Nursery Rhymes To Read To Unborn Baby

[Bonny Battaglino]

Childrenfor generations have enjoyed their parents, or grandparents, saying or singing nursery rhymes to them. The comforting rhythm of the verses means that even at a very early age, babies recognise familiar nursery rhymes.

Some of the most traditional nursery rhymes have meanings which are irrelevant and pretty meaningless in this modern day and age, but still the rhymes live on from generation to generation. Some are clearly educational, teaching little ones to count and increase their vocabulary along the way.

There are a lot of benefits of teaching your child or baby nursery rhymes from a young age; one being their cognitive development. The repetition found in the rhymes are good for your little one's brain and teaches them how language works while also building on their memory capabilities. In addition, nursery rhymes also help to develop inferencing skills - both when encountering new words and in reading comprehension later in life.

Baby nursery rhymes are also really important to your little one's speech development. They can help young children develop auditory skills such as being able to tell the difference between sounds and develop the ear for the music of words. Rhymes like the ones listed below also help children to articulate words, practise pitch and volume, and enunciate early by saying them over and over again.

One, two, three, four, five

Once I caught a fish alive.

Six, seven, eight, nine, ten

Then I let it go again.

Why did you let it go?

Because it bit my finger so.

Which finger did it bite?

This little finger on my right.

Sing a song of sixpenceSing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,

Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie,

When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,

Oh wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?

The king was in his counting house counting out his money,

The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey,

The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,

When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!

If baby is already home, is it too late to start a tradition like this? Absolutely not! Start when you can. If your baby is still a newborn, the repetition while you hold, carry, feed or snuggle together will create soothing, loving associations. Older babies, toddlers and preschoolers absolutely still benefit from incorporating special music, stories and rhymes into the rhythm of your days. These kiddos will often have their own opinions about what books and songs they especially like. Reading and singing together is a beautiful way to bond and it is a great parenting tool to have in your toolbox!

Now that I am once again knee deep in nursery rhymes with our fourth baby I thought it would be fun to bring in an expert to give us her perspective on nursery rhymes and poetry and share how they are not only good for our babies developing brains, but can lay the foundation for reading skills.

A: You know how doctors always tell you that the baby can hear the voices of family members and their mom in the womb? Well, some studies show that babies can also identify rhymes even in the womb. This means that infants can start to recognize word patterns. We know that while all children learn to read differently, there is a definite sequence in which children should tackle reading, and rhyming is one of the first things we teach. So by reading and singing to your child, you have discovered a way to nurture your baby and bond with them while sneakily laying a strong foundation in reading and rhyming. Good job, Mom. ?

Great post! We also listened to music CD with traditional nursery rhymes and my kids loved them. My kids are now 10 and 13 and I miss those days. I am also an elementary teacher and so many kids come to school not knowing these poems and rhymes. I always suggest the book Reading Magic by Mem Fox as a great parent read for anyone with a newborn or toddler.

I read to both of my babies while they were still peacefully floating inside me. Reading and singing to my first baby was very intentional. I bought books for her (the beginnings of our home library) and diligently read every night before going to sleep. And since my husband would often arrive home very late during that period, I would feel sentimental and sing lullabies too.

My reason for reading and singing to my unborn babies was that I wanted to connect and bond with them right from the start. More than just to aid their brain development as widely written about, I wanted them to know my voice and know me the moment we met.

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Sometimes these rhymes were recited and sometimes they were sung. Often they were paired with a rhythmic physical activity like skipping or with clapping or other actions (remember London Bridge is Falling Down and Round and Round the Garden?) This made the rhymes more enjoyable for children, introduced some interaction between the participants and sometimes made the rhyme into a game.

The short answer is that nursery rhymes and poems matter very much. So why are nursery rhymes still important?Poems, nursery rhymes and songs matter because they are the building blocks of early literacy.

The rhyme and rhythm babies and young children hear in nursery rhymes and poems help them develop an ear for the language they are learning to speak and we know that this is an important prerequisite for learning to read later on.

Happily, though, phonological awareness is not something we actually have to teach our kiddos. Most children develop it quite naturally as they listen to stories, take part in conversations and sing songs.

So nursery rhymes expose children to concepts and words that they might not hear in their daily lives and the rhyme and rhythm also make it more likely that those new concepts and words will be remembered.

Nursery rhymes may just seem like a bit of fun, a way to spend time and interact with your children or just a quick and easy way to distract them but the truth is nursery rhymes have so many more benefits for your child, both in the long and the short term and are incredibly powerful influencers in pre-school development.

Nursery rhymes have a lot more to offer than just entertainment value. They introduce babies and children to the idea of storytelling, promote social skills and boost language development. They also lay the foundation for learning to read and spell. Generally, children who will become good readers enjoy listening to speech, storybooks and nursery rhymes.

Key Benefits

Children are excited to learn about individuals who live in shoes or a cow who can jump over a moon. Nursery rhymes help your child learn to have a vivid imagination filled with colourful characters and various languages. There are also a number of key skills / development areas that can be influenced by simple nursery rhymes.

Nursery rhymes are a staple part of life in an early years setting. You sing them, act them out and read them to your children. But did you know that nursery rhymes go back as far as the 18th century? Despite being introduced hundreds of years ago, the effect that nursery rhymes have on children is profound. They have the ability to spark young imaginations, help pre-schoolers get to grips with literacy and can even teach children about morality.

Although short, nursery rhymes often tell a story which has a traditional beginning, middle and end. These will be some of the first stories children will be able to follow and understand. Listening skills help children understand how a sequence of events unfolds in a story and lays the foundation for developing their reading skills.

To determine whether their baby could remember the rhyme, all mothers were asked to stop speaking the passage at 34 weeks. The babies were tested again at 36 and 38 weeks to see if they could remember it.

At around 18 weeks of pregnancy, your unborn baby will start being able to hear sounds in your body like your heartbeat. At 27 to 29 weeks (6 to 7 months), they can hear some sounds outside your body too, like your voice. By the time they are full term, they will be able to hear at about the same level as an adult. In other words, this is a great time to start reading and singing to them.

It's also important to note that anywhere from 1 to 6 babies out of 1,000 have childhood hearing loss. Newborn hearing screening is recommended for all newborns so they can get early intervention or treatment by the time they're 6 months old.

Reading to your baby has benefits that will carry over into the rest of their life. The earlier you begin, the more you can help boost their language skills. As they grow, they'll also start recognizing books, the stories they tell, and the pictures they contain.

You already know your baby will reach motor milestones like rolling over, sitting by themselves, and walking. But did you know that when you start reading to them early, they will also reach early literacy milestones? Here are some of the reading-related behaviors you can look for:

Around 3 months, they'll start to react to the expressions on your face and the sound of your voice, especially when you read. They may even be able to start understanding what you're reading a bit. They'll also start showing interest in the books, trying to touch them and put them in their mouth.

Around 6 to 12 months, she'll start grabbing the pages and putting books in her mouth. Don't worry, this actually shows that she's interested in them. But unless you want to be taping fragile book pages back together, be sure you stick with board books at this age.

Around 12 to 18 months, they'll be able to hold their board books while they're sitting and sort of turn the pages themselves. Reading gets interactive at this age. They may carry their books around with them and give them to you to read. They'll be able to point to pictures in the book when you ask questions.

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