can add a kinesthetic activity. Activity engaging kids in a play routine is much more effective.

Rhyming songs are good, because they let kids experience what we mean in a different way. Start with songs she is already very familiar with, and ask her to supple the rhyming word. “Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you …?” Since the song is already very familiar, she may find supplying the rhyme easier. If she can’t supply the rhyme, don’t go to the point of frustration. Rather, just sing the song but really stress the rhyming words for her. “The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water SPOUT. Down came the rain, and washed the spider OUT.”

So, focus on the non-rhyming activities (learning letters, aspects of the Language Exploration that don’t require her to have to produce rhyme etc…) and build up her ear for rhyming through ways that don’t require her to respond right now. You could also read through the Pre-reading activities to get ideas for how you can playfully incorporate rhyming into some games later, in a few months. Then, even if she has an aversion to the book in relation to rhyme, you’ll have ideas you can use when she’s ready. You could also try using Ziggy as a model: alter some of the dialog so that Ziggy either models a concept (instead of asking your daughter to answer), or you can answer things instead of her.

My son used to like it if I would give a wrong answer and he could say what the right answer was. You could experiment with that type of approach to see if your daughter responds better. For example, when Ziggy points to a shoulder and says it’s a “holder,” you could say, “No Ziggy, that’s not a holder, it’s a BOULDER! Isn’t that right, daughter?” Then she has the option of just saying no, or saying “no, it’s a shoulder!”

When your daughter starts to have success with rhyming, you can start the Language Exploration activities over again, or you can start your own activities keeping the stages of rhyming explained in this blog post in mind. Let us know how it goes, and if we can help in any further way.

You are welcome. :D

Samantha,
I, too, wish I had this information years ago when my 3rd child was 6 and still unable to produce a rhyme. I didn’t know it had to be taught to some kids; I just assumed it was a natural thing that all kids pick up like walking and talking. I was finally able to teach him to rhyme, and then to read, but things would have been much easier if All About Reading was available then.

Thank you for your recommendation, Jodie!