Importance of Nursery Rhymes
Nursery rhymes have been around for centuries and they play a significant role in your child’s development. There are a number of developmental areas that can be influenced by nursery rhymes.
Cognitive Development: Repetition of rhymes and stories is good for improving memory, concentration, spatial intelligence and thinking skills. Nursery rhymes incorporate key caregiver behaviors that help babies acquire language and social engagement. Making eye contact, speaking in exaggerated, sing-song tunes, responsiveness to the infants’ actions, movements or verbalizations and taking turns in “conversation” even before they can talk. When parents gaze at a baby, gently grab his/her big toe, sing “This Little Piggy”, then pause for a coo or babble in response, they are sending communicative, brain building signals even a baby can recognize.
Physical development: When actions are linked to nursery rhyme words, it helps to strengthen motor skills, rhythm and movement for children of all ages. When you hold your baby and dance, they are gaining valuable early exposure to beat and rhythm, which is important for quality of movement. As babies grow, they can begin to follow more actions using fingers, hands, arms and eventually their whole body (stomping, clapping, jumping). These movements support their development of fine and gross motor skills, eye-hand coordination, balance, bilateral coordination and body awareness.
Development of language and literacy skills: Nursery rhymes are important for language acquisition and help with speech development. They help lay a foundation for learning to read and are a great introduction to stories since many contain a beginning, middle and end. They are short and have a sing-songy rhythm which sparks their attention.
Social & emotional development: Nursery rhymes promote social engagement and reciprocal communication. With repetition, they become familiar and can provide comfort and support to babies and toddlers in uncomfortable situations.
Introduction to math concepts: Nursery rhymes are full of patterns, sequencing, numbers and counting-laying the foundation for learning math skills.
Not sure how to incorporate nursery rhymes into your daily routines? Any time you have one on one time with your baby, such as bath time, tummy time, burping time or car rides are perfect moments to sing or read nursery rhymes!
Here is a list of several popular nursery rhymes:
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Humpty Dumpty
Hickory Dickory Dock
Hey Diddle Diddle
Rock-a-bye Baby
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
I’m a Little Teapot
Hush, Little Baby
Rain Rain Go Away
Jack and Jill
The Wheels on the Bus
Pat-a-Cake
Mary Had a Little Lamb