Looking for some great books for working on rhyming words? In this post, I’ll share 10 of my favorite rhyming books AND explain how I use familiar songs like Twinkle, Twinkle to teach rhyming!

Photo Credits:  Tiplyashina Evgeniya, Shutterstock

Why Does Teaching Rhyming Matter in the First Place?

Children who have higher levels of phonological awareness (awareness of the sounds in words) are typically stronger decoders when they begin to read.

Being able to identify whether or not two words rhyme is a foundational phonological awareness skill for the English language. If you’re working on phonological awareness, you will probably want to start by teaching rhyming.

If you have a student who REALLY struggles with rhyming, even after you’ve provided ample modeling and instruction, this can be a predictor of a future reading disability. (You can read more about identifying students with reading disabilities and dyslexia in this post.)

So teaching rhyming actually serves two purposes; 1) it helps develop that important awareness of sounds to help students become strong decoders, AND 2) it can help us identify students who may need early reading intervention.

Books for Teaching Rhyming

The first time I read a book, I usually just let the kids enjoy it—and we focus on comprehension. Rhyming is a great skill to work on the second time (or third time, or fourth time) you read a book. The kids have already had a chance to understand the story and can really focus on listening for the rhyming words!

Here’s a list of rhyming books that are great for this purpose. (Note that these are Amazon affiliate links, which means that if you purchase through the link, a small portion of the profits go toward helping me maintain this website!) These books are most appropriate for late preschool or Kindergarten, but some can be used in first grade as well.

Jamberry (Bruce Degen)

Sheep in a Jeep (Nancy Shaw)

Green Eggs and Ham (Dr. Seuss)

Llama Llama Red Pajama (Anna Dewdney)

Big Red Barn (Margaret Wise Brown)

One Duck Stuck (Phyllis Root)

Over In The Meadow (Olive Wadsworth)

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly (Pam Adams)

Moose On The Loose (Kathy-Jo Wargin)

Each Peach Pear Plum (Allan Ahlberg)

In next week’s post, I’ll include ideas about what you can DO with the books when you use them.

Using Songs to Teach Rhyming

In addition to using rhyming books, I also love using song lyrics to teach rhyming!

If you type up (or write on chart paper) the lyrics to familiar songs like “Twinkle Twinkle,” students can read or pretend-read the lyrics with you and discuss the rhyming words. You can use colored markers to have students help you circle the rhyming words. You can also give students copies of the lyrics to pretend-read or read on their own.

You can do the same thing with nursery rhymes (i.e., Hickory Dickory Dock, Miss Muffett, Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty, etc.). Just do a Google search for the lyrics, type them up or write them on chart paper, and voila! You have an instant text for working on rhyming words.

Your Favorites?

Do you have any favorite books for teaching rhyming? I’d love to hear them; please share in the comments below!

Happy teaching!