Playing with Song and Rhyme at Mat Time

The following activity is taken from PETAA's book, Teaching Poetry for Pleasure and Purpose, written by Sally Murphy, published 2021. For many more poetry activity ideas, across F - 6, please purchase a copy of Sally's book.

Here is an example of a mat time activity that plays with rhyme, by using a familiar nursery rhyme and objects as prompts. You can adapt this to any rhyme used in your classroom. 

You will need a collection of sparkly or shiny objects (things that might be said to 'twinkle'), for example a glittery pencil, a shiny rock, a book with a foil-wrapped cover, shiny beads from your dress-up corner, etc. You can also cover shapes or objects with foil or shiny wrap.

  1. Begin the session by singing 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star', with students joining in.
  2. Tell the students you have some other things that twinkle. Show them the objects, and have volunteers name them. 
  3. Explain that you want to sing about them. Choose an object and model, pausing just before the end of the second line, for example: 'Twinkle, twinkle, little rock, how I wonder what you...'. Discuss what comes next, highlighting that 'are' does not rhyme with 'rock'. Then explain that for the song to work, you may need to change the words; for example: 'Twinkle, twinkle, little rock, how I wonder what you knock.' (Explain that maybe this doesn't make sense, but being silly is fine.)
  4. Once you have settled on a rhyme for the object, sing the song through. You can also discuss whether the object is like a diamond, and, if not, what else it might be like, replacing 'diamond' with, for example, 'comet'.
  5. Repeat, using the remaining objects. Have students suggest a rhyme for each object.
  6. This can be extended into a collage and writing activity, with students using shiny paper to draw an object and writing their own rhyme to accompany it. 

Other nursery rhymes could be used to adapt or replicate this activity. For example, 'Hey diddle diddle', replacing the dish and spoon with other paired objected and wondering aloud what, for example, a bucket and spade or a knife and fork might jump over.