Teaching rhymes in kindergarten is a lot of fun! If you work with littles, you probably already know that this is a big part of our curriculum. As a key component in early reading skills, we focus on rhyming all throughout the school year. There are so many fun ways to work rhyming activities into your day. If you're looking for some fun new ideas to try, come along as I chat about how I use rhyming activities in kindergarten!
The Importance of Rhyming Activities
While rhyming activities are lots of fun, they are also very important for new readers! Teaching rhyming words is fundamental to beginning phonemic awareness. When children learn to identify rhyming words, it teaches them to listen closely to sounds within words. Children will also begin to understand that words are made up of different parts and each part has its own sound. Mastering these skills in the early years will help children tremendously in early reading and phonics lessons! Because of this, it's a great idea to make rhyming activities a regular part of your lessons in kindergarten.
Introduce Rhymes with Songs
It's no secret that primary students LOVE to sing and dance! I use this to my advantage in the classroom, by incorporating fun rhyming songs into our introductory lessons. There are lots of great ones out there, but I am super partial to Jack Hartmann's songs and videos. His fun, upbeat music is always a favorite of my students and he offers a ton of videos on different topics. My favorite videos to use when working on rhyming activities include:
- I Love to Rhyme: This is a great video for getting kids to brainstorm rhyming words on their own. He provides 2 words and the children provide a third.
- The Rhyming Words Game: This fun video takes a game show approach to practicing rhyming. Kids will love trying to find the correct rhyming word as Jack sings his song.
- Exercise, Rhyme & Freeze: This one is a student favorite and is especially great for when your class needs to let some wiggles out!
Before we begin working on our rhyming activities and games for the day, I will often pop one of these videos up on the screen and then let the kids follow along. Using music and dancing will set a positive, happy tone for your day while giving your students a quick refresher on rhyming!
Books for Rhyming Activities
Aside from singing and dancing, I also use books as a preface to our rhyming activities. If you teach in the primary grades, it's likely you love books as much as I do! There are so many wonderful stories out there with a rhyming theme that will help students learn to pick up on the sound of rhyming words. Here are a few of my all-time faves:
- Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
- Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino
- Do Ants Wear Pants? by Gabrielle Grice
- Frog on a Log by Kes Gray
- Llama, Llama, Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
- Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas
As an introduction to rhyming, I will often read a few of these books aloud to the class and then slowly flip through the book again and ask the kids to call out the rhyming words (or pictures) they see on each page. This is a great way to get those gears moving and help your kiddos identify rhymes on their own. Once we've read the books, I like to make them available to the kiddos in the classroom library as well.
Rhyming Activities for Center Time
Once we've done some introduction through books, songs, and dancing, it's time to get practicing! Centers are a staple in the primary classroom and they are a great time to sneak in some practice with rhyming activities.
These no-prep digital rhyming activities are the perfect addition to your center rotations. I'm a big fan of using Boom Cards because they are ready to go at a moment's notice and students get instant feedback on their answers which allows them to work independently!
When it comes to rhyming, we practice all year long in my classroom, which is why I love using my bundle of Seasonal Rhyming Boom Cards. This resource has 6 different themes, so I can easily swap them out based on the time of year. Each set helps children identify rhyming words by displaying the main picture and three options to choose from as its pair. The Boom Cards have to sound as well, so students can click the speakers to hear the words said aloud. This is a fantastic way to help young students learn to identify rhyming words quickly and easily.
To get started using these Rhyming Words Boom Cards, I usually display a deck on my screen for the whole class (or my small group) to see. I will demonstrate how to complete the activities and run through a few with my students. Once it seems like my kiddos have the hang of this activity, I will assign them and children can begin to work independently. The Boom Learning website keeps track of student data as well, so I can easily see how my kiddos are progressing with their rhyming activities!
Check out these fun rhyming Boom Cards in action:
Using Rhyming Activities In Your Room
When it comes to kindergarten, the more practice we can offer with rhyming, the better! I find that using a blend of songs, books, center games, and digital activities is a great way to help young children truly grasp the concept of rhyming words and master it on their own! If you're interested in checking out my set of Seasonal Rhyming Words Boom Cards, be sure to pop on over to my TpT Shop. The seasonal bundle covers 6 themes including:
- Back to School
- Fall
- Winter
- Valentine's Day
- Spring
- Summer
This bundle comes with over 100 digital task cards so you'll be able to easily practice identifying rhyming words all year long. I find that the addition of seasonal themes helps to make these activities fun and engaging for my students throughout the year. However you decide to proceed with your rhyming activities, remember to keep it fresh and fun with new activities, songs, and center games to keep those kiddos engaged in learning!
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