Anyone who has spent time with children, has probably been entertained by their tendency to turn words into silly rhymes. "Grammy" turns into "Grammy Jammy." Or instead of wanting a "bath," a child suddenly wants a "bathy wathy."
But did you know that all this silliness helps their brains develop important language skills and that rhyming helps children develop essential pre-reading skills? The process of learning to read begins years before a child reaches kindergarten or first grade.
Why do good rhymers become good readers?
Rhyming Hooks Kids on Books.
When a child wants to read, the task of learning how to read is much easier. The stronger the desire, the better the result. If you want children asking for books, read them rhymes. Toddlers are magically drawn to books that rhyme. They love the sing-song rhythm, and they love hearing repeated sound patterns. Warning: Children won’t be satisfied with hearing a
book only once; they’ll ask for it over and over again.
Rhyming Helps Kids Develop Auditory Discrimination Skills.
Rhyming is the ability to recognize when two words sound the same at the end of a word. Rhyming encourages children to listen carefully to sounds. Without even realizing it, children who listen to rhymes train their ears to pick up on sounds and reproduce them. When children start repeating phrases like “there’s a wocket in my pocket,” and “llama, llama red pajama,” they’re repeating rhymes. They’re developing important auditory skills that will help them learn to read. But to them, it’s just fun and silliness.
Rhyming Reinforces Phonemic Awareness Skills.
Before learning to read and spell, children must understand that words are made up of different sounds. Because rhyming is a listening activity, we can use rhyming words to teach children to listen for and then manipulate sounds at the beginning, middle, or end of words. For example, show children pictures of a bat and a hat and say…
We can also use rhyming words to teach kids how to manipulate sounds:
Rhyming Helps Kids Develop Self-Confidence.
Children who are self-confident are motivated to learn new skills and have less fear and anxiety when faced with challenges. When you read – and then reread a book – the listener begins to anticipate what is coming next. If you read books that rhyme, it is easier for the listener to fill in words you leave out. For example, while reading Green Eggs and Ham, pause and let the listener fill in words that rhyme: “I do not like them in a house, I do not like them with a ___.” As toddlers gleefully shout out “mouse,” they create a mind-set that reading is fun. The more words they supply, the more confident they become. When children eventually attempt to read their first Learn-to-Read book by themselves, they approach the task of reading with little fear or anxiety because in their minds, they have been successfully “reading” books for years. Do not underestimate the power of a positive mind-set when learning a difficult task.
Rhyming Makes it Easier to Learn New Skills.
Rhymes make it easier to learn and remember information. For example, to this day, I find myself saying “righty-tighty, lefty-loosy” before opening or closing a jar lid. When
children have developed an “ear for rhymes,” we can use rhymes as a learning tool:
Children can learn how to correctly print each number by repeating rhymes such as “down and over and down once more, that’s the way you make a 4.”
When children rhyme, they listen for sounds at the end of words, so we can use rhyming words to reinforce the concepts of same/different, beginning/end, or first/last.
Singing the Alphabet Song helps kids memorize the name of every letter.
Reading books with rhymes and singing silly songs are easy, fun ways to help children fall in love with books. Children who can easily rhyme have trained their ears to distinguish, repeat, and manipulate sounds. These good rhymers are primed and ready to become good readers.
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