World Nursery Rhyme Week
Nursery rhymes are timeless ditties that we all grew up with and continue to sing to our children now. But why is it important to sing nursery rhymes to our children? Why did our parents sing them to us and why do we carry on the tradition as parents ourselves? It’s World Nursery Rhyme Week so I thought I’d help you understand why they’re an important part of childhood.
How do nursery rhymes help our children?
Speech
Well, the reason is that they’re actually really important to a child’s development. Firstly, they teach children about language and help with sounding out words and sounds. The lyrics are often rhyming and they can be repetitive which helps the words stick in their minds. The rhymes use a variety of vocabulary, perhaps some words that you don’t use every day (think ‘posey’, ‘cockles’, ‘pail’) and whilst your baby may not be able to ask what they mean, toddlers may well enquire and so expand their vocab.
Musical appreciation
Nursery rhymes are musical and could well be a child’s first introduction to music just for them. They might hear music on the radio or TV, but this is music with them in mind – something they can sing along to. They will hear the highs and lows of the music, the different melodies and tempos and what’s really special is that they will learn how music can bring happiness! Singing nursery rhymes together at home as parent and child or nanny and child, or at a baby group demonstrates how singing brings people together. Hopefully that will lead to a lifelong association of singing and smiles.
Listening skills
You might think that nursery rhymes are all about the singing but there’s also some listening too. Think of ‘Old Macdonald had a farm’ or ‘The wheels on the bus’, both of which have parts which are decided by the singing ‘leader’. Nursery rhymes help children develop their listening skills and also thinking through a series of actions: if the leader says, ‘windscreen wipers go swish, swish, swish’, what do I need to do to show that with my body?
Movement and coordination
Which leads nicely onto nursery rhymes helping children with movement. Nursery rhymes expose children to their first ‘dance routines’, a series of actions that are great for developing coordination, helping children feel the beat of the music and generally move their bodies in time. It also helps them to understand about copying actions from adults or their peers which is handy later in life when they’re, say, trying a new sport or trying to master a skill such as playing an instrument.
Types of nursery rhymes & meanings
When we think of nursery rhymes we think of the traditional ones such as ‘Three Blind Mice’, ‘Mary, Mary Quite Contrary’ and ‘Humpty Dumpty’ but your repertoire of rhymes is much more extensive these days. ‘The Wheels on the Bus’, ‘Five Little Speckled Frogs’ and ‘B-I-N-G-O’ originate in the modern day and are also nursery rhymes. These should definitely be included in your sing-song sessions with your child or playgroup.
Modern day rhymes are likely to have more innocent meanings than some of the older ones, many of which originate in medieval times with hidden sinister connotations. There is debate as to whether the meanings are genuine, but I like reading about them anyway! Here are some of my ‘favourites’!
Three Blind Mice: The lyrics are odd when you think about it but they make sense in a way. The hidden meaning is to do with Catholic Queen Mary and three protestant bishops who refused to switch to Catholicism. Bloody Mary is the Farmer’s Wife, the mice are the bishops and cutting off their tails relates to her burning the bishops at the stake. The mice blindness is their ‘blind faith’.
Ring o’ Roses: This one sounds innocent enough but it’s supposed to be about the Bubonic Plague! The plague would cause red rashes on the body that smelt awful so the ring of roses refers to these red marks. As people died and the bodies piled up, the stench would be awful and so people would stuff herbs and flowers in their pockets to disguise the smell, hence a pocket full of posies. The line, ‘We all fall down,’ refers to the alarming rate at which the plague was spreading and people were dying.
Jack and Jill: Another childish jape with hidden meaning although this one is set further afield. Jack and Jill are said to be King Louis XIV of France who was known for his greed and finery and eventually beheaded, and his famous wife Marie-Antoinette who ‘came tumbling after’ and was beheaded ten months later. Jack’s crown that’s broken refers to the King’s crown. There’s a lot of talk about the fact that the pair go uphill to fetch water when most people know water flows downwards!
Mary, Mary: This is another rhyme to do with Queen Mary and her gruesome ways. She was said to be a contrary leader whilst ‘How does your garden grow?’ refers to her inability to have children. She was renowned for persecuting protestants and the ‘silver bells and cockle shells’ are said to refer to her means of torture. ‘Pretty maids all in a row’ refers to both her miscarriages and the number of people who died at her hands. Pretty grim.
I do hope that understanding the meaning won’t stop you or your nanny singing nursery rhymes to your children! They’re an important tool for children to pick up speech and vocab and I love that they are passed down from one generation to the next.
Places like libraries and children’s centres often have weekly nursery rhyme sing-alongs which are great for nannies to go to with your babies – the children can socialise and the nannies too whilst learning at the same time!