Teach Rhyming: The Zone of Proximal Development

When a child doesn't know how to rhyme, the task of teaching this skill can seem overwhelming. The usual answer is to read books that contain rhymes, but this doesn't always help. Then we need to help children get in the "zone of proximal development." This means we break the task down into small components and moving the child, slowly, to our objective, in this case rhyming on their own.

For rhyming, we suggest playing a game with two words. Simply say, "Do bat and cat rhyme?"

Give lots of examples that do rhyme. Children can clap or jump...anything to indicate that two words rhyme. Reinforce by saying, "Yes, because the words sound alike at the end."

When children have the sound of rhyming words in their head, give two words that do not rhyme like book and kitchen. Get excited when they say," No, those words do not rhyme." We encourage children to use silly voices to indicate a resounding no for non-rhyming words. This makes the "game" fun!

Sometimes children think words like spoon and fork rhyme because they are focusing on the meaning of words. This means you have to play the "game" a lot and reinforce that rhyming is about the sound of the words - the ending sound.

For more, view our video explanation.

Standards Alignment:
NAEYC - 2.E.04, 2.E.06
Head Start - VII. A & B