If you're a parent, grandparent, aunt, or pretty much any person with ears - you've heard a nursery rhyme a time or two. They seem so simple, but do you know the importance of nursery rhymes for young children? You'd be surprised just how much brain development is happening as we repeat these repetitive rhymes. I'm going to break this down with not only the benefits of nursery rhymes, but also a list of nursery rhymes, how to make nursery rhymes more fun, and even some nursery rhymes activities to enjoy. Keep reading!
Scroll down for our list of nursery rhyme activities.
PS: You can find our Nursery Rhyme BUNDLE in the shop with nursery rhyme posters and playdough mats!
As parents we can grow tired of repeating nursery rhymes over, and over, and over, and over, and - you get the idea. It grows old real fast! But here's the thing: repeating those nursery rhymes is so good for our little one's brain development. (Don't worry, I'll explain below.)
So while you're ready to pull your hair out at repeating "Row, row, row your boat" for the 86th time - your child is really benefiting. Plus, I'll include some ways to make it a bit more fun and mix things up below! Just keep reading.
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Benefits of nursery rhymes
First things first - what is the importance of nursery rhymes? The biggest benefit of nursery rhymes is that it develops language and the skills needed to learn to read. (How cool is that?)
But more specifically, you'll find that nursery rhymes provide the following benefits.
Develops language: Children need to be exposed to spoken language early on and singing nursery rhymes is a great way of doing this. As your child listens to nursery rhymes and they hear the sounds in the words that are sung to them, they will start to figure out how to put sounds and then words together (so make sure you're singing lots of them to your babies!).
They will also pick up on pitch, rhythm, and voice inflection and can start to explore trying out different pitches and volumes. They may also pick up new vocabulary and sentences that they otherwise don't hear in normal conversation. (How often do you really talk about rowing a boat?) They will also feel less pressure as they learn how to get their words out while singing along.
Learn basic math: Many nursery rhymes will recite some basic math skills such as counting forwards or backwards. For example, Five Little Speckled Frogs will teach counting and subtracting as each frog jumps into the water and you're left with one less frog. Some songs also talk about weight and size, as well.
Develop literacy skills: Nursery rhymes can help kids learn to read! They learn sequence, vocabulary, sentence structure, and more. In fact, there are a great variety of pre-reading skills you can introduce with nursery rhymes. Nursery rhymes are also great for teaching children to follow instructions and for introducing them to rhyming and poetry.
Sparks the creative mind: Nursery rhymes encourage acting out via dramatic play, so your child is further developing creativity. This also means they will develop a strong sense of self and confidence as they express themselves without pressure. When you match this with finger play, they will develop their creativity even farther. Many nursery rhymes are relatable to young children, but singing about things beyond their own experiences will help them explore the world around them and in turn help them become more imaginative.
Gross motor development: As they repeat the words in nursery rhymes, they will work the muscles in their tongue and mouths. Many nursery rhymes involve actions that require children to get up and move, so whilst singing they are also learning to move and co-ordinate their bodies. Should they choose to engage in dramatic play as well, they will be using other muscles throughout their body too!
Explore their environment: For babies, nursery rhymes can also help them explore and learn more about the environment around them. They learn about different facial expressions, what they mean, look for emotional cues, and much more. (So make sure you fake cry as you sing about babies crying along to Wheels on the Bus!)
Builds memory: As children learn the songs and the movements that go with them, they are developing memory. Everything from what happens in the rhyme to what words come next. The repeated phrases and rhythmic pattern of these rhymes make them easy for toddlers and preschoolers to remember.
How many nursery rhymes should your child know?
The next question after the benefits that you might have is how MANY should you be putting your effort into reciting? Well.... how every many you want, really. Don't stress on this too much.
Children will naturally pick up all kinds of nursery rhymes as they hear them. However, experts have found that if your child knows 8 by heart by the time they are 4 years of age, they tend to be the top of their class as far as reading and spelling goes when they hit year 3 (or 1st grade for US readers).
But don't worry, those will develop over time. Nursery rhymes should be sung for fun as much as anything. I'll even supply you with a list of nursery rhymes!
List of nursery rhymes suggestions
If you're wanting to introduce some more nursery rhymes, this list should help. Please note that these are not exclusive to each age group, you can definitely sing baby nursery rhymes to preschoolers if they're interested!
