16 Nov World Nursery Rhyme Week

As parents of toddlers or pre-schoolers, it’s impossible to escape nursery rhymes! Be it from their books, songs learned at nursery or even on Kids Tube, children love to learn rhymes and to join in with them.

Although they are fun, nursery rhymes actually play a huge part in your child’s early years development.

Cognitive development

• Repetition of rhymes and stories is good for the brain, teaching how language works and building memory capabilities.
• Nursery rhymes help develop inferencing skills, both with encountering new words and in reading comprehension.
• Because these verses are made up of patterns, they are easy first memorization pieces.

Speech

• Nursery rhymes are important for language acquisition and help with speech development.
• They help children develop auditory skills such as discriminating between sounds and developing the ear for the music of words.
• Rhymes like these help kids articulate words, modulate voices (practicing pitch, volume, and inflection) and enunciate clearly by saying them over and over without fear of criticism.
• Nursery rhymes are excellent, the natural choice for a first recitation selection.
• The mouth and tongue muscles are developed as children say these rhymes.
• Listening comprehension is a foundational skill that is often skipped, but nursery rhymes can help ensure this crucial ability (that precedes reading comprehension) is covered.

Creativity

• Nursery rhymes expand children’s imagination.
• They promote creative dramatization when kids act the scenarios out.

History

• These classic verses preserve culture and provide something in common between multiple generations (a good way to bond with grandparents or when meeting new people!)
• Nursery rhymes teach history and connect a child to the past.

Math

• Nursery rhymes are full of patterns, sequencing, numbers, and counting (forward and backward).
• They also discuss size, weight and other important math vocabularies.

Physical

• Since many nursery rhymes involve movement, coordination and physicality are integrated with their readings (Think “Ring Around the Rosey” or “London Bridge.”)
• Coordinating fingerplays are helpful to fine motor skill development.

Social and emotional

• Nursery rhymes develop humour.
• Because of the connection between movement, rhythm, and words, singing these songs can be a great group activity.
• Children can learn social skills from many of the rhymes.
• Nursery rhymes are familiar and can thus provide comfort and support to youngsters in uncomfortable situations.

Finally, nursery rhymes are just plain fun to say!

So, put away that spoon and embrace Mother Goose with open arms! Every time you cringe from hearing “Humpty Dumpty” or “Hey Diddle Diddle,” just remember how important these classics are to your child’s growth!

Have a watch of the following videos of some of your child’s favourite rhymes!