Fun with Rhymes

Rhyming helps young children to learn about words, sounds and language formation. Hearing and using rhyme, rhythm and repetition help children develop early literacy skills. The repetition of words, ideas and skills is important for early brain development, as it creates secure foundations for early learning.

But sometimes kids struggle to notice and start to confuse rhyming and word families. They are similar yes but rhyming is all about sound, spelling doesn’t come into it. This game can help them remember that. For children not yet reading you can skip the words and use clip art pictures instead.

Rhyming Dominos

Gather your materials. You will need some flashcards, a marker, and scissors. If you want then you can use a ruler so the lines are exactly in the middle of each card too.  It’s also helpful to come up with a list of rhyming words to have on hand.

First, draw lines in the middle of the flashcard. Write two words on the card that do not rhyme with each other. Make sure you have used all your rhyming words at least once.

Try to find words that rhyme but are not spelt using the same spelling patterns like bear and care. Choose words that fit your child.

Now you can start to play. For this version of Rhyming Dominoes, we split the deck into 2 and hand each player half. The younger player puts the first card down and the other player sees if they can put down a rhyming match. If not, the other player goes. The first player with no cards left wins.  Simple and quick enough to keep moving so players are engaged.

Speed racer

This game can be played with the same cards used in dominos but with some simple changes in rules.

The rules are pretty easy. To get started you lay two cards down to start and leave the pile as one. You flip the cards and if it rhymes with your card, you grab it and add it to your line. If the card has a rhyme that works for both players it’s whoever gets to it first.

The only thing you need to watch out for is that when you choose the first two cards they don’t rhyme. If they, do you could end up with a stalemate. The first person to the end of the table (or any line you make) wins.