Preschool children may not fully understand the concept of rhyme, but they can learn to apply it nonetheless. Have the children clap a beat as steadily as they can, and while they keep this beat, chant a child's name and words that rhyme with it. Make up rhymes when you run out of real words. After chanting about eight rhyming words, move on to another child's name, and so on until you have chanted the names of all the students. When students want to participate, let them try to rhyme on their own; if they have not quite grasped the idea, chant with them to guide them.
Help children learn to recognize beginning consonants of words by teaching them alliterative tongue twisters and phrases, such as "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" or "Timmy Timble tripped the turtle." Make printouts with the words written in large block letters, the alliterative sounds in a larger font than the rest, and pictures of the characters in the phrase. Have the children point to each word on their pages as you read the phrase aloud, then let them color the pictures.
Have children sit with their eyes closed while you read or recite familiar phrases from nursery rhymes or stories. Occasionally change a word or phrase so that it differs from what the children expect to hear and no longer makes sense. Ask the children to listen for these changes and tell you when they hear one. When the class identifies a changed word, ask individuals or the class as a whole what has changed. Some examples would be to say "Baa baa black goat," "Hey diddle fiddle" or "Jill and Jack went up the hill."
Teach children to count syllables in words by clapping out the syllables in their own names. Model this by using example names of different lengths; begin with a one-syllable name like "Sam," progress to a two-syllable name like "Stacy," and then shift to a longer name like "Elizabeth." After each name, ask the children how many syllables they had heard. When they begin to understand, have them clap out their own names and count the syllables. Revisit this later on when you are reading to them by having them clap out the syllables in a line from the story.