Rhyme Detectives
An Activity for Preschoolers
This game lets children practice identifying rhyming words in a non-threatening group situation.
To enhance listening skills.

To provide growing awareness of beginning and ending sounds of words.

Before You Start
Create a list of sets of words that rhyme and sets that do not. For example hit-sit, dog-hot, pig-car, cat-rat, run-sun, goat-ball. You can sneak in some tricky pairs like hat-hot or pan-pen. Print clearly on cards.
Let's Begin
1. Give an example of a pair of rhyming words, emphasizing the ending sounds. Tell them when they hear a rhyme, they should clap and say "rhyme time." But if the words do not rhyme, they should shake their heads no and be very quiet.

2. Each time the children correctly hear a rhyme, place a star on the set of rhyming words.

3. Continue until you have been through your list or the children grow bored. You can also ask children to produce a rhyme, saying two rhyming words and asking them for a third.

4. Tell the children they are going to be rhyme detectives. They will need to use their ears to listen to words that end the same.

5. To help children put on their "listening ears" or "rhyme detector" place a small star on the earlobe of each child. Once the star is on their ear, they have to listen closely.

6. Hold up the words as you speak and begin to go through the sets.
Read aloud books with predictable rhyming patterns and give children the opportunity to guess the rhyme. Suggested titles include Roar and More by Karla Kuskin, The Magic Hat by Mem Fox, Is Your Mama A Llama? by Deborah Guarino, and Fire, Fire said Mrs. McGuire by Bill Martin.


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