Skill
Identifies Rhyming Words
Child notices and produces words that rhyme.
Ages 42–60 months
Why it matters
Hearing that words share ending sounds is a phonological-awareness skill that prepares a child to map sounds to letters when decoding begins.
Builds toward this milestone
- demonstrates awareness that spoken language is composed of smaller segments of sound. — Head Start ELOF
What mastery looks like
- Tells whether two words rhyme.
- Supplies a rhyming word for a familiar word, with a real or nonsense word.
How to observe it
- During rhyming songs, does the child fill in or play with the rhyming word?
Accessibility
- Pair spoken rhymes with pictures so the task does not rely on hearing alone.
- For children who are deaf or hard of hearing, substitute a visual sound-pattern game.
Activities
Evidence
- Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) — U.S. Office of Head Start · 2015 · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs (4th ed.) — National Association for the Education of Young Children · 2022 · National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
Early Atlas