This week is World Nursery Rhyme Week and we are delighted to be taking part. The initiative, which was launched in 2013, promotes the importance of nursery rhymes in early childhood development and education with a particular focus on how nursery rhymes boost early language and literacy skills.
The rhymes for the week are as follows:
Wheels On The Bus
Five Little Speckled Frogs
Hickory Dickory Dock
Old MacDonald Had A Farm
Miss Polly Had A Dolly
We have a number of activities planned throughout the week including:
- Hearing rhymes
- Singing Rhymes
- Reading familiar rhymes
- Creative activities based around the rhyme characters
- Sensory learning activities incorporating wet and dry textures.
- Role playing / acting out rhymes
- Making choices for which are our favourite rhymes
- Accompanying rhymes using instruments
Singing nursery rhymes is a wonderful activity you can enjoy doing together at home. Which are your favourites? Share these with your class teams.
The activities and links listed below may not be suited to all our children, if you would like specific ideas for your child relating to the rhymes please contact their class teacher or speak to Shelley O'Connor [Literacy coordinator].
You can also access free resources at: www.worldnurseryrhymeweek.com
One for the parents...
World Nursery Rhyme Week Quiz
Just how well do you know your nursery rhymes? Answers will be posted at the end of the week :)
1 In ‘Oranges and Lemons’ the rhyme refers to the bells of several churches. How many?
2. What did the crooked man find on the crooked stile?
3 Where was Simple Simon going when he met the pieman?
4. Why did Old Mother Hubbard go to the cupboard?
5. What were on the toes of the fine lady on the white horse at Banbury Cross?
6. What did the ‘Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe’ give her children for dinner?
7. In addition to his fiddlers, what other two things did ‘Old King Cole’ call for?
8. Who cut off the tails of the 3 blind mice?
9 When the 3 Little Kittens lost their mittens, what did their mother deny them?
10. What is 'Monday’s child'?
The Wheels On The Bus
Sing along: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP-MbfHFUqs
Communication: choose the next verse of the rhyme from the picture cards in the resources links.
Numeracy - use play people to get on and off a bus image - how many get on and off.
Literacy: Using a toy bus (or other vehicle), fix a crayon or pencil to the front using an elastic band or similar. Then move the vehicle over paper or card to make marks with the pencil or crayon.
Craft: paint a show box to make a bus, split pins are useful to make the wheels turn.
Play : Using cardboard boxes to act out driving a bus.
Messy play: Wheel art. Using a sheet of paper as a road, add paint at one end of the paper and roll the wheels of a bus (or other vehicle) through the paint and across the paper. Alternatively, create a road using other materials (sand, flour, mud etc).
Discussion: Discuss journeys the children have been on. Where were they going and how did they travel there? Who did they go with? Older children can look at bus timetables and plan a route.
Five Little Speckled Frogs
Sing along: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQTVrxj4l6o
Numeracy: Cut out 5 or 10 frog shapes. Number them 1 to 5 (or 1-10) and then sort them into the correct order. As you sing the rhyme count the remaining frogs and state the number sentence i.e. 5-1=4
Literacy: Sing the rhyme together and identify the words that rhyme. Use phonics knowledge to label a picture with the word frog.
Craft: Use a variety of media [paint, pens, chalk] to draw or colour frogs.
Play (Indoor/Outdoor): Draw large lily pads in the shape of a hopscotch. Can the children hop like frogs?
Messy play: Water tray. Create a pond where children can act out the rhyme using bath toy frogs. Large stones can be added to create a hopping platform for toy frogs [be aware of throwing or mouthing].
Discussion: What other animals live in a pond? Which animals are small and which are large? What do they eat? Can any of the animals also be found in a river or the ocean?