Have the child help you find another rhyming word. You could say: “Let’s think of another word that sounds like ‘room’ and ‘broom’. How about ‘zoom’? ‘Zoom’ sounds like ‘room’ and ‘broom’. ‘Zoom,’‘room’ and ‘broom’ all rhyme. They all sound the same at the end of the word.

Many children won’t yet be able to produce a rhyme – that’s fine! Exposing them to the idea of rhyming words will build their sound awareness. Offer many of your own examples of rhyming words before expecting them to come up with their own the first time you introduce the “Listen… and find one like it” game. The first time you read the book: When reading (or singing) with children, point out rhyming words. If you’re reading Room on the Broom, you could say: “Listen, ‘room’ and ‘broom’ rhyme – they sound the same at the end. Listen. ‘Room’. ‘Broom’. Helping children understand that words can be broken down into individual sounds is called sound awareness or “phonological awareness”. This is an essential skill that leads to better reading and writing later on. One of the first signs of a child developing sound awareness is their recognition of rhymes. We use a strategy called “Listen… and Find One Like It” to help children tune in to words that start (alliteration) or end (rhyme) with the same sound. You can point out other rhymes that you may have missed during the second reading. For example, in the book the author rhymes ‘frog’ and ‘dog’ on several occasions. Point out that rhyme in exactly the same way as you did for ‘spat’ and ‘gone’ and see what rhyming words the child can come up with. Room on the Broom Halloween Edition is the ideal Halloween gift for young children, with the full classic story, tips for hosting your very own Room on the Broom Halloween party and some spooky things to make and do: create a truly magnificent witch's hat and bake some cheese wands – so delicious they'll disappear in a flash!You can also try to make up your own rhyme. Here’s an example of a rhyme that one of the children I worked with created:

Celebrate Halloween with the witch and her friends in this special edition of the bestselling classic Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, with a stunning neon orange cover and lots of fun extras!Since the child has now heard many rhyme examples, for the “find one like it” part of the strategy, you can ask him or her to come up with a word. You can say “Can you think of another word that rhymes with ‘frog’ and ‘dog’?” Then wait to see if they attempt to fill in a word. If you wait (for five to ten seconds) and your child doesn’t respond, then you can help them by saying “What about ‘log’?”. “’Frog,’‘dog’, and ‘log’ all sound the same at the end – they all rhyme.” Room on the Broom is an engaging tale with great illustrations, and the entire story is told in one long rhyme, which makes it a perfect match for the Hanen strategy “Listen… and Find One Like It”– a fun technique to build children’s sound awareness. As you read, you can pause before the second rhyming word (“hat” in this example) to see if your child wants to try to fill in the missing word. The second time you read the book: