Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
That is one of many nursery rhymes that we sing at the Baby Toddler Storytime I host at the Valencia Branch. On the surface, you see a room full of people having fun while they sing a well-loved song and wave paper stars in the air. What you do not perceive is that these children are internalizing the sounds vowels and consonants make, they are learning how to put sounds together to make words and they are practicing the rhythm of language. It is so exciting that while engaging in such an enjoyable activity with your child that you are able to also increase literacy skills and introduce your children to new words that they would not hear in everyday language. Consider the words fetch and pail in “Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water”. Nursery rhymes are short and easy to repeat, and have patterns that help children learn easily. Nursery rhymes usually tell a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. This teaches children that events happen in a sequence, and they begin to learn how to understand stories and follow along. My advice to you is to hurry to the library and pick up a couple of nursery rhyme books to share with your child. Happy Rhyming!
My Mother Goose : a Collection of Favorite Rhymes, Songs, and Concepts
by David McPhail
Marc Brown’s Playtime Rhymes: a Treasury for Families to Learn and Play Together
by Marc Tolon Brown
Sylvia Long’s Mother Goose
by Sylvia Long
Here Comes Mother Goose
by Iona Archibald Opie
Dan Yaccarino’s Mother Goose
by Dan Yaccarino
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