Many of us grew up reading the wonderful rhymes of Mother Goose and enjoying the sing-song rhymes and playful language in these fun rhymes. What our parents didn’t know though, was that playing with language and making rhymes were a great way to help small children learn the “lilt” of their language. Children who play with rhyme and listen to stories with a lot of rhyme are helpful to developing a child’s sense of phonemic awareness. When a child enters school with a well developed sense of language and rhyme, they learn to read much faster than do children who do not bring this same understanding of language to school. So, the next time you hear your child making rhymes out of the words s/he hears encourage him and share in the fun word play. You will be helping your child strengthen his or her reading potential.
