Prep: None / Activity Time: 5-6 Minutes

Say/sing familiar nursery rhymes or songs with your toddler. By exposing her to rhyming words at this young age, you are helping to lay the groundwork forhow language works. As your child gets a little older, she will build upon this foundation by noticing and playing with the sounds within the rhyming words.

Simple collection of nursery rhymes (e.g. Mother Goose)

Choose a nursery rhyme that your baby is familiar with. (Example: “Humpty Dumpty”)

As you read (or recite) the nursery rhyme, make an effort to place extra emphasis on the rhyming words. Enunciate the rhyming words (denoted in blue and green below) as you say them.

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

All the King's horses and all the King's men*

Couldn't put Humpty together again*

*The fact that "men" and "again" don't have the same spelling pattern does not matter at all for this activity. It is all about your toddler listening to the way the words sound the same, regardless of the way they are spelled.