Peter Piper is one of the most common nursery rhymes taught to children. It is an English tongue twister that many children found fun to challenge friends, and family members, to say as quickly as possible. It made its way to America, and we still have trouble saying it.
Origin of the Tongue Twister
The origin of the tongue twister is unknown. The first recording of the rhyme was in England in 1813 by the author John Harris. It was part of his literary work Peter Piper’s Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation. The rhyme was already familiar to children in England as recorded in the Roud Folk Song Index. Steve Roud, a former librarian in London, recorded such rhymes to preserve the original songs by index.
The literary recording by John Harris was recaptured in America in 1836 by Al Haines. It is believed by some that the rhyme is about Peter Poivre, an 18th-century French horticulturist and botanist. He had once investigated the Seychelles Islands off the coast of eastern Africa. He wanted to know if spices could be cultivated there.
Use of Nursery Rhymes to Teach Children
The preface of Al Haines book states that its purpose is to “Prove a Peculiarly Pleasant and Profitable Path to Proper, Plain and Precise Pronunciation”. The educational purpose is to teach alliteration to students. Alliteration is a figure of speech containing the repetition of consonants within a rhyme or text. The literary device is sometimes referred to as consonance. Alliteration differs slightly in that the repetitive consonant is on the stressed syllable and not always the first letter. We can see additional types of alliteration in The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
The Remarkable Brain of a Toddler
By the age of two, babies’ brains can predict and analyze patterns in speech. Toddlers have the ability to master around 900 words and can recognize the breaks in language, even if the breaks are not obvious. Nursery rhymes have been used around the world to develop this pattern of learning.
Rhymes sound like music to a toddler’s ears. Music is good for developing brains in so many ways. It can spark creativity. It can boost brain cells. It helps the baby develop auditory skills by differentiating sounds.
Nursery rhymes have the same effect. Tongue twisters are more tantalizing because of the repetition of consonant sounds. As the toddler grows into a preschooler, the desire to repeat the nursery rhymes creates deeper skill sets. According to researchers at the Center for Early Literacy Learning (CELL), the preschoolers tested had better literacy-related abilities.
These children were introduced to nursery rhymes at a younger age. They had advanced phonological skills regardless of age or identified disabilities. The phonological skills were tested both orally and written.
Another Benefit of Nursery Rhymes
Once children are old enough to understand the words in common nursery rhymes, they become quite amused. Falling down, losing mittens, or spiders are relatable to small children. Since most nursery rhymes are recited or sung in a group, it provides an environment to develop social skills.