Get Ready to Read!
Early Literacy Activity of the Month
February 2007

Jump for a Rhyme

Jump for a Rhyme is an activity that you can do with one child or a group of children to help them become aware of rhyming words and learn to identify them.

This activity is a making progress activity, for children who have mastered some of the skills needed to learn to read and write.

This activity is a linguistic awareness activity. Linguistic awareness refers to a child's understanding of how language works, including the understanding of rhyming.

New resource! Download a list of rhyming word pairs to use with this activity here.  You can also find rhymes at www.rhymezone.com.

My child is having trouble with this activity.  What can I do?
If a child is having difficulty with this activity, begin by only using pairs of words that rhyme.  Let your child hear as many rhyming pairs as possible, and emphasize the rhyming endings of the words as you say each pair.  When the child seems comfortable noticing when words rhyme, say a pair of words that do not rhyme.  Again, emphasize the endings of the words that do not rhyme to make sure that the child hears the difference.

How can I make this activity more challenging?
When you say a pair of words that do not rhyme, ask a child who is ready for more of a challenge to “fix” the not-rhyming pair by coming up with rhymes for the words.

Where can I find this activity? (The links below are PDF files that will open in a new window.)

Jump for a Rhyme for one adult with one child, in English
Jump for a Rhyme for one adult with a group of children, in English
Jump for a Rhyme for one adult with one child, in Spanish
Jump for a Rhyme for one adult with a group of children, in Spanish