Riddle Me This, Riddle Me That
What can’t be put together again once it’s broken? The answer is an egg, hence the reason why Humpty has been depicted as an egg in illustrations throughout literature. The four liner was originally a riddle but today we all know it as one of our favorite Nursery Rhymes. First printed in 1810, there are several theories about its origin that were all debunked due to inaccurate timelines and the types of speech common to specific eras, were not used in the original rhyme.
Literacy and Communication Skills
When children interact with these preschool poems it benefits them in many different ways. Their literacy skills improve tremendously as they recite them over and over again. Children who are read to and who read themselves are better at communicating. During this process, they learn new words which expand their vocabulary bank. This helps them to transition out of the crying stage and into being more verbal when needing to express themselves. Instead of turning to tears to let someone know they are sad, angry or scared they can use their words to say how they feel. Dr. Seuss understood this and in using rhymes he created some of our most beloved children books today.
Improve Motor Skills
Humpty dumpty song also helps with developing motor skills. We all remember doing those cute little dances as we sing along to our favorite nursery rhyme. Well, little did we know that those simple choreographies help develop coordination and improve rhythm among children ages 0-5. As they act out the words of the rhyme they are also stretching their limbs and learning how to keep the timing of a beat.
Understand Sequential Order and Safety
Humpty introduces the concept of sequences in its rhyme as the unfortunate events that occur to him happen in a particular order. Teachers looking for an activity for their students can mix up the lines in the rhyme and have the students put them back in order using context clues of what happened first, next and last. Humpty Dumpty may be a bit morbid as it implies Humpty’s death in the end but it helps our children to explore the topic of safety. In the case of don’t touch the oven or you’ll get burned, Humpty helps children learn consequences of their actions.
Educational Resources
Teachers and parents looking for ways to foster educational experiences in their children can use Humpty Dumpty to their benefit. There are organizations who dedicate their efforts to promoting education through Nursery Rhyme like Mr. Dumpty. Programs like these offer activity sheets, interactive videos, and ebooks to make the experience fun and easy. Children have fun singing and dancing, pretending to fall of a wall, all the while they are developing skills that they don’t even know about. Who knew Humpty could help us do so much?