The Best Free Online Rhyming Games for Teachers and Parents.

Free online rhyming games are a great way to engage the whole class in an activity. We have searched the internet to find some of the better ones here. Rhyming in general is an excellent reading skill for learners of all ages.

It shows the relationship between letters and provides examples of phonics rules in action. this allows students to use the skills learnt through rhyming activities to tackle unfamiliar words.

The Free online rhyming games we use in class are as follows

• Partners in Rhyme
• Roy The (Rhyming) Zebra
• Rhyme Racer (PBS)
• Rhyme Round Up
• Alphabats Rhyming Game
• Dino Bones Rhyming game
• Rhyming Story Book
• Christmas Rhyme Time Game

These games are all free to play, and available online. We also have a Christmas Rhyming game if you find your self reading this during the festive season.

This page, as well as the 10s of other pages similar to this on the site are there for teachers to bookmark and come back too. We will check these periodically and make sure the games are still valid and working. It them lets you quickly access the whole selection of free online rhyming games.

I will try to stay on top of these Free online rhyming games as they do have a tendency to disappear from time to time (looking at you Digby the Rhyming Mole!!) However these should fit in with your lesson quite nicely.

I am in the process of making one that is based on an infinite runner so if you’re not one of the 3 people that read this in the week i publish it is worth checking out the online games or the apps section of my website to see if i was successful!

We also have articles on the best games for other English and Phonics subjects as well. These include:

• Best FREE Online CVC Games
• Best FREE Online Digraph Games
• Best FREE Online Short Vowels Games
• Best FREE Online Long Vowels Games
• Best FREE Online Sentence Games

So lets kick this off.

Partners in Rhyme

A nice, functional does what is says on the tin free online rhyming game. Students have to match the rhyming pairs as they appear in a block of six on the screen. It has good vocal options so students can press and hear the word, however it also has them written. pros and cons to this of course.

It has multiple rounds, so it can last around 10 minutes plus and does mix up the words so no game is the same. It uses images to help with vocab. as much as it can, and these although a little dated now do the job. As it reduces the number of options each time a pair is found it also helps to give confidence to students who struggle with English.

If you want to try it, just try here. https://www.turtlediary.com/game/words-that-rhyme.html

Roy The Zebra

This game is part of a bigger website ( of the likes i can only dream of!) It is functional and works reasonably well though its low on replay value due to there only being two free online rhyming games ( that I have found) which replay the same sound ( ug and ill) however for a quick interactive blast on rhymes it works well and has been around for a fair while!

The two games, featuring bees and rhinos ( on a hill) ask the student to find the words rhyming with bug and hill respectively. it is short, though you can play through again and they do have a ten second skippable video you have to watch before it lets you play.

Still it works , and i have used the game in my classes as part of the collection , the only downside is its limited use of rhymes so it can be used for the idea of a rhyme rather than the teaching of onset and rime.

Check it out here https://www.roythezebra.com/reading-games/words-that-rhyme-with-ug.html

Rhyme Racer – PBS

I like the idea of this, i also understand its designed to be slow for young learners, but it really is slow.

Game play wise it is nicely done, players listen, and are prompted visually to collect words that rhyme with the given sound. they move in the same way temple run works.

However the game is only three words long before it ends and then the students ‘visit grandma’ and then chose which word they have collected she wants to use. The game does not have dangers, and apart from asking you if you are still playing has no lose aspects. this makes it a little easy, even for my ESL students so it can be used but its not the go to game for me.

There is an easy and difficult mode included though the difference is marginal, and there is no option to choose the ‘rime’ you want to practice. it is still useful in a classroom as it is short ( if they get it right) and can allow more students to play.

It is certainly worth a look https://pbskids.org/superwhy/games/wonder-reds-rhyme-racer/index.html

Rhyme Round Up

I like this one, instead of checking just pattern recognition, it allows students to listen and match, a much better way of checking if they have acquired the skill. It is a simple game where students listen then press the word that rhymes with the spoken word, simple animations and has three rounds per game and a play again option.

It sticks with traditional spellings and doesn’t include a lot of alternative sound spellings, so better for less able students. It does work great though and i use it a lot when teaching.

The link is right here https://www.roomrecess.com/mobile/RhymeRoundUp/play.html

ABCya: Alphabats Rhyming game

Another useful rhyme game that uses listening skills instead of letter recognition. Players this time have to read the word, and listen) then drag the bat with the correct rhyming word to the top branch. Abcya make great English games and this free online rhyming game is another of these.

It randomises the words so students wont be able to rote learn the answers and it will keep them guessing.

https://www.abcya.com/games/alphabats_rhyming

Education.com: Dino Bones Rhyming Game

Although Education.com is a paid site there are opportunities to play their excellent online rhyming games for free. We have chosen the game above as it has dinosaurs in it!

Students simple listen and read the word and then try to find a picture that rhymes with that word. If they are successful then they can dig up a dinosaur bone to make a full fossil skeleton.

I played through three times without a paywall so it may be worth trying this one in your classrooms and homes.

https://www.education.com/game/dino-bones-rhyming-words/

Making English Fun: Christmas Rhyme Time

There are not hundreds of online rhyming games out there so allow us to put one of our own online free rhyming games into the list. We have a relatively large selection of English games on the site as well as these lists. if you need to check them out.

Our game requires students to beat the clock ( not easy) and match the rhyming words before time runs out. We have made this game a little more difficult and included different spellings of the same sounds.

If it is approaching Christmas it may be a useful addition to you English lessons.

https://making-english-fun.itch.io/christmas-rhyme-and-match

Sesame Street: Rhyming Story Book

This is less of a game and more of an interactive story book. Children can choose who they would like to be in the story and what they do. The narration then uses rhyme to tell the story.

It is a good consolidation exercise and could be used to all students to identity the rhyming words in the story and then be allowed to choose the next direction it goes in.

I use it at the end of lessons and students love to change the story each time.

https://pbskids.org/sesame/games/story-book-builder/

If anymore decent ones cross my path i will update this page, and when the rhyming games we are working on are finalised i will add them here as well.

Please check out my other posts on both VR in schools and other educational matters and if you want to know more feel free to email me on info@makingenglishfuncom.wpcomstaging.com or to sign up with the form below.

About the Author

Hi I’m Marc. A teacher of over 15 years, mostly English but dabbled in outdoor pursuits and media. Thought is was about time to sharing both what I have learnt during that time and the resources I have put together. On this site we aim to teach the theory and share our thoughts, but also go that one step further and give you access to the hard resources you need for your class or for you children. Feel free to take a look at our resources, email us on info@makingenglishfuncom.wpcomstaging.com, or jump on the Facebook group to ask questions. Happy learning, teaching or playing!