Rhymes with Reason: Nursery Rhymes are Educational

Raise your hand if you can still remember your favorite nursery rhyme from childhood! While they may seem like silly little rhymes that have no reason, these verses are very important to helping your child develop a strong vocabulary and a strong base for when they begin reading.

Phonetic Awareness and Language Acquisition

Children learn to talk by listening. Nursery rhymes are a fun way to incorporate talking and listening.  Your child will listen to different sounds of the words as you recite or read nursery rhymes.  Listening comprehension precedes reading comprehension.

Story Comprehension

Stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Nursery rhymes tell a story too. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end in a short amount of time. Toddlers have a short attention span. Most nursery rhymes are thirteen seconds long.

Dramatic Play

Children may know and do the hand gestures to nursery rhymes like Itsy Bitsy Spider and Pat-a-cake. Five Little Monkeys and Five Little Ducks also lend themselves to dramatic play. A child who cannot yet verbalize the nursery rhymes can listen and join along with the hand gestures.

Introducing Math Concepts

Nursery rhymes like Five Little Monkeys and Five Little Ducks can introduce addition and subtraction. Nursery rhymes can bridge concepts and comprehension. It is a fun song for the child and it will help when math is introduced.

“Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they’re four years old, they’re usually among the best readers by the time they’re eight.” – Mem Fox, author of Hattie and the Fox

All five branches of the Citrus County Library System offer fun early literacy programs. For our youngest readers you could attend Books & Babies at 10:00 AM, Monday to Thursday at different branches. Then, for toddlers and preschoolers we offer Little Learners at 11:00 AM, Monday to Thursday at different branches. We would love for you and your littles to join us at one of these special story times!

Check out the online calendar at attend.citruslibraries.org/events, or you can call or visit your nearest branch to learn about the programs offered there. If you’re looking to stay in-the-know about all things happening at your nearest branch, you can follow @CitrusLibraries on Facebook and Instagram.