How can you tell they’ve got it: Rhyming words?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Identify which words rhyme from a set (e.g. cat, bat, dog); Generate a word that rhymes with a given target; Join in with repeated refrains and rhyming patterns during shared reading. Or just try it together: When you read a rhyming book to your child, do they join in and predict the rhyming words — and can they come up with their own rhyme for a simple word like 'cat'?

English Phonics & Word Reading Ages 4–6

Rhyming words

Your child can hear which words rhyme — like cat, bat and hat — and think of a new word that rhymes too.

In curriculum terms

Recognise and produce rhyming words; join in with predictable phrases and rhymes in stories and poems; learn to appreciate and recite poems by heart

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Identify which words rhyme from a set (e.g. cat, bat, dog)
Generate a word that rhymes with a given target
Join in with repeated refrains and rhyming patterns during shared reading

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Try this together

When you read a rhyming book to your child, do they join in and predict the rhyming words — and can they come up with their own rhyme for a simple word like 'cat'?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Nothing on the map comes before this — it’s a starting point.

Rhyming wordsthis skill · ages 4–6

Unlocks

Writing Poetryages 6–7Rhyme awareness is essential for writing poetry

Onsets & Rimesages 4–7Rhyme awareness supports finer phoneme skills

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 2 ACARA · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E1LA04medium confidenceYear 1 · Language

explore how repetition, rhyme and rhythm create cohesion in simple poems, chants and songs

AC9EFLE04medium confidenceFoundation · Literature

explore and replicate the rhythms and sound patterns of literary texts such as poems, rhymes and songs

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E2LE04high confidenceEnglish · Level 2 · Literature strand

VC2EFLY03medium confidenceEnglish · Foundation · Literacy strand

VC2EFLE04medium confidenceEnglish · Foundation · Literature strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Blending Sounds to Read Wordsages 4–7 Consonant Digraphsages 4–7 Knowing all lettersages 4–6 Onsets & Rimesages 4–7

All Phonics & Word Reading skills →