Nursery Rhyme Videos can benefit parents and children in many ways. In today’s society our eyes spend more time on screens than anything else. It can be hard to figure out just how to manage your children’s screen time, but what if that screen was on something educational. That’s where nursery rhymes come into play. They offer so much more than just something to watch, let’s take a look at some of the benefits.
Educational
All nursery rhymes are educational in some way. There’s usually a lesson or moral involved. This opens up the lines of communication between parents and children. Teaching lessons or morals can sometimes be confusing for young kids but introducing it through catchy phrases and tunes makes it easier to relate to. Watching the rhyme play out on screen draws the child’s attention and can even help them think about what they would do it it were them. Watching them can be interactive by also acting it out as it plays or even getting up to sing and dance with your favorite characters. This gives parents and children an opportunity to work on large motor skills while learning as well.
History
Nursery rhyme videos are a great way to introduce some history to children at an early age. Parents can take lyrics from some of their favorites and explain the meanings behind them. For example, “London Bridge is Falling Down” actually details the many attempts at bridging the River Thames and the difficulties with finding the best materials to use. This can become interactive by using different building tools (blocks, legos, boxes) to try to build a bridge of your own. “Little Miss Muffet” talks about a little girl being scared by a spider, which can spark talks of spiders and other insects. The rhyme is about the daughter of an entomologist, Dr. Thomas Muffet, who’s own spider scared her while eating breakfast. Dr. Thomas wrote the first scientific catalog of insects. With these pieces of history, parents can create their own activity to go along with the rhyme, like going on a bug hunt in the yard.
Vocabulary
Nursery rhymes also offer a chance to build on vocabulary and reading. With the rhyming words in each lyric, it teaches children how to listen for sounds and find ones that sound the same. Recognizing sounds is fundamental to reading so this is an important factor for most parents. The rhymes introduce a world of new words to young children and helps older ones expand on their current vocabulary. With each line, an activity could be created to expand this skill. For instance, a word wall with the words from the rhyme or the parent picks a word and the child says one that rhymes with it. Either way, parents can’t go wrong with using these tools to further their child’s love for literacy.