Rhyming is an important piece of the literacy puzzle and kids love to rhyme so it’s an easy skill to work on while having fun. This rhyming game is simple but throw in a St.Patrick’s Day theme and a treasure hunt and it goes from simple to awesome.
The best part of this St. Patrick’s Day rhyming game activity wasn’t watching my daughter work on her rhyming, it was watching my son help her. My children are not immune to sibling scuffles from time to time. When I feel like those scuffles are escalating, I give them a task to work on together.
St. Patrick’s Day Rhyming Game
Gather your materials. You will need some shamrocks and a marker. 
Next, write pairs of rhyming words on the shamrocks. I tried to stick with a St.Patrick’s day theme but I don’t think my kids even noticed. I would try to match this with your child’s ability. 
Hide the shamrocks. Don’t mind the Easter decor, we are a little early with it this year. 
Gather your troops and explain that they will be searching for shamrocks and then working together to match them up in rhyming pairs. 
Search! 
Match up the rhymes.
I asked my son not to match them up until all were found so that his sister could be part of this step as well. With a three and a half year age gap, the ability gap is big right now. My daughter is very sensitive to her brother doing everything for her.
By forcing him to slow down and take her feelings into account, I am hoping to teach him to be more sensitive to others. Also sending her the message that she isn’t just running behind playing catch up. Adjust this step to your players. 
If kids are having a hard time matching rhymes, one of my favorite strategies is to offer two different pairs – one rhyming and one not – to choose from. Often, hearing two options will help them distinguish between a rhyming pair and two words that do not rhyme.
Some children get stuck on words with similar beginning sounds thinking that it’s the initial sound they are trying to match. If this is the case, make sure you are taking time to overemphasize the sounds in the word. Say, for example, “g-old, s-old they rhyme! G-et and g- old have the same first sound but do not rhyme. Rhyming is the same last sound. G-old and s-old rhyme.”
A less overt way to continue working on this is to read lots and lots of books that rhyme. Check them out here.
Ashlie says
Where did you find your shamrocks?
Allison McDonald says
At Dollar Tree and I know Micheal’s has some too!