Why We Need Nursery Rhymes

Amongst much discussion which even involved the Chief Inspector of Ofsted, we are left to decide whether there’s any worth in the age-old verse of nursery rhyme. Of course there is! And as some think they may be on the decline, let me tell you a story… about why they should remain a core part of your communication with your children.

Nursery rhymes represent family bonding as you introduce your children to the songs of your childhood. Just start the words: ‘Incey wincey spider…’ and you’d be hard pushed to find a person who couldn’t finish it. You as the parent, your parents as grandparents and your children will all engage in some wonderful, repetitive phrasing which is key to its success.

Through repetition of rhymes, a child gradually learns words, but also communication skills: think about the expressions we use; the verbal cues of rhythms ending and beginning; the conjunction of speech, movement and coexisting. You can’t sing ‘Couldn’t put Humpty together again’, without an expression; ‘Tickle you under your arm’ is an amazing culmination of anticipation; ‘Row, row, row your boat’ a wonderful, comfortable togetherness for a child sitting inside someone’s arms and legs as the ocean is rowed on the sitting room carpet!

In an age of devices, ‘Round the Mulberry Bush’ and ‘Atishoo, atishoo, we all fall down’ represent great ways of getting children physical and moving, with you or their friends. March with full joy for ‘The Grand Old Duke’ and squeeze in some numbers too please! ‘This little piggy went to market’ isn’t about turning vegetarian when you’re 18 months old, but about affection and the amazement of moving your toes independently to each other!

Count away with the best of them, from ‘Five Little Ducks’ and ‘There were five in the bed and the little one said…’, to ‘One, two, buckle my shoe’. Now that one offers an incredibly complicated system of separating the number sequences too. So any child reciting that one deserves a medal. Remember that the system of reciting, learning to memory and repeating is a great skill for school and beyond of course. It’s the way your child will be likely to learn many things, including their times tables.

And of course, school and their first classrooms may well be where your early teaching of social interactions gives them the best early education they could have, as they join in groups with friends and pupils playing alongside whilst repeating the nursery rhymes they know best.