Why Nursery Rhymes are Important

Let’s talk about the importance of nursery rhymes today!

This is the last post in my 7-day series, 3 Important Skills Needed for Reading. {There are also a lot of free online resources available in each post!}

I’ve spent all week in phonological/phonemic awareness “land.”

Today, I want to wrap a big bow on all of it. Rhyming, syllables, and phonemes can be worked on out of context. There are many rhyming games you can play, for instance, that help learners with rhyming words.

But we do not want to forsake using all of these skills in real reading and real literature. Books and rhymes are a great way to integrate these vital skills into real reading.

Why Nursery Rhymes are Important

Reciting and learning nursery rhymes with your child can actually help him develop the foundational skills he needs to begin reading!

Reading research has long shown that nursery rhymes help to develop phonological and phonemic awareness in young children.

In other words, nursery rhymes (and other kinds of rhyming texts such as Dr. Seuss, poetry, and music) can help kids develop an ear for the sounds and manipulation of those sounds within words.

Here is a great quote from that Yopp & Yopp article I’ve been referring to this entire series:

…songs, chants, and word-sound games are ideally suited toward developing young children’s sensitivity to the sound structure of language.  Word play, nursery or Dr. Seuss rhymes, and general exposure to storybooks contribute to phonemic awareness.”

–Supporting Phonemic Awareness Development in the Classroom by Yopp & Yopp (The Reading Teacher; Vol. 54, No. 2)

This why I now have a Nursery Rhymes Activity Pack for younger learners. It’s chock full of hands-on activities that get kids learning about phonemic awareness!

Years ago, I decided to re-write some of them with a Christian-theme for my own toddler at home. In just a few days, I had adapted 15 nursery rhymes. You can snag a free copy by clicking on the post below:

15 FREE Christian Nursery Rhymes – Click HERE to read or download those!

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this 7-day series and are full of ideas now for teaching your littlest learners. If you’re looking for more reading readiness activities and printables, I encourage you to click on the image below to see all that we have here on the blog:

Find ALL our Reading Readiness printables.

 

Enjoy teaching!
~Becky