Get kids in the rhyming groove with this classic matching game.
Play rhyming Concentration with words that have r-controlled vowels. Remind your child that there are many different ways of spelling words with r-controlled vowels: /ur/, for example, can be spelled ir as in dirt, or ur as in hurt. Words do not have to be spelled the same way in order to rhyme.
Make the following word cards on index cards (one word per card): fur/stir, curb/verb, fern/turn, jerk/smirk, curl/girl, learn/burn, merge/urge, bear/hare, stare/pear, scare/chair, wear/share, hair/care, four/snore, door/roar, floor/chore. Each pair represents a rhyming set.
Begin with six pairs, or twelve cards in all. Shuffle the cards face down on a table or flat surface in three rows of four cards each. Take turns with your child turning over two cards at a time. Read the words on the cards. If they rhyme, each player keeps the matched set and takes another turn. If they do not rhyme, the cards are placed face down and the next player takes his or her turn. Play continues until all cards are matched. The player with the most cards wins.