Family Life | Things To Do With Nursery Rhymes

FUN IDEAS FOR YOU TO TRY WHEN YOU READ

NANNY’S NURSERY RHYMES for the New Millenium

1. PERSONALIZE
Where it mentions a name in a nursery rhyme, say your child’s name instead. They love it when you make it personal. Here are some examples for changing the words:

WHO IS SHE? p. 13.
I have a little girl called Molly
She’s so cute, she really is jolly,
Her smile is so sweet,
She really is neat,
My girl who is always so jolly!

LITTLE PETER TRUMAN, p. 27
My little Jack is a very brave guy,
He always stands for truth and never tells a lie.
I’ll never hear him swear or do something sly,
My son Jack is a special little guy.

WITH ALL MY MIGHT, p. 16
When Harry has to do a chore,
He does it straight away,
He never grumbles or complains,
There’s always time to play.

He puts a smile upon his face,
Because he knows it’s right.
He puts his shoulder to the task
And does it with his might!

HELLO, p. 47
I’m a little princess, my name is Grace,
I love to dress up and wear pretty lace,
The monster doesn’t like my smiley face,
So he runs away to his naughty place.

YOU’RE PRETTY WHEN YOU SMILE, p. 60
___________, little _____________, why do you frown?
You used to be the prettiest girl in town!

2. EMPHASIZE THE BEAT
Be emphatic when you recite nursery rhymes with your children. Emphasize the rhythm of the beat, especially at the end when words rhyme. This helps them to memorize the rhyme and also to learn rhythm and new words. For example:

I CAN’T STOP LAUGHING, p. 10
I can’t stop laughing,
My sides are SORE,
It’s those kookaburras
With their loud GUFFAW.

They laugh every morning,
They laugh every NIGHT ,
I can’t stop laughing
At the funny SIGHT.

3. CHANT WITH YOU
Encourage your children to recite with you as you read and point to the words. Or you can make up tunes to them and they can sing with you.

4. MISS OUT WORDS
As you read, miss out a rhyming word at the end of the line and see if your children can say the word. They love this. Sometimes you can even add a positive comment at the end. These are wonderful moments to input into your children’s lives.

p. 5.
Jake likes cupcakes, Cindy likes cheese,
But I love spaghetti, more, mommy, _______ .
We always remember to say, "Please" when we ask for something, don't we?

p.6.
If you want to be smart,
Keep truth in your _______ .
God says that we have to have truth right down in the very inward part of our being. If you keep truth in your heart, it will be easy to speak it out of your mouth, won't it?

p. 14.
A baby has come to our house to stay,
I can't wait till he's bigger and we can ________,
He'll be my best friend forever and ever,
Because we are a family that sticks __________ .

p. 16.
I put a smile jupon my face,
Because I know it's right,
I put my shoulder to the task,
And do it with my ___________ .

p. 52
Frowns make your face look really bad,
They zap your energy, which is __________,
Frowns make you feel too weak to play,
They even scare your friends __________"
You won’t ever do that, will you?

p. 36
"Work away, work away,
I am having fun.
Work away, work away,
Singing on the _________ .
Do you like to sing while you work? Let's make up a tune to sing to this song, shall we?

P. 53.
I love helping Mommy with her work,
And from it I will never ____________..
Do you know what this word means?

I get "stuck in," I don't try to flee,
"Lazy" is not in my _______________!
That's a big word, isn't it? Let me hear you say it again.

p. 55
When your foot begins to slip,
God will old you with His ______!

5. FUN PHRASES
Children love fun words to say. One of my children's favorite books I read to them when they were young was "Huge Harold" by Bill Peet. One of the lines read:

"Doggone and Dagnabit,
That's what I call a whoppin' big rabbit."

Today, even in their forties and fifties they still like to quote this phrase from the book and even say it to their children:

Your children will enjoy saying: “Dippy-dabby-doo-dah” p. 23
And “Hoopdee-doo”” p. 32 (which I picked up from a friend who continually used this expression). You or your children may like to add some extra lines to Hoopdee-doo. They will have fun adding extra lines to this poem.

6. CLAP WITH THE BEAT
Sometimes when you read, clap along with the beat, and get your children to clap with you.

7. DO ACTIONS
You or your children can also make up actions to go with the rhymes which they can remember each time. Other times, you could act out the nursery rhyme for your child to copy. Or even better, let them be creative and act it out as you read it.

8. WRONG WORD
Say the wrong word as you read and see if your children correct you!

9. ASK QUESTIONS
There may be some subjects with which your children are not familiar. Ask questions and then discover and research more about them with your children, E.g. the moa on p. 8, 9; the kookaburra on p. chiggers on page 19, the didgeridoo on p. 33; Timbuktu on . 33; the Model T on p. 49.

10. NEW RHYMING WORDS
After reading a nursery rhyme, see if your child can think of another word that rhymes, e.g. OUR NEW CAR, p. 23. The rhyming words are car, far, and star. Ask them if they can think of more words than end with “ar.” Here’s another one: WORK IS FUN, p. 36. The rhyming words end with fun and run. Ask them how many words they can think of that end with “un.” You can gradually do this with all the nursery rhymes.

Have fun with your children,

Nancy Campbell