List of nursery rhymes for babies
For babies gentle lullabies or simple action rhymes are perfect.
- Hush, Little Baby
- Rock-A-Bye-Baby
- Round and Round the Garden
- This little piggy
- If You're Happy And You Know It
- Zoom Zoom Zoom
List of nursery rhymes for toddlers and preschoolers
- Old MacDonald Had a Farm
- The Wheels on the Bus
- Five Little Ducks
- 12345 Once I Caught a Fish Alive
- Ten Fat Sausages
- Five Currant Buns in a Bakers Shop
- Hickory Dickory Dock
- Ba Ba Black Sheep
- Humpty Dumpty
- Row Row Your Boat
- Little Miss Muffet
- Jack and Jill Went up the Hill
- Five Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed
- Miss Polly Had a Dolly
- Mary Mary Quite Contrary
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- Itsy Bitsy Spider
- Five Little Speckled Frogs
- Alphabet Song (a popular song reciting the letters)
- Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
- Rain Rain Go Away
- It's raining, It's Pouring
- Mulberry Bush
- Pat-A-Cake
- Bingo (B-I-N-G-O)
- I'm a Little Teapot
- Johny Johny
- Little Bo Peep
- Mary Had a Little Lamb
- Two Little Dickie Birds
- Horsey Horsey
- The Bear Went Over The Mountain
- This Old Man
- Skip To My Lou
- The Muffin Man
- Three Blind Mice
- The Farmer in the Dell
- Old King Cole
- London Bridge is Falling Down
- Old King Cole
- Frere Jacques
How to make nursery rhymes more fun
We can now agree that there are huge benefits of nursery rhymes, but that doesn't change how monotone they can become. That's where it's time to make them a bit more fun!
You can spice up your nursery rhymes and make them a bit more fun in a few ways:
- Act out the nursery rhymes with props or explore nursery rhyme related items.
- Utilise finger play while you sing the nursery rhymes
- Change up the words and see if they notice (or encourage them to have fun changing the words up themselves).
- Play fun videos from YouTube or Netflix (such as Little Baby Bum)
- Seek out activities and printables to do along with the nursery rhymes (see below)
Nursery rhyme activities
We have quite a few nursery rhyme activities here on the blog as well as a printables. If you'd like to check out our Nursery Rhyme BUNDLE, it includes playdough mats and posters for 17 different popular Nursery Rhymes!
We also have a set of nursery rhyme choosing cards that are great for letting children choose which nursery rhyme they would like to sing or for displaying the nursery rhyme of the day or week. Click here to head to the shop and check out all our nursery rhyme printables!
In addition to the nursery rhyme printables in our shop, you can check out these other activities below.
Old MacDonald Story Stones: You can use these story stones to let them "build a farm" or use them as you sing along to Old MacDonald to choose the next animal!
Wheels on the Bus Painting Activity: Pair this famous nursery rhyme with painting! It's such a fun and engaging activity.
Five Little Ducks Craft: This craft is so cute and a great way to learn to count while singing the popular Five Little Ducks nursery rhyme.
Frog Puppet Craft: This cute craft goes great along with speckled frog. You can use them to really illustrate each one jumping into the water!
Farm Animal Paper Craft: Sing along and glue down each animal as you go through the different verses. This is such a cute craft for the nursery rhyme Old Mac Donald had a Farm!
Little Bo Peep Name Hunt: Help kids learn their name while including this fun nursery rhyme all about little bo peep!
Incy Wincy Spider Craft: After you make this cute spider, you can act out the nursery rhyme! Harry sure loved acting out the spider going down the spout when he was younger.
Magnetic Fishing Number Game: Sing along to 1234 Once I Caught A Fish Alive as you play this fun counting game. Great for kids learning basic math skills!
I hope this helped you understand the importance of nursery rhymes and gave you some good ideas to make them even more exciting! Babies, toddlers, preschoolers really enjoy them and they are so good for their development. The included list of nursery rhymes is sure to help you get started if you haven't already. And don't forget to check out the Nursery Rhyme Printables from our shop!
If you are looking for more activity ideas for babies and toddlers check out our list of baby painting and toddler painting ideas.
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