Activities for Identification of Rhyming Words
EASY TO DO RHYMING ACTIVITIES
*Read many stories aloud, especially those containing rhyming words. See
resource list of books to choose from.
*Help children identify rhyming words by saying phrases such as, “Cat
and hat sound alike. They’re words that rhyme!”
*Have pictures of 2 to 3 objects that rhyme. Ask the student to look at the
pictures while you point and say, “This is a ‘bat’. This is a ‘cat’. ‘Bat’ and
‘cat’ are words that sound alike so we say they rhyme. Continue to list
other words that rhyme with ‘bat’ and ‘cat’ so the children may begin to
hear the similarities in the words.
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“Draw a Rhyme”
MATERIALS NEEDED: “Dry Wipe Board, Dry Wipe Marker, Eraser”
DIRECTIONS:
1. Tell your child you are going to draw pictures of rhyming words. (Either you can
draw them or you can encourage your child to draw them)
2. Choose one simple word such as cat and draw a cat. Tell your child that cat
rhymes with bat, hat, fat, and mat. Encourage your child to say the words too.
3. Continue adding pictures to the dry wipe board until you have 3 or 4 pictures.
(You can choose from the list of words below if desired). Follow the process
described in #2 after each picture while encouraging your child to repeat the words.
4. When you have 3 or 4 pictures drawn, tell your child you are now going to let
him/her erase the pictures one at a time, but first he/she must answer a question
before erasing.
5. Ask your child which picture rhymes with hat. If needed, give your child several
words that rhyme such as hat, bat, fat, mat.
6. When your child identifies the picture of a cat as the rhyme, allow him/her to
erase only the cat.
7. Continue this process with the remaining pictures.
Possible rhyming words:
Rug, bug, mug, hug, jug
Cake, rake, steak, lake, snake
Sam, bam, lamb, ham, jam
Meat, feet, Pete, seat, wheat
Fire, tire, wire, hire
Dog, log, frog, jog, hog
Tail, pail, mail, sail, jail
Nurse, purse, curse, verse, worse
Kite, fight, write, light, night
Wall, ball, small, mall, tall
Floor, door, chore, more, pour
Pen, men, hen, ten, Ben
Chair, hair, bear, fair, share
House, mouse, blouse
Flower, tower, power, shower
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“Matching Pictures”
MATERIALS NEEDED: pairs of rhyming pictures, two containers
DIRECTIONS:
1. Place one set of the rhyming pair pictures in one container and the other
rhyming pair pictures in another container.
2. Have the child draw out two pictures, one from each container) and ask if the
two words rhyme.
3. If they don’t rhyme, have the child continue pulling out pictures from the second
container until the child finds a matching rhyme. Continue with all of the remaining
pictures.
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“Which One Does Not Belong?”
MATERIALS NEEDED: pairs of rhyming pictures
DIRECTIONS:
1. Lay out three pictures on the table, two of which rhyme and one of which does
not. (EXAMPLE: cat, log, dog)
2. Tell the children, “Two of these words rhyme, and one does not rhyme. Can you
tell me which one does not rhyme with the others?”
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“Rhyming Hopscotch”
MATERIALS NEEDED: Hopscotch board drawn with chalk or taped out on
the floor, one bean bag to toss
DIRECTIONS:
1. Draw a hopscotch board on the floor. Tape or place pictures in each square.
2. Have the child toss a beanbag on a square, hopt to that square, and then say
what the word represented by the picture.
3. The teacher reads a word to the child (sometimes make the word rhyme and
sometimes don’t), and ask the child if the two words rhyme. If the child answers
correctly, they get another turn.
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“Rhyming Bingo”
MATERIALS NEEDED: pairs of rhyming pictures, game pieces or chips to
place on the pictures (like bingo chips)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Each person gets or chooses 3 or 4 pictures (none of which rhyme). Be sure to
discuss what the pictures are.
2. Put the rhyming pair pictures in a draw pile.
3. Have children take turns drawing a picture from the draw pile and say what the
picture is. The child that has the matching rhyming picture puts a chip or game
piece on his/her picture.
4. Continue until EVERYONE has chips or game pieces on every picture and can say
“Bingo!”. (Every child wins!)
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“Rhyming Word Sit Down”
MATERIALS NEEDED: Lists of rhyming word pairs for the teacher
DIRECTIONS:
1. Have the children walk around in a big circle taking one step at a time
while a rhyming word is said by the teacher.
2. When the teacher says a word that doesn’t rhyme, the children quickly
sit down.
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“A Hunting We Will Go”
MATERIALS NEEDED: list of rhyming words for the teacher
DIRECTIONS:
1. Sing say:
“A-hunting we will go.
A-hunting we will go.
We’ll catch a fox
And put him in a box
A-hunting we will go.”
2. Ask the children to pick out the rhyming words.
3. Continue the rhyme substituting the following rhyming pairs and have
the children identify the rhyming words.
Whale-sale
Bear-chair
Goat-boat
Fish-dish
Snake-lake
pig-dig
cat-hat
frog-log
bug-rug
fly-pie
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“Willaby Wallaby”
MATERIALS NEEDED: none
DIRECTIONS:
1. In this game, the teacher sings and uses the students’ names to
complete the rhyme:
Willaby, Wallaby, Wusan,
An elephant sat on Susan.
Willaby, Wallaby, Wark,
An elephant sat on Mark.
2. Students can stand up, sit down, or line up when they hear a word that
rhymes with their names.
3. Continue with other student names. As children catch on, allow them to
give the name that rhymes.
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“Squirrel in a Tree”
MATERIALS NEEDED: Rhyming pairs of pictures (enough for one per
child), clothes pins or other means to attach the pictures to each child so
they are visible.
DIRECTIONS:
1. One child is “it” and wears a picture of a fox. Her job is to catch a
squirrel that is not in its tree.
2. Divide the rest of the children int two groups. One group is trees and are
given pictures of things that rhyme with another picture that is worn by the
other group, who are the squirrels.
3. The trees stay put in various parts of the room, and the squirrels must
find their matching tree before the fox catches them.
4. The leader starts the game by saying, “The fox is coming, you should go
to your tree!”
5. The squirrels begin to run and then the leader says, “The fox is here!”
The fox then runs to catch any squirrel not in a tree.
6. If the fox catches a squirrel, that squirrel becomes the fox for the next
game. NOTE: Trees become squirrels and vice-versa and the game is
played again.