Rhyme Time

Little levels (ages 4 to 6)

1. Does it rhyme? Cat and hat, dog and sun: yes or no.
2. Find the rhyme Which picture rhymes with frog, cat, bee, sock, mouse, star?
3. Odd one out Cat, hat, dog: tap the one that does not rhyme.
4. Rhyme pairs Drag hat and bat to cat, frog and log to dog, tree and key to bee.
5. Finish the rhyme I have a little cat, on her head she wears a... hat!

Big levels (ages 7 to 9)

1. Word families Sort words into -at, -og, -ug and -ake, -ing, -ell families.
2. Make real words Put letters in front of -at: which three make real words?
3. Finish the poem Pick the word that rhymes and makes sense in a couplet.
4. Sound, not spelling Night and kite rhyme; home and come do not.
5. Build a silly poem Pick a word, pick its rhyme, and hear your poem.

The big ideas

• Rhyme lives at the end of a word. Cat and hat rhyme because everything after the first sound matches: at. Hearing that ending is a big step toward reading, because the same ending is usually spelled the same way.

• Word families share an ending. Cat, hat, bat and mat are the -at family. Once a child can read one, swapping the first letter reads the rest, which is why rhyming is taught alongside phonics.

• Not every swap makes a word. Hat, bat and mat are words; zat and jat are not. Knowing the difference is vocabulary at work, and it is where the fun of nonsense words comes from.

• Rhyme is about sound, not spelling. Night rhymes with kite and bear rhymes with chair, while home and come only look alike. English spelling is irregular, so the ear decides.

• Poems use rhyme on purpose. Rhymes at the ends of lines make poems and songs easy to remember and fun to say. Finishing a couplet means finding a word that fits both the sound and the sense.

Try it at home

1. Rhyme ping-pong Say a word and bounce rhymes back and forth: cat, hat, bat, mat, sat. Silly made-up words are allowed as long as you say they are not real.
2. Family lists Write -at at the top of a page and list every real word you can make by putting a letter in front. Try -og, -ug and -ake on other pages.
3. Finish my line Make up two-line poems at dinner and leave the last word off: The soup is hot, I like it a... lot!
4. Rhyme hunt in a book Read a rhyming picture book and pause before the rhyming word to let your child guess it.

Ask after playing

• What rhymes with your name? Does anything?
• Can you think of a word that rhymes with blue but is spelled very differently?
• Make up a two-line poem about your favorite animal.