Tag: Nursery Rhymes

Nursery Rhyme Fun

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Nursery Rhyme Fun (3)

No doubt your toddler has favorite nursery rhymes by about age 2, and probably knows a few of them by heart. Play this game to help with memorization, rhyming, and language learning. It’s perfect for car rides because it’s hands-free and requires no props. Though of course you can play at home, too.

Start a favorite nursery rhyme, but stop before the rhyming word at the end of a sentence. So for example, “Five little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his…” It was her turn to chime in with, “Head!”

We played with other ditties too, “Hickory Dickory Dock.”

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She also loves a song about a little red car, so we recited that one with props to help her chime in with the right word.

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This game can easily be tailored to become more silly. Throw in a few fake verses and see if your toddler catches on to the error, e.g. “Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the chimney”. One word of caution: whenever I do this, it makes Veronika cry! So skip it if your toddler prefers the true version.

Round and Round the Garden

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Round and Round the Garden (1)

I’m on a kick lately of teaching Veronika nursery rhymes and adding props to the fun. Here’s another classic that we did today, which ends with a delightful tickle:

Round and round the garden

With my teddy bear.

One step, two steps,

Tickle him under there!

On the first two lines, circle baby’s palm with a fingertip. On the third line, walk your fingers up baby’s arm. Then end with an armpit tickle!

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You can add this second verse with the same actions:

Round and round the haystack

Runs the little mouse.

One step, two steps,

In his little house!

So to make it hands on, we brought a few stuffed teddy bears into the action! Veronika walked “round and round” with her teddy, dancing around a toy garden set. Needless to say, the props then could keep her busy for solo play while I got things done around the house.

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Nursery Rhyme Productions

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Nursery Productions (2)

Today Veronika and I played around with the classic nursery rhyme of Jack and Jill, not just as rhythmic and musical play, but by also acting it out. This was great both for her gross motor skills and for developing imaginative play. You might even consider it her first theater performance!

First, I simply refreshed her memory about the rhyme, since it’s not one we sing that often:

Jack and Jill went up the hill,

To fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down and broke his crown,

and Jill came tumbling after.

We also watched a cute cartoon version of the song, and then it was time to act out her first role! On the first two lines, I helped her climb up onto a step stool.

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On the last two lines, she climbed down and then filled a bucket with “water” (actually scraps of blue fabric). Torn blue construction paper or blue tissue paper would also work as pretend water.

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Well she absolutely loved this whole process. She wanted to climb up onto the stool over and over, and graduated to doing it without my hand for support.

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Then it was time to work on climbing down “all by self”, too.

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Plus the bucket and fabric scraps were great fun to play with, nursery rhyme or no.

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She enjoyed the game so much that we’ll have to think of which nursery rhyme to use next for Veronika’s second “play”.

 

Five Little Monkeys

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Five Little Monkeys (1)

I often affectionately call my kids “monkey” or “silly monkey” and it’s a moniker that fits giggling toddlers perfectly. Perhaps that’s why toddlers all seem to love the lyrics to Five Little Monkeys! In addition to learning numbers through this counting rhyme, there’s no doubt a thrill to the slightly naughty lyrics. Today, Veronika and I had fun with monkey games in a few ways.

We started out just saying this favorite rhyme:

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed.

One fell off and bumped her head.

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,

“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

Repeat four times, counting down one monkey each time until no monkeys are jumping on the bed.

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To make the game tactile, I pulled out a set of stacking monkeys. Veronika is still too young to balance them with any dexterity, but she loved playing with them while I chanted the song.

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And knocking them down off the bed with each verse. “Bonk!” she said.

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I found another monkey rhyme with slightly strange lyrics, but a similar idea of teaching young kids to count down:

Five little monkeys walked along the shore.

One went a-sailing and then there were four.

 

Four little monkeys climbed up a tree.

One of them tumbled down and then there were three.

 

Three little monkeys found a pot of glue.

One got stuck in it and then there were two.

 

Two little monkeys found a currant bun.

One ran away with it and then there was one.

 

One little monkey cried all afternoon,

So they put him in a plane and flew him to the moon.

The lyrics to this were complicated, but Veronika continued playing with the stacking monkeys all the while, and loved making a monkey “ee ee, oo oo, aah aah” sound.

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We found cartoon versions of both to watch online to end the fun.

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Do you have a favorite rhyme about silly monkeys? Please share in the comments!

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

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Row Your Boat (3)

Row Your Boat is currently one of Veronika’s favorite songs, and I’ve always been partial to it myself. Part nursery rhyme and part song, it extends itself easily to movement play and more.

To start, I simply sang the song. If you need a reminder, here are the simple lyrics:

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the stream.

Merrily merrily merrily merrily.

Life is but a dream.

After singing, we added actions!

