Rhyming games for kids are great fun, because they can use their little brains and show you just how much they know!
And let's face it, even grown ups love a rhyming challenge, because we like to giggle and show off our ingenuity too, don't we!
This kind of word game is also incredibly flexible.
You can play them to keep your kids entertained while you are in the car, waiting at the dentist's office or sitting at a restaurant table.
And they make a great activity at home in the kitchen while you're emptying the dishwasher and you have little 'un round your ankles demanding attention.
"Cat" rhymes with hat, mat, sat, pat, rat... and you can start yourself, giving the word, and helping your child think of pairs. Then you can let your child think of a word and you have to think of the rhymes - with the help of your kiddie of course!
With some words, you might only be able to think of one rhyme, but that doesn't matter - your child will come to understand that some words have lots of rhyming partners, and others (like "orange") make us think a lot harder, heh heh!
Tip: Match the topic of your words to your current activity - find things in the kitchen to inspire you, food words in that restaurant, or just point to your child's face to find words that rhyme with nose, ear, chin, eye or hair.
You can come back to those again tomorrow and see if your child remembers some of the words you thought up today.
Longer words are the next step up on the ladder, with funny, sunny, money, runny, bunny, and honey coming to mind, and "-ation" words are quite useful too, to drum up some meaty combos such as station, information, combination, decoration, or imagination...
Or how about any words that end in "-ate" - such as date, hate, state, rate, plate, create, operate, appreciate, classmate?
Here's a game we enjoy at home.
Invent some sentences with rhyming words - this can get quite silly, and the sillier - the better! You can stress the rhyming words as you say them out loud
- and so on.
Why are reading rhymes such fun for kids? I think that a rhyme just attracts a child's attention in a special way, "sticking" a poem or story together, adding a humorous touch, a fun feel of connection to the writer who thought these poems, riddles, or limericks up, and a sense of anticipation as your child speeds on to see what the next rhyme will be.
The sound appeals to a kid's brain, don't you think?
Even if they don't understand all the words of a song or nursery rhyme, children love listening to them, and rhymes speak to kids a little bit like music does I suppose. They just enjoy it!
Nursery rhyme books for kids provide great daytime and bedtime fun, too.
The Little Animals Activity Centre from the BBC is for kids from 4 to 11 years old, and here your child can match rhyming words in three levels with Digby's help.
From the BBC schools site, children can help Max cross the river by selecting the correct word. There's also a free printable worksheet for kids to do once they've finished playing online.
Find the Rhyme Time Bingo in the games section, read and listen to the word, and click on the bingo board to clear it and see the picture underneath, which your child can print if they like.
Featuring Elmo and Hoots!