Nursery rhymes songs are beneficial to young children in a bevy of ways. They can help enhance learning through repetition and rhyme.
Humpty Dumpty:
Written in 1810, Humpty Dumpty is based off of Lewis Carrol’s book, Through the Looking Glass. In that book. Humpty Dumpty is pictured as a round egg. There are additional theories about the origins of Humpty Dumpty. One such theory is that Humpty Dumpty was a cannon and used during the English Civil War.
Another theory is that Humpty Dumpty was a cannon that fell off of a castle parapet and then broke into many pieces. Then “all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put humpty together again.”
Humpty Dumpty can help children build a bigger and more expanded vocabulary. This is especially helpful in teaching phonics to children. Mental images are created when listening to nursery rhymes without pictures. That enhances creativity and imagination for young children.
Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme helps children explore the topics of not taking unnecessary risks, hope while inquiring the possibility of rebuilding Humpty and teamwork while they tried to put Humpty back together.
Teachers can expand this nursery rhyme by using felt pieces representing Humpty Dumpty and act this out with the corresponding pieces. Another one is drawing a face on a ping pong ball and making a wall out of legos or other building apparatus to represent where Humpty sits as the song is sung. That would be a simple activity that parents could do at home with their child/children, as well. Doing these activities can help a child build fine motor skills.
London Bridges:
London Bridges is a singing game that originated from a traditional English nursery rhyme. This is sung all over the world and is about trying to repair and rebuild London bridges. It dates back to the seventeenth century. This song and singing game became very popular in Britain and the United States.
There is a theory that this song is about a Viking attack. Another theory is about child sacrifice theory that is children were buried under the bridge, some say perhaps even buried alive. However there is no evidence to back this theory.
Some activities to do with this song, include a singing game where two people stand with arms forming an arch. Children go under the arch. Then the two drop their arms locking in the child in the middle as they sing the my fair lady verse. This game helps children use gross motor skills.
Teachers can expand this nursery rhyme with the use of a felt board. The pieces can be built up to build the bridge and taken apart when the bridge is “falling down.”
Parents can play the London Bridge activity game at home, as well. London Bridge can be constructed out of legos or other building supplies and played at school as well as at home.
London Bridges explores the topics of persistence, as the bridge is repaired and reconstructed. This song also covers teamwork while working on the bridge.