
Children learn many things from nursery rhymes, and the benefits of learning with them as young children can last a lifetime! Keep reading to find out just a few of them, and then download my free Mother Goose and baby gosling craft to make with your children!

So, what do children learn or gain from nursery rhymes?
1. Rich and interesting vocabulary words!
2. The rhythm, and flow of their language.
3. Exposure to rhyming words that helps them develop that all important phonemic awareness, which eventually helps them learn to read and sound out words.
4. A chance to practice speaking the same words CLEARLY- to help avoid speech and articulation problems in the future.
5. Confidence as learners!
6. They start to see themselves as readers when they see the nursery rhymes in print that they have already memorized orally.

Since most nursery rhymes are very short, they are usually fun and easy for preschoolers, pre-kindergartners, and kindergarten children to learn. Of course, setting anything to music makes it so easy to learn, that it’s practically CHEATING! So that’s why I am so thrilled about my new nursery rhymes CD! *Update* And DVD!!! After listening to it here and there, I can honestly tell you that these songs will get stuck in your head- for HOURS, if not DAYS!




Yes people- the learning nursery rhymes with music is just about subliminal! I think you could actually put this CD on in your classroom while the children are doing anything else- such as coloring, playing, building with blocks, etc., and they would start to pick them up without even trying! Of course, adding movements to it makes it even better, no doubt about that! (That’s why the DVD may be a better choice at first!) Check out this new video of my little friends Bella and Raegan performing “Jack & Jill!”

You can download the hand motions for all 28 rhymes here.
I also posted them to SlideShare!

When I decided to make a Mother Goose craft, I also decided that a Mother Goose needs some goslings (baby geese!), so I created a pattern for them, too! I’m in love with how cute they came out!

You can download the patterns shown above, full directions for both the Mother Goose and the little baby gosling right FREE right here. Enjoy! And I hope you will share any pictures of your kids’ projects when you are done!
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A few years ago I read an article that said that how successful a child will be in reading could be determined by how many Nursery Rhymes they knew when they started school. Thinking about all these things that a child learns through Nursery Rhymes, it could be true! We used Nursery Rhymes as the basis for our k-3 Plus program this summer. (BTW, Eric Litwin has a really fun song on one of his CDs named “The Humpty Dumpty Rap.”) Besides sequencing, I introduced character and setting with the Nursery Rhymes. Thanks for this graphic. I am going to post it outside my door…too often anymore we have to explain why we are doing age appropriate activities in Kindergarten!
Wow, that sounds like a neat research article, Buena! I would love to see it!
I’ll have to do some searching.
Thanks for sharing!
Heidi
This is from ERIC:
Nursery Rhymes, Phonological Skills and Reading.
Bryant, P. E.; And Others
Journal of Child Language, v16 n2 p407-28 Jun 1989
Reports on longitudinal data from a group of three- to six-year-olds (N=64) that supports a hypothesis that acquaintance with nursery rhymes positively affects children’s reading ability. Data showed a strong relation between early knowledge of nursery rhymes and success in reading and spelling, despite differences in social background, intelligence quotient, and beginning phonological skills. 27 references. (Author/CB)
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