Make the Most of Your Time in the Car!

One of my New Year's goals is to teach my children a new Nursery Rhyme or Finger Play every week, as well as a short child's song.  Last week was "You Are My Sunshine" and "Jack Be Nimble".  This week is "Three Little Kittens" and "Humpty Dumpty". 

Nursery Rhymes, finger plays, and songs are a great way to facilitate new speech and vocabulary.  Kids love to sing and they love to hear their mother sing (no matter how you sound).  They love the lilting, sing-songy feel of nursery rhymes and you will be surprised at how fast they can memorize