Nursery rhymes are short little ditties that end in similar sounding words. Some nursery rhymes may be hundreds of years old in some cases. Nursery rhymes may be a child’s first exposure to literature. Most children first begin to learn about books from collections of nursery rhyme stories. We often forget most of the time we spent as a toddler, but most of us can remember rhymes we learned when we were preschool age children. This ability to remember nursery rhymes and very few other things about our time as toddlers are proof of how excellent nursery rhymes are for teaching children memorization. Learning nursery rhymes as children will start to build a person’s ability to memorize. Even the most simple rhyme like peek-a-boo is an example of how a rhyme we are exposed to as children can help us develop our memory capabilities early on.
Nursery Rhymes Help Children Develop Memory Building Blocks
Nursery rhymes help children have exposure to repetitive phrases and new words. The repetition of saying rhyming words helps children to recall the phrase over and over again. Nursery rhymes also help a child develop their language skills. Learning rhymes helps them to feel more confident in speaking with those around them. This helps a child develop their vocabulary ability and improves their social skills.
Nursery Rhymes are a Child’s First Step Into Reading
Nearly every baby’s first nursery library contains a collection of nursery rhymes. The rhymes in books are often a child’s first exposure and step into reading. They can learn how a book works, memorize rhymes, and see pictures connected to the rhymes within the pages of a nursery rhyme collection book. This helps a child understand how to read a book and encourages further interest in learning how to read for the child.
The History of the Nursery Rhyme Peek-A-Boo
Peek-a-boo has been around for hundreds of years. The origin of the rhyme is not really certain. There is a painting by Georgios Jakobides from the 1800s that shows two children playing peek-a-boo. It’s a rhyme and a game that people play with infants and toddlers that is loved and humorous to nearly every baby and child. Typically people either hide behind their hands or behind an object then peep out to be visible again to the toddler or baby that they are saying the rhyme to.
The peek a boo lyrics are different depending on whoever is saying it. One of the common phrasings is:
“Peek-a-boo,
I see you!”.
Or some people say it fully as:
“Peek-a-boo I see you
Hiding behind your hands
Peek-a-boo I see you
Hiding behind your hands.
First I see a little nose
Then two little eyes
Then I say Oh my, it’s you!
What a big surprise!”.
Learning Skills Children Learn From Peek-A-Boo
Children and babies learn the cognitive development step of understanding object permanence. Object permanence means the ability to understand that something is still there even when it may not be visible. Object permanence is difficult for babies to understand, so this makes peek-a-boo a strong developmental game for babies and toddlers to understand that concept. The rhyme paired up as a game is also a fun way of engaging playtime for babies and toddlers.