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I sat so that Veronika and I were facing each other and took her hands. As we sang, first I pulled her forward, then I leaned toward her so she leaned back. It was magical to watch the siblings giggle and row together!

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To reinforce the concept of a “boat” (which is not something we see daily around here!) I pulled out a few floating toys. Veronika loved playing with them in a shallow basin.

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You can always check out animated versions of the song online, too. You’ll likely encounter silly verses. An elephant wearing jeans? A lion eating green beans? Then see if you can make up your own, which is guaranteed to make your toddler laugh!

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Musical Nursery Rhyme Dance Party

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We’re filling a snow day today, which made it the perfect day to set aside some quality time for musical play.

Of course you can always just grab an instrument and play, and in that vein, I laid out every instrument we had at home.

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For some more structured fun, I went through a repertoire of nursery rhymes with Veronika! We started out with Where is Thumbkin. I held up my fingers for the verses, as she played along on the maracas.

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Next up was Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. Make sure to touch each body part, and shake an instrument in between verses!

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The Itsy BItsy Spider was fun with a rain stick for the rain.

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Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star was beautiful on cymbals.

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You’ll probably find that there’s a perfect instrument for each song! For example, bang or rub on a drum for Pat-a-Cake. Or you can simply get up and dance, as I did for The Hokey Pokey while she looked up at me and laughed!

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We added other favorites like Wheels on the Bus, If You’re Happy and You Know It, and I’m a Little Teapot.

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Whatever instrument strikes your little one’s fancy is just fine; there’s no wrong way to play this game. Or simply pick him or her up and dance! This is a great way to pass some time with a one-year-old at home.

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This Little Piggy… and Rabbit?

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“This Little Piggy” is a favorite and anticipated game around here now for Veronika, especially since she’s at an age where she can anticipate that tickle under the chin. Today, we mixed it up with other animals. First she had piggy toes, of course.

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And a big tickle!

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But then she had… ducky toes?

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And bunny toes!

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What other silly versions of “This Little Piggy” do you and your baby play? Please share in the comments!

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Horsey Ride

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Here’s a fun way to add a sensory element to a favorite nursery rhyme! Using the classic Ride-a-Cock-Horse as inspiration, I threaded small jingle bells onto a silver ribbon for Veronika. Make sure to secure these tightly, either by knotting the ribbon once finished or even sewing the bells on so no bells can come loose. This is especially true if your baby tends to put things in his or her mouth.

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As I recited the rhyme, I jingled the bells for her.

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Touch them to your baby’s fingers on the word “fingers” and toes on the word “toes” as you go through the rhyme:

Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross

to see a fine lady upon a white horse.

With rings on her fingers

and bells on her toes

she shall have music wherever she goes.

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We also turned this into a bouncy lap ride. Have fun playing around with the lyrics as your little once bounces on your knee and listens to the bells. Since Veronika was all in pink today, our horse was a pink horse instead of a white one!

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You can also substitute your baby’s name for the word “lady”.

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Humpty Dumpty Goes Round the Garden

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Humpty Dumpty (2)

The actions are getting bigger when I play with Veronika and nursery rhymes! As the mash-up in this post’s title suggests, here are a couple we’ve been having fun with lately:

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First comes the classic Humpty Dumpty. For this one, I sat on the floor with my knees bent, and Veronika on my tummy.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty together again!

As you say the rhyme, tilt your baby off your tummy on the word “fall”. You’ll want to do this on a soft rug, or have a pillow near you. Or even try it outside in the grass!

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For the second, we did an update on Round and Round the Garden.

Round and round the garden

Like a teddy bear.

One step, two steps,

And tickle him under there!

When she was little, I would circle on Veronika’s palm. Now her whole belly gets a circle.

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Walk your fingers two big “steps” up baby’s torso.

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Then end with a tickle under the chin!

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Baker’s Baby

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Today, I played a little game with Veronika involving the classic rhyme Pat-a-Cake, but in subtly new ways.

First, I sat her on my lap. Instead of clapping my hands, this time I clapped hers along  to the first verse. As a reminder, say:

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake baker’s man

Bake me a cake as fast as you can

Roll ’em and roll ’em and mark ‘e with a B…

(Here, I rolled her arms, and then traced a little B in her palm. Alternatively, trace the first letter of your child’s name).

And toss ’em in the oven for baby and me.

Point to your child on the word ‘baby’, of course, and to yourself on ‘me’.

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Then I lay her on her back and repeated these motions with her feet, clapping them together, cycling her legs, and tracing the B onto a little foot.

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She loved it!

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For a little extra baker’s fun, I gave her a toy bowl and rubber spatula to play with.

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Mixing up a familiar nursery rhyme in subtle ways like this is great for baby’s brain. Or as an alternative, don’t forget to seek out new rhymes!