Children can learn a lot about using expression simply by listening to you model the behavior when reading a story, poem, or nursery rhyme. They will, however, learn even more when you give them to opportunity to mimic your behavior.
Although we certainly would not expect a preschooler to be reading fluently and with expression at the age of three or four, they can, at this age, repeat what you have shown them how to do. One way to do this in which your child will most likely begin to mimic your behavior without any prompting from you, is to teach them some action rhymes.
Action rhymes are exactly what they sound to be. A poem or nursery rhyme that is read or sung to a child while performing actions that imitate what is being said. If you have every sung, “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” while connecting your fingers and pretending to rain, you have participated in an action rhyme.
A simple search in a search engine will yield you large number of results. Anything listed as an action rhyme, action poem or finger-play is sure to be a hit with toddlers and preschoolers. Most web sites will include the words and actions listed together and some may even have their collections organized by topic.
You can also find entire books dedicated to action rhymes and finger-plays at your local library.
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Written by BRWI Staff on October 17, 2011
I love it when my children ask to watch the show “Word World” that is broadcast on our local public television station. It is a wonderful show that teaches children many different concepts about letters, letter sounds, words, and sometimes even sentences. Usually, each episode also focuses on a lesson that utilizes problem-solving skills.
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Written by Laura on August 2, 2011
It is this adorable trait and my son’s current obsession with rhyming, that gave me an idea for a game that combines the two. It is very simple, and yet my son, at least, is entertained by it for as long as I will play it. (In other words, my attention span is shorter than his!)
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Written by Laura on June 27, 2011
My preschooler loves to talk gibberish. He goes into this mode of communication whenever he gets really excited or if he just feels like being silly. At first, I fought this type of talking tooth and nail. However, once I realized he was able to stop this baby-talk on command, I stopped worrying about it and, instead, used it as a tool for learning. (Although we do limit his use of this self-c
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Written by Laura on May 13, 2011
Here are two games you can play with your child to practice and strengthen her rhyming skills. The great thing about these games is that you only have to make one set of materials in order to create both games. You will need two dozen plastic, colored Easter eggs (You can use more or less eggs to vary the difficulty of the games.) Create 12 pairs of rhyming pictures using clip art, such as hair
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Written by BRWI Staff on April 20, 2011
“The Name Game” is a children’s song written and sung by Shirley Ellis in 1964. Today, in 2011, my kids still get a kick out of hearing me sing the song to whatever names they can shout in my direction. Since they have enjoyed this simple game so much, I have tried to think of ways to use it as an educational tool. Rhyming was the obvious answer. I simply sing the song, but pa
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Written by Laura on March 28, 2011
Perhaps your child has a difficult time coming up with rhyming words on her own. Or maybe, she is a very visual or tactile learner and could use something in front of her to see and touch to jump-start her thoughts. Motivate your child to rhyme using this delicious color rhyming activity.
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Written by BRWI Staff on March 16, 2011
Dr. Seuss is well known for his rhyming stories and the rhythm created as they are read. March 2nd is his birthday, and it is celebrated every year by children and adults alike in many different ways. Use the day’s celebration to help your little gain some practice making rhymes of her own.
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Written by BRWI Staff on March 2, 2011
“Mom!”, my three-year-old yells. “‘House’ and ‘house’ rhyme!” It is great logic, but it is difficult to convince a preschooler that two identical words don’t technically rhyme because they are the same word. I have been trying to help him realize that you need to pick pairs of different words that have endings that sound the same. That is
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Written by Laura on January 26, 2011
Books and rhyming go hand in hand. Many children’s books are written with a specific rhyming pattern in them. You can use these books to help your child learn to listen for rhyming pairs. Begin by finding a book that is written with rhyming pairs. An example would be Chicka Chick Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and Bill Archambault. (Try to avoid books that are completely loaded with rhymes
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Written by BRWI Staff on December 27, 2010
Our goal is to give you the tools and confidence to teach your preschooler the joy of reading and writing.
Sponsored by Bridges Reading & Writing Institute -- teaching the JOY of reading and writing to students in preschool through 12th grade.
