Lesson 1: Rhyming Songs
Main Concept:
Children will begin recognizing rhyming words by listening to and singing along with familiar songs, pausing to identify rhyming pairs.
Warm-Up Activity:
- Review Familiar Rhymes
- Review rhyming songs your child already knows. The child must be familiar with the poem/rhyme in order to do this activity. Sight Words Dot Com has a great list here
Main Activity: Hearing the Rhyme
Part 1
Sing a simple nursery rhyme together, but say the rhyming words louder. “Twinkle, twinkle, little, STAR. How I wonder what you ARE.” Your could also reverse this and say the rhyming words softly.
Possible songs:
- "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" (stream/dream)
- "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" (spout/out)
- "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (snow/go)
Sing a simple nursery rhyme together, such as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Emphasize the rhyming words by slightly pausing before saying them, allowing the child to anticipate the sound.
Part 3
Sing together but pause longer before the second rhyming word in each pair. Let the child fill in the blank.
- If the child struggles, give them two choices: one rhyming word and one non-rhyming word (e.g., "Are or boat?").
- Repeat with other songs, gradually allowing the child to anticipate the rhymes independently.
- Optional: Play with rhythm by singing the song in different styles (fast, slow, whispering, clapping, etc.).
- As the child gets more familiar with the activity, use rhymes that the child is less familiar with.
(Letter shapes like lowercase "n," "m," or "u")
- Paint the Cup and Hump Path: Use toy cars dipped in paint to follow a path made of alternating “cup” (down and curve up) and “hump” (hump over and down) shapes on paper.
- Animal Walks: Pretend to be animals going over “humps” (e.g., camels) or into “cups” (e.g., turtles crawling into a shell). Walk over pillows (humps) and crawl into hula hoops (cups).
- Rainbow Cups & Humps: Draw giant versions on the sidewalk and trace with sidewalk chalk in rainbow colors.