Preschool Songs and Nursery Rhymes

• Games with Rhymes and Rhythm Activities
• Preschool Fingerplays and Action Rhymes
• Counting Rhymes
• Teatime Rhymes, Bedtime Rhymes
• Tongue Twisters and Fun with Words
• More Nursery Rhymes A-Z

Fall / Autumn Songs and Nursery Rhyme Activities

Winter Preschool Songs and Rhymes

Music Appreciation

The Benefits of Preschool Songs and Nursery Rhymes

1. Nursery rhymes, poems and songs will provide your children with opportunities to develop an appreciation for rhyme and rhythm, as well as to develop their memory and auditory skills .

2. Research in the field of early childhood development and reading has shown that children who struggle to recognise words that rhyme, often have difficulty in learning to read. Hence the importance of familiarizing children with rhymes and preschool songs.

3. The rhythm of songs, poems and rhymes help children to remember the words and helps to develop auditory memory skills .

It has been said that the golden age for memory is between ages 6-9. At this age a child can memorize more quickly and remember for longer than at any other time in his life (Raymond Moore, Better Late Than Early, p197). I have also heard it said that children, who cannot yet read, remember better than their peers who can read, as the non-readers cannot refer back to the text for information but have to remember everything they have seen or heard.

4. Listening is an important skill to encourage – and it is an important step towards one day learning to read.

5. Poems and verses use words to paint word pictures and nursery rhymes help to activate that awareness.

6. While you read, sing, play and act out nursery rhymes together you are conveying to your children that sounds make words and that words are fun!

7. Nursery rhymes also help children to appreciate and develop an understanding of humour.

8. Since many nursery rhymes also include mathematical concepts, like counting, time, height, measurement, position, volume, weather, temperature etc… you should use them as opportunities to develop vocabulary around these concepts.

9. Fingerplay rhymes and clapping songs are a delightful way to help children develop motor skills and co-ordination .

10. The intriguing and fanciful stories, colourful characters and vivid language of nursery rhymes and preschool songs have fascinated children for centuries and helped expand their imaginations. People who live in shoes, dishes that run, eggs that sit on walls – what an enchanting introduction to the world of literature, storytelling, play-acting and make-believe.

11. Since there are always new children, there is never a need for new preschool songs and nursery rhymes. Children and their parents have kept them alive for centuries and maintained them as an integral part of our language and cultural heritage.

“Nursery rhymes live on as common to memory as the season, and as familiar to children even as the rain and spring flowers.” (John Clare, poet, 1825)

Invest in Nursery Rhymes and Poetry

My favourite book of poetry (and my children’s too) is a well-worn and much-loved book that I received as a gift on my seventh birthday in the 1970’s! Like Nursery Rhymes, it has the most beautiful colour illustrations on every page. It is Hilda Boswell’s Treasury of Poetry, Collins, 1968. You might still find this treasure in your library.

I would encourage you to shop around and also invest in a good quality book of poetry for your children, with pictures that they will grow to love. This you should read at your leisure in the days and years to come.

Many of the songs included in the children’s bible lessons of Mothers Teach Your Babies and Toddlers the Bible, also known as Babies’ Bible Class, are set to the tunes of well-known nursery rhymes and songs. Not only will your little ones be learning rhymes and songs, but also having their hearts saturated with Biblical truth!


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Preschool Songs and Nursery Rhyme Lists

• Games with Rhymes and Rhythm Activities
• Preschool Fingerplays and Action Rhymes
• Counting Rhymes
• Teatime Rhymes, Bedtime Rhymes
• Tongue Twisters and Fun with Words
• More Nursery Rhymes A-Z

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