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Rhymes are excellent ways to lay the foundation for a child's reading : starting from preschool! This is because rhymes can be used for "phonological awareness" activities, or activities that help develop important skills like decoding, blending, and segmenting.
Two of the easiest phonological awareness activities are identifying or generating rhyming words, and counting syllables. Rhyming words help children identify patterns between words, which helps increase the pace of reading. Counting out syllables, on the other hand, helps children think in terms of syllables, which helps them break the word into parts when they are attempting to read.
So how do you practice these skills at home with your child?
Simple! Let's take "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" for an example.
Generating rhyming words is easy. Simply say the rhyme over and over again for a couple of days. Then, start the rhyme. But pause at every second line, right at the word that should rhyme. For example, "Teddy Bear Teddy Bear turn around, teddy bear teddy bear touch the....." (Pause). With time, your child will fill in the word. They are essentially remembering that "ground" rhymes with "around."
Counting out syllables: One of the easiest ways to "teach" syllables through play is to clap to the rhythm of the rhyme. For example, (every underline is a clap), "teddy bear teddy bear turn a round". Each clap should be with each new syllable, not with each new word. "teddy bear teddy bear touch the ground."
If you want to practice this, and 30+ other language skills on "Teddy Bear Teddy Bear", check out Smarter Speech's "Teddy Bear" worksheet on TpT! Happy Talking!
Disclaimer : Smarter Speech is a pediatric speech therapy / speech-language pathology practice for toddlers and children providing in-home and teletherapy services in and around Mountain View, CA, and Los Gatos, CA. Smarter Speech Blog aims to provide free speech and language tips for parents educators and therapists. However, this post is not providing speech-language pathology services. This is general information, not speech -language pathology or speech therapy. This article does not assume or create a client – SLP relationship. The author is not liable for any losses or damages due to actions or failure to act based on the content in this article. If you need assistance with a child’s speech or language needs, please contact a speech-language pathologist in your area.