Rhyming on the Run

It’s funny how when your toddler or pre-schooler asks you to sing a song, you can’t think of any or you forget all the words! Having all your favourite songs quickly at hand can be a real help. Why not copy this list and place in a protective cover and put it on the pinup board or make a colourful "songs we know" chart and put it up on a wall in your child’s room. I even like to keep a copy handy in the car for Grandparents to use when I'm busy driving!

We use nursery rhymes in early childhood education because research consistently shows that children who have memorised many nursery rhymes become better readers. Recite these rhymes with soft and loud voices, happy and sad voices. Sing the rhymes, march to their rhythms, and often pantomime their actions. Nursery rhymes are an important part of our literary heritage. Many have survived since the time of Shakespeare. Children continue to love these rhymes because of their delightful rhythm, nonsense, and imagery!Memorising rhymes, songs, and verses is a strategy that will give your child a storehouse of language to call upon when he is asked to fluently read, write and speak the English language.

Twinkle Twinkle
Twinkle twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are

Up above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky

Twinkle twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are

Round and Round the Garden
Round and round the garden

Like a teddy bear

One step, two step

Tickle him (her) under there

Eensy Weensy Spider
Eensy weensy spider climbed up the water spout

Down came the rain and washed poor Eensy out

Out came the sunshine

And dried up all the rain

And Eensy weensy spider

Climbed up the spout again.

Ring a Ring a Rosies
Ring a ring a rosies, a pocket full of posies,

A tissue, a tissue, we all fall down

When our mother calls us we all jump up

Three Jelly Fish
Three jelly fish, (rpt)

Three jelly fish sitting on a rock

One fell off (OH!)

Two jelly fish……

One jelly fish……

No jelly fish…… one jumped on.

HOORAY

Five Fat Sausages
Five fat sausages sizzling in the pan

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, (rub hands together) and one went bang! (clap!)
Four fat sausages………

This is the Way We
This is the way we go to bed, go to bed, go to bed

This is the way we go to bed, it’s time to go to sleep. (sweep, jump, dress, clap, wave, etc)

My Hands Are Clapping
My hands are clapping, clapping, clapping

My hands are clapping just like this. (Repeat with: arms waving, feet stamping, head nodding, legs marching, etc.)

I Went To Visit A Farm
I went to visit a farm one day

I saw a cow across the way

And what do you think I heard it say?

Moo, moo, moo. (repeat, using different animals/sounds)

If you’re happy and you know it
If you’re happy and you know it

Clap your hands (rpt all)

If you’re happy and you know it

Then you really ought to show it

If you’re happy and you know it

Clap your hands (If you’re sad have a cry, If you’re angry stamp your feet)

Roley poly

Roley poly, ever so slowly, ever so slowly,

Roley poly, faster, faster, faster, faster, STOP!

The wheels on the bus
The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round.

The wheels on the bus go round and Round, all the way to town

The driver on the bus says "tickets please".

The babies on the bus cry, boo hoo hoo.

The parent’s on the bus go, shh, shh, shh.

Take you riding in my car
Take you riding in my car, car (rpt x 3)

Take you riding in my car.

Engine it goes brmm, brmm (rpt x 3)

Horn it goes beep, beep

Windscreen wipers go swish, swish

I have two eyes to see with
I have two eyes to see with

I have two feet to run

I have two hands to wave with

A nose I have but one

I have two ears to hear with

A tongue to say g’day

And two red cheeks for you to kiss

And now I’ll run away.

5 Currant Buns
5 current buns in the baker’s shop

Round and fat with a cherry on the top

Along came (child) with some money one day

Bought a current bun and took it away.
4 current buns………

Miss Polly had a dolly
Miss Polly had a dolly who was sick, sick, sick

So she called for the doctor to come quick, quick, quick

The doctor came with his bag and his hat

And he knocked on the door with a Rat-a-tat-tat

He looked at the dolly and he shook his head

He said "Miss Polly put her straight to bed"

He wrote on the paper for a pill, pill, pill,

"I’ll be back in the morning, yes I will will will"

Glumph went the little green frog
Glumph went the little green frog one day

Glumph went the little green frog

Glumph went the little green frog one day

And it’s eyes went glumph, glumph, glumph

But we all know frogs go la-dee-da-dee-da la-dee-da-dee-da, la-dee-da-dee-da

We all know frogs go la-dee-da-dee-da

They don’t go glumph, glumph, glumph.

Clap your hands
Clap your hands, clap them so

Make it fast, make it slow

Clap up high, clap down low,

Clap your hands like me

Here is the bee hive
Here is the bee hive, but where are the bees?

Hiding away where nobody sees

Watch them come creeping out of the hive

One, two, three, four, five.

Teddy bear, teddy bear
Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around

Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground

Teddy bear, teddy bear, stand on your head,

Teddy bear, teddy bear, go to bed

Teddy bear, teddy bear, wake up now

Teddy bear, teddy bear, take your bow.

Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Head and shoulders, knees and toes knees and toes, knees and toes

Head and shoulders, knees and toes We all clap hands together. (Eyes and ears and mouth and nose…)

Roley poly, Roley poly
Roley poly, Roley poly, up, up, up

Roley poly, Roley poly, out, out, out

Roley poly, Roley poly, clap, clap, clap

Roley poly, Roley poly, lay them in your lap.

I'm A Little Tea Pot

I'm a little teapot, short and stout.

Here is my handle; here is my spout.

When I get all steamed up, hear me shout

Just tip me over and pour me out.

I'm a Little Teapot! (2007) sets up pretend play. Kubler paints toddlers in togs that mimic the colors of a teapot. They are the teapot! Tottering two-year-olds stand on one foot and bend: Tip me up, and pour me out! Balance skills! At book's end, a tea party.


Below are some fun activities that you can link with the rhyme
I'm a Little Tea Pot:


Craft Activity: Show your child a tea bag and tear it open and show them the leaves. Brew some tea and make it strong. Get busy painting with the undiluted tea.


Role Play: Sit with your child and have a pretend tea party. Make some sandwiched together to have with your pretend tea.

Numeracy:

1. Find different tea cups and saucers and get your child to match the cups with the correct saucers.
2. Pairs of items that are tall and short - tall teapot, short teapot; ta;; flower, short flower; tall glass, short glass etc

Water Play: Fill your water tray, baby bath, sand shell (anything that you can use to put water in) and fill it with teapots with different-sized spouts and different sized cups. This will allow your child to explore pouring water into cups, great for hand-eye co-ordination.

Cooking: Decorate tick-tock biscuits with marshmallows, freckles and half a pink mint roller (as the handle). These are so cute and quick and easy to make. Mix up a little icing and give your little one an ice block stick to use to apply the icing.

The Value of Nursery Rhymes

I'm a little teapot, short and stout.

Here is my handle; here is my spout.

When I get all steamed up, hear me shout

Just tip me over and pour me out.

Great literature? Perhaps not. Yet, this deceptively simple rhyme contains the basic building blocks of literature: character, plot, setting, and point of view. Nursery rhymes are your child's first venture into the joy of story and reading. They're short, catchy, and they stick in your brain, making them more portable than picture books.

When my own children are restless, I calm and refocus them quickly with their favourite rhymes. Is baby bored and fussy in the store? I quietly sing the teapot song and he stops to listen and watch. Is my toddler bouncing off the walls? I turn that bounce into a game as we jump over Jack Be Nimble's candlestick together. My preschoolers attention span for longer stories grows rapidly because he's already enjoyed the brief adventures of the Itsy Bitsy Spider and friends.

Nursery rhymes and songs are the perfect vehicle to begin building vocabulary and structure. Though their subject matter sometimes offends modern sensibilities, their timeless appeal rests in their visual imagery and catchy rhythm and rhyme. With so many to chose from, anyone can find a few favourites.

Children are born with a love of rhythm and rhyme, music and song and so why not base activities around a weekly Nursery Rhyme Theme that truly brings the rhyme to life for your child. Each week I am going to blog activities for a rhyme that will allow your little one to experience and enjoy. Nursery Rhymes provide opportunities for:

• Nursery rhymes introduce memorable characters with defining moments. Old King Cole is a merry old soul. Little Miss Muffet suffers from arachnophobia. The Itsy Bitsy Spider defies the elements to climb that waterspout.


• Nursery rhymes excite us with action and suspense. Little Bo-Peep loses her sheep. Will she ever get them back? Jack and Jill climb up and fall down a hill. Humpty Dumpty falls off the wall and cannot be repaired. These rhymes are dramas in miniature with conflict and resolution.


• Nursery rhymes explore familiar spaces or transport us to faraway places. Mary's little lamb follows her to school. Old MacDonald's farm is filled with noisy animals. London Bridge falls down. Familiar rhymes encourage the imagination and create connections between your child and his growing world. A child raised with Star Light Star Bright and Hey Diddle Diddle will be curious about the lights in the night sky.


• Nursery rhymes encourage children to playact. When Jack jumps over the candlestick, we all jump with him. Who can resist falling down at the end of Ring Around the Rosy? Even baby gets into the act when you ham it up while identifying each little piggy. These early experiences set the stage for later imaginary play, an important part of child development.


• Nursery rhymes introduce the rhythms of poetry and the fun of playful language. Academically, Hickory, Dickory, Dock has a specific meter and structure, but don't focus on that. The good stuff is in the playfulness of this poem. Peter Piper is packed with alliteration, but its appeal lies in the challenge of saying it without stumbling over the pickled peppers. Nursery rhymes remain popular because they're fun to recite to each new generation.

However, the best reason to rhyme is not for instructional value, but to share the joy of story for its own sake. Read or recite your favourites with animation and your child will join in with a smile. As he grows older, leave off or change the ending of a familiar verse and hear your child fill in the blanks. Make it an ever-changing game. Share a playful rhyme with your children and create a bond that shows them that you love them. What could be better than that?