As we know, sharing rhyming books is a great way to promote phonological awareness, or, the ability to 
hear and play with the smaller sounds in a word. Younger children may especially enjoy reciting favorite nursery rhymes, and for storytimes with older preschoolers, ask them to fill in the rhyming word (or make up a silly rhyme!). What are some of your favorite rhyming books for storytime? Here are a few of mine:
- Of course, you've got to have Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas. Those silly bits of fluff! Why can't Bob seem to find a rhyme?
- Llama Llama Red Pajama (and all the other Llama Llama books (by Anna Dewdney. What's more fun than saying "Llama drama?"
- A book with a great refrain is Who Ate All the Cookie Dough? by Karen Beaumont. The kids can join in with "Lion, Lion, do you know? Who ate all the cookie dough?"
- Another fabulous funny one, also by Karen Beaumont, is I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! If you know the tune, you can sing the story, and the kids can insert the name of the rhyming body part!
- Some Dogs Do by Jez Alborough is a sweet, hopefull story about a dog who flies - but is unable to show his friends when they ask him to prove it.
Here's a silly rhyme that I've used as a flannelboard. The kids are able to use to picture clues to fill in the rhyme, and we can also make up our own silly combinations! I can't remember where I found it, so if you know the source, please comment!
Oh me, oh my, what will I do?
I can't find a kangaroo, to put on my shoe!
But I know quite well, and so do you,
I don't need a kangaroo to put on my shoe!
Repeat with: Fox/Socks, Cat/Hat, Bear/Hair/ Crocodile/Smile (and any others you can come up with!)
Comments
Rhyming
I love all your rhyming ideas. I think the rhythm of the rhyme is one of the ways that helps kids remember the words, the vocabulary and hear the sounds. Which is why I like to clap or tap in rhythm sometimes as we go. I've got a favorite flannelboard, called "I like my shoes" that covers lots of vocabulary and we always slap knees to the rhythm through it.
I like my shoes, I like my red red shoes,
I like my shoes, I like to t t t t tie them.
I like my jeans, I like my blue blue jeans
I like my jeans, I like to r r r r run in them.
and it goes on (shirt, belt, jacket, hair, mouth,) til we get to our heart:
I like my heart, I like my beating, beating heart.
I like my heart, I like to L L L L LOVE You!
And at that point the tapping stops and we wave our hands wide and high and cheer.
Having the tapping for every syllable helps the kids to hear the parts of words-- even if this chant is one that doesn't really rhyme.