Rhyming picture books are big in kindergarten classrooms. The ability to recognize and produce rhyming words is a large part of phonological awareness (the skills that include identify and manipulating language and words) and an essential skill for early reading success.
Because I’m a big believer in early education and reading to babies from the first day you bring them home from the hospital, I hope this pin is helpful to parents looking for quality picture books to read with their littles.
I love all types of rhyming books. Many in my classroom library focus on specific word families that we learn in kindergarten, but many just have a poetry-like rhythm that my students can’t seem to get enough of. When I read books with rhyming words or rhyming language, I like to pause intentionally before the rhyming word so that my students can “predict” the word that comes next. This helps students to organically produce the rhyming words while using context clues from the story and the pictures to predict the word.
Read below the pin to see why I love these specific titles. The links are just to Amazon–no affiliate links or rerouting. 🙂
This is without a doubt my favorite Halloween read and quite possibly tops the list of rhyming books as well. It’s just a super fun story about a witch and the friendships she makes when they ask, “Is there room on the broom for a dog like me?”. I also highly recommend the animated version (on Netflix and Prime Video).
A true classic. Madeline is a simple story about a little girl living in an orphanage and her adventurous spirit. My students (both boys and girls) always seem to relate to Madeline–even though most don’t know about orphans and orphanages.
Bear Sees Colors is a read aloud that I read the first week of every school year, and during summer school when I teach pre-kindergarten. It would be perfect for little ones when learning colors. I also use it for predictions–they are pretty obvious (especially for those that can already produce rhymes), but helps to reinforce the concept of predictions and my students confidence in participating.
This is another in the “Bear Books” series by Karma Wilson. It’s follows the story of our familiar friend bear and his hungry journey after waking up from his winter hibernation. Bear and his friends are always a fave for kindergarten students.
Sheep in a Jeep is another popular series for kindergarten-aged students. It’s a classic, and even I can remember this one from my kindergarten days. I also love using it when working on word work–I include both the rhyming words and the /sh/ digraph for challenge work.
Ok. I LOVE this one. Mostly because it has so many different word families that I can repeadely use it during word work and building CVC words. I also highly recommend the follow-up title, “Dog on a Frog?”. Both are hilarious and my students can’t help but giggle during this read aloud.
The Very Cranky Bear is not only a great rhyming read aloud, but also a super cute story about friendship and helping one another. I also love describing the word “cranky” to my kindergarteners.
Gerald the giraffe can’t dance, and his jungle friends just make fun of him because he tries. By the end, he finds support from his friends and finds just the right music to help him dance.
I love this read. The text is incredibly simple, and the pictures are so detailed and artistic. I love reading this in the classroom, but it would be such a great read for younger kids at home. The story follows a little girl who acts up and compares herself to various wild animals.
This is a recent classic that so many parents already have at home. It’s a perfect bedtime story about a construction site going to bed. I would also encourage parents to get their students involved in their read alouds; have them read with you, produce rhyming words, and track the words as you read.
This is quite a popular series with many sequels. Most recently they came out with “How Do Dinosaurs Learn to Read?” that I bought at our Scholastic Book Fair. I love how this book rhymes while discussing “unexpected” and “expected” behavior at school.
I LOVE The Gruffalo. It actually may be tied with Room on the Broom for my top fave rhyming book. This story is about a trickster mouse who walks through the forest avoiding predators by warning them of “The Gruffalo”. Little does he know, he’s describing an actual animal that he soon faces. There is also an animated version on Netflix and Amazon Prime that is a must-see.
This is a classic alphabet and rhyming book. I love this also because there are so many activities and crafts that can go with this read aloud.
I love this read aloud because the text is so simple that it can serve as a mentor text during writer’s workshop. The story follows a boy who explores animals around a freshwater pond.
Of course a rhyming book list wouldn’t be complete with at least one Dr. Seuss read. I wanted to only choose one, and this one is probably my favorite. I love how the cover says this is a book “to read aloud to find out how smart your tongue is”. I always ask my students if they think Dr. Suess will “trick” my tongue.
And that’s a wrap! It was tricky for me to come up with my top faves–what are your favorite rhyming read alouds?
Leave a Reply