Ice Cream Rhyming Words Printable for Kindergarten

Teacher: What’s special about rhymes (drill sargeant voice)?

Students: The endings are the same (singsong voices)!

Teacher: How do we identify a rhyme (drill sargeant voice)?

Students:We HEAR it (loud voices)!

That’s what it sounds like in my kindergarten classroom where I work with kiddos coming into school with little to no literary background. All. Year. Long. Which means I am constantly on the hunt for free rhyming printables for kindergarten.

I’ve learned that rhyming takes patience, practice, and REPETITION. Rhyming activities for kindergarten form an important foundation for future reading success. The Ice Cream Rhyming Words Printable Activity for Kindergarten is a perfect fit when looking for an engaging, hands-on activity to build phonemic awareness.

Rhyming Activities for Kids

Wordplay is a crucial component to early literacy instruction. Rhyming words for kindergarten and preschool should be common words the students are familiar with.

One of the best ways to gradually introduce rhyming is through songs, nursery rhymes and books.

The key is pointing out these rhymes and then celebrating them! Chant them, yell them, whisper them, you get the picture.

As students begin to hear the phonemic component of rhyming, you can implement more word work instruction as students practice reading CVC words and noticing letter patterns.

Keep coming back to the rhymes students know while also introducing new ones that could stump them. As understandings grow, so will their repertoire of rhymes.

As I mentioned earlier, for students without a lot of background with reading, singing, talking and rhyming, it can be a slow process. It takes a lot of repetition for some students to really grasp the idea of rhyming.

How to Use the Printable Rhyming Words Activity for Kindergarten

The activity includes 10 adorable ice cream themed work mats that can easily be printed off and sliced in half. Laminate for durability, or place inside a plastic sleeve.

Each ice cream cone has one rhyming scoop of ice cream to match. Cut around the scoop and laminate.

Kindergartners and preschoolers will love this rhyming game! All they have to do is choose a scoop, then find the matching cone.

The 10 rhyming pairs included are: pig/wig, rose/hose, log/dog, ant/plant, sink/stink, ham/jam, lime/dime, sock/clock, rug/bug, cake/lake.

Differentiate for All Learners

Rhyming lesson plans can easily be adapted for all learners. Some students might not be ready for all 10 rhymes. You can narrow the focus by offering five mats, or even less.

Advanced learners can begin to look at the letter patterns in CVC rhymes, or other word families.

Create free printable rhyming words for kindergarten books that include both words and rhyming pictures so students can pull them out for independent practice anytime.

Engage students with hands-on manipulatives as much as possible. Collect a box of small objects for students to pull an object and name a rhyme.

Always ask students to name the rhyme orally after finding the match on the rhyming worksheet or activity to reinforce the phonemic component.

Create a memory matching game out of the printable rhyming activity by doubling the set of scoops and placing them face down in rows.

Printable worksheets are also great to send home for extra practice!