for elementary students
I love these little puzzles for rhyming words. I found them originally in a terrific book called Wacky Word Games by Margie Golick, a treasure chest of word play. I’ve seen the puzzles in middle school workbooks too. Students can’t stop mulling over the tiny puzzles until they’ve solved them all. It's important to give the number of letters in the rhyming words as a clue. For example,
royal jewelry
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sometimes, I add on a challenge to their homework: create a new wacky rhyme puzzle. Here are some of my students’ brainteasers:
endless melody
long song
hit bird
struck duck
rodent beanie
rat hat
happy play
toy joy
ancient metal
old gold
blackish putty
gray clay
wood bird (or Howard Hughes’ plane)
Spruce Goose
After we enjoy the puzzles, I give the students a handout with funny poems on it, and we read those aloud together. These are silly, and I use the opportunity to point out rhyme schemes. There are several different rhyme schemes in the handout’s poems, so this is sort of a puzzle too. There are many hilarious poets; it’s fun to search for poems to include in the handout. A sampling is below.
Finally we write a poem together. We make a list of everything we can think of about a subject, then try to put some ideas in a poem. For every end word in a line, we write a list of rhyming words to use in the next rhyming line for our particular rhyme scheme. We usually use rhyming couplets, definitely the easiest in the moment. But I have had a few classes that try ABAB also.
The assignment: Write a rhyming poem 12 or more lines long. You can use any rhyme scheme you like, such as AABB, ABAB, AAAA, ABCB, etc. In other words, not all the end words need to rhyme. As you can see below, two of my classes used ABAB, where every 2 lines rhyme. You can tell these classes met during a rainy week.
Rain
Today there's too much rain!
Oh my, it clogs every drain,
Plants sprout out of roots,
Mud’s so thick it’s stuck to boots.
Today every street’s a river.
I've never seen rain like this. Never!
Everything is completely wet.
Everyone is cold, even my pet.
Jacket
My warm jacket
Has a large pocket.
It keeps me dry in the rain
While wet people walk in pain.
Laces tighten my hood
Others wish to wear one if they could.
I wish I had 21 zippers
To hide all my candy Nerds.
My jacket protects me from a flood
While my legs are soaked in mud.
————————
Below are various funny poems.
Introduction by Jack Prelutsky to his edited book, Laughing Out Loud
If you have got a funnybone,
and I've no doubt you do,
then this completely silly book
is sure to tickle you.
I've filled it full of dizzy ryhmes,
the wildest I could find,
and if it makes you laugh out loud,
that's what I had in mind.
I hope you grin from ear to ear,
I hope you crow for weeks,
I hope you laugh until you cry,
and tears roll down your cheeks.
I wish you lots of belly laughs,
I hope you have to roar,
and if you almost split your sides,
that's what this book is for.
Bursting by Dorothy Aldis
We've laughed until my cheeks are tight.
We've laughed until my stomach's sore.
If we could only stop we might
Remember what we're laughing for.
Sea Horse and Sawhorse by X.J. Kennedy
A sea horse saw a sawhorse
On a seesaw meant for two.
“See here, sawhorse,” said sea horse,
“May I seesaw with you?”
“I'll see, sea horse,” said sawhorse.
“Right now I'm having fun
Seeing if I'll be seasick
On a seesaw meant for one.”
Edward Jones by Sol Mandlsohn
A skinny man,
named Edward Jones,
Was nothing but
a bag of bones.
He filled himself
with ice cream cones.
And now he's known
as Cold Bones Jones.
Monday's Child is Red and Spotty by Colin McNaughton
Monday's child is red and spotty,
Tuesday's child won't use the potty.
Wednesday's child won't go to bed,
Thursday's child will not be fed.
Friday's child breaks all his toys,
Saturday's child makes an awful noise.
And the child that's born on the seventh day
Is a pain in the neck like the rest, OK!
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