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It’s never too soon to start thinking about your baby’s development. Babies learn, develop and absorb information every minute of every day, so it is important to engage and stimulate your child early on. Singing nursery rhymes with your child is an excellent activity that promotes mental and physical development and nurtures the quality time you spend with them.
In a 2009 study on the impact that nursery rhymes have on literacy and reading skills, it was found that children being sensitive to and aware of rhyme and alliteration before they go to school played a causal role in their reading skills later on in life. This study took account of differences, like social background and I.Q., so this causal role that nursery rhymes have within children’s reading skills is completely universal across all young children. This highlights the impact engaging your child in fun and stimulating activities from a very young age will have in their future education.
Improves Their Literacy and Auditory Skills
One of the major ways singing nursery rhymes with your child impacts their development is by improving their literacy and auditory skills. Nursery rhymes use rhythm and language patterns extensively, so they encourage your child to spot these patterns and develop their linguistic awareness.
By singing nursery rhymes with your child, the rhymes and rhythm within the verses will help develop your child’s auditory skills, as they learn to articulate the words and listen to your voice changing in volume, pitch and inflection. This animated storytelling is vital to their speech development and will encourage them to explore this sense of rhythm. As the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY) state, nursery rhymes ‘are a powerful learning source in early literacy and enable children to become interested in the rhythm and patterns of language.’
PACEY also sings the praises of nursery rhymes’ combined impact on both literacy and memory skills, commenting that ‘they often feature a pleasing rhythmic pattern and simple repetitive phrases that babies and young children find easy to remember and repeat.’ Nursery rhymes often repeat phrases which in turn improves your child’s memory capabilities, as your child hears and repeats particular phrases again and again, like ‘the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round.’
Helps Develop Motor Functions and Numeracy Skills
Many nursery rhymes come with their own physical activities for you and your child to act out whilst singing the verses. For example, Incy Wincy Spider has accompanying fingerplay gestures for your child to carry out. This means that nursery rhymes will refine your child’s motor skills and stimulate your child both mentally and physically whilst they enjoy storytime with you.
Nursery rhymes frequently incorporate numeracy skills and counting activities. Nursery rhymes, like Sing a Song of Sixpence and One Two Buckle My Shoe, will have your child counting in no time as they sing the numbers along with you. Your child will also learn about key movements in the verses of the nursery rhymes, like moving up and down in Hickory Dickory Dock.
Have Fun and Keep Them Focused Without Screens!
Above all, nursery rhymes are a very stimulating activity and are certainly more expressive than leaving your child in front of a screen. Not only will singing nursery rhymes with your child harness the bond you have with them, but it will also promote creativity and encourage your child to express themselves uniquely when they are singing and acting out the verses.
Recent research has found that ‘the extent to which nursery rhymes’ ‘are both engaging and beneficial is likely to be influenced by how interesting the rhymes are to a child.’ So, you could use a personalised nursery rhymes book to keep your child continuously engaged with the nursery rhymes as they search for their personalised name scattered throughout the book. This would also encourage them to learn how to spell their own name, which is typically the first word young children learn to spell!
Nursery rhymes are a well-rounded activity that improves your child’s development in terms of their literacy, numeracy and motor skills. They offer you the chance to enjoy singing along to the verses with your child and make them laugh with the fun rhythm of the lines. It is crucial to incorporate activities like singing nursery rhymes together into your child’s routine from a young age, as nursery rhymes have been proven to impact your child’s development, reading level and success in education later on in their life.
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