Kiddipedia

Kiddipedia

Play with speech sounds and watch the ‘magic.’

When we introduce rhyming games and songs to small children, they are not only entertained but they eventually figure out that words can sound similar and have the same speech sounds. To rhyme,  a word, syllable, or line have or end with a sound that corresponds to another. For example, ‘balloon rhymes with moon.’ To know rhyme is to be better prepared for learning letter combinations which make sounds in spoken language. We can fit it into play sessions.

It makes sense to play games (often informally and incidentally) the other day, I heard a student say ‘ Carly doesn’t know that Zali went to Bali! Hey, that rhymed!’ This is the perfect time to repeat what they said and make a game out of it. For example, ‘Does Carly know that Zali went to Bali?” and have a giggle together. The child might then feel confident to play with their spoken words and say words that may rhyme; ‘Harley… barley… bizarrely… snarly… Marley… balmy… garden ‘No, that doesn’t rhyme!’’

Detecting rhyme is easier than making words rhyme. So, when kids detect rhyme in everyday situations, use the opportunity and play with the same rhyming sound.

Try listening and singing a favourite song and ask them to listen for the rhyming words. Here are some examples:

Dora the explorer; (‘Dora’ rhymes with ‘explorer’)

Five Little Monkeys; (‘bed/bed)

Open, Shut Them; (clap/lap)

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; (star/far, high/sky)

Five Little Ducks; (day/away, quack/back)

The Wiggles- ‘Rock-a-bye your bear’; (air/bear)

You might remember some outdated and at times, odd nursery rhymes in school back in the day. I’m referring to the rhyming words in them. To explain, all sounds in our spoken language vary in complexity.  We need to expose kids to words that sound similar, may (but not always) have similar spelling patterns, and have fun with them. It’s building up a word bank for our kids to actively draw and use while communicating with others. There’s nothing wrong with exposing songs and nursery rhymes to our kids but there is more value in singing with our kids, not just having them on a device, watching and listening. Balance is important and kids need to say the sounds to experiment with spoken sounds.

The ‘Rhyme Challenge’ Game:

  • As your child’s understanding to rhyme develops, have fun Challenging family members to rhyme- after dinner, around the dining table.
  • Remember detecting is easier and more supportive so start off with ‘Pick the Odd One Out’: (frog/bog/jog/pig/log/slog/cog)
  • Once they are confident, play the challenge game by starting with an easy ending sound;

-‘ay’ (day/may/play/say/tray/way/gay/hay/lay/ray/clay)

-‘ie’(tie/lie/my/die/dye/fly/dry/ply/guy/by/bye/buy/spy/why/high/rye/shy/pie/cry

-‘est’ (test/best/West/guest/nest/messed/rest/quest/jest/vest/fest/pest/zest)

Did you notice how the spelling can be different? Remember, this game is about the way the words sound. In time, reading skills and spelling patterns will develop.

We know that our kids learn many things from us. When we speak directly to them and we talk to others (modelling language when our kids are with us,) they learn language and how to communicate. By being around us, our kids learn the different nuances when communicating with others. Oral language is the first step to building vocabulary knowledge of word meanings is one of the Five Keys To Reading.

To be able to talk and experiment with speech sounds, our kids are making small steps to learning how to make meaning of language, how it sounds and how it is written and to ultimately be literate adults.

 

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