Ten little pair of hands move to the rhythm of the words as the children recite their nursery rhymes for the day.  You witness the kid’s gleeful expressions while the teacher is a proud onlooker.  The kids level of confidence have increased with the mastery of the words and the actions too. 

Do parents, teachers, caregivers, educators still use nursery rhymes nowadays?  Is it still appealing and captivating?  In the advance age of technology and the like, does it still have the capacity to enchant and fascinate the beginning learners?   Do teachers who have been teaching for a long time still find value in teaching nursery rhymes?  Or have they reached the point that they themselves have found it dull, repetitive and oh goodness, the arrival of the dreaded Capital B for Boring!

Nursery Rhymes provide a lot of entertainment for children.  Even I still find myself still reciting the rhymes with delight.  Nursery rhymes is also a wonderful tool to teach children concepts and identify things around them like alphabets and numbers.  For example: To learn about the body parts, let’s sing– ‘my toes, my knees, my shoulder, my head!”  Or learning about numbers, let’s recite, “one two buckle my shoe...”  Or know about spatial concepts like “up above the world so high...”

I’ve discovered that children respond well to rhythm and music.  Studies have suggested that this enhances the child’s language acquisition skills and provide a base for reading later on.  It also helps the child develop his/her listening skils.  The nursery rhymes because of its short verses is easy to memorize and children can learn it quickly.  

Another thing we can use the rhymes or song is to persuade children to engage in a certain task like keeping their toys. “It’s time to keep the toys, it’s time to keep the toys, heigh ho the merry o, it’s time to keep to the toys.” I made the words up while singing to the tune of Farmer in the Dell. It is a joy to see the kids hurriedly keeping their toys as we sing the song together. Now that takes away the boringness of it all right? Keep on being creative.

Here is a list of 42 of our favorite children’s nursery rhymes. Let’s recite them together...ready?

Old King Cole
Was a merry old soul,
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe
And he called for his bowl,
And he called for his fiddlers three.

Tom, Tom the piper’s son
Stole a pig and away did run;
The pig was eat
And Tom was beat,
And Tom went howling down the street.

Little Boy blue, come blow up your horn,
The sheep’s in the meadown, the cow’s in the corn.
And where is the boy who looks after the sheep?
He’s under the haystack fast asleep!

Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.

The Queen of Hearts
She made some tarts,
All on a summer’s day;
The knave of Hearts
He stole the tarts,
And took them clean away.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the King’s horses,
And all the King’s men,
Couldn’t put Humpty
Together again.

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake,
Baker’s man!
Bake me a cake
As fast as you can.

Pat it, and prick it,
And mark it with T,
Put it in the oven
For Tommy and me.

Little Bo Beep has lost her sheep,
And doesn’t know where to find them,
Leave them alone,
And they’ll come home,
Wagging their tails
Behind them.

Peter, Peter, pumpkin-eater,
Had a wife and couldn’t keep her;
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her very well.

Rain, rain, go away,
Come again another day;
Little Johnny wants to play.

Hickory, dickory, dock!
The mouse ran up the clock;
The clock struck one,
And down he run,
Hickory, dickory, dock!

Pease porridge hot,
Pease porridge cold,
Pease porridge in the pot,
Nine days old.
Some like it hot,
Some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot,
Nine days old.

Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.
There came a spider,
Who sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

There was an old woman
Who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children
She didn’t know what to do;
She gave them some broth
Without any bread
She whipped them all soundly
And put them to bed.

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor dog a bone
But when she got there
The cupboard was bare
And so the poor dog had none.

Rub a dub dub

Three men in a tub

And who do you think they be?

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker;

Turn them out,

Knaves all three.

Baa, baa, black sheep

Have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir

Three bags full.

One for the master,

And one for the dame,

And one for the little boy

Who lives down the lane.

Mary had a little lamb,

Its fleece was white as snow.

And everywhere that Mary went

The lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day—

That was against the rule.

It made the children laugh and play

To see a lamb at school.

Sing a song of sixpence,

A pocketfull of rye;

Four-and-twenty blackbirds,

Baked in a pie.

When the pie was opened,

The birds began to sing;

Was not that a dainty dish

To set before the King?

The King was in his counting-house,

Counting out his money;

The queen was in the parlour,

Eating bread and honey.

The maid was in the garden,

Hanging out the clothes,

When along came a blackbird

And pecked off her nose.

Jack and Jill

Went up the hill,

To fetch a pail of water;

Jack fell down,

And broke his crown,

And Jill came tumbling after.

Pop goes the weasel!

Up and down the City Road,

In and out the Eagle,

That’s the way the money goes,

Pop goes the weasel!

Half a pound of tuppeny rice,

Half a pound of treacle,

Mix it up and make it nice,

Pop goes the weasel.

Mary, Mary quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells

And pretty maids all in a row.

Twinkle, twinkle little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

Row row row your boat

Gently Down the Stream

Merrily merrily merrily merrily

Life is a but a dream

One little two

Little three little indians

Four little five

Little six little indians

Seven little eight

Little nine little indians

Ten little indian boys

I have two hands

The left and the right

Hold them up high

So clean and bright

Clap them softly

One two three

Clean little hands are good to see!

My toes, my knees, my shoulders, my head.

My toes, my knees, my shoulders, my head.

My toes, my knees, my shoulders, my head.

Let’s all clap hands together.

One two buckle my shoe

Three four knock at the door

Five six pick up sticks

Seven eight lay them straight

Nine ten a big fat hen

One, two, three four five

Once I caught a fish alive

Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,

Then I let it go again.

Why did you let it go?

Because it bit my finger so.

Which finger did it bite?

The little finger on the right.

One potato, two potato, three potato, four.

Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more.

One little rabbit, wondering what to do,

One more came along and then there were two.

Two little rabbits, sitting down to tea,

One more came along, then there were three.

Three little rabbits, knocking at the door,

One more came along, then there were four.

Four little rabbits, going for a drive.

One more came along, then there were five.

Five little rabbits, getting up to tricks,

One more came along, then there were six.

Five little ducks went swimming one day,

Over the pond and far away.

Mommy duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack!”

But only four little ducks came back.

Four little ducks went swimming one day...

(continue by repeating the above)

But no little ducks came swimming back.

No little ducks went swimming one day,

Over the pond and far away.

Mommy duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack!”

And five little ducks came swimming back!

Children's nursery rhymes is still one of the best tools in teaching children many things. I truly hope you will never get tired of reciting, singing, dancing with them.  The benefits you get is so much that one could ever hope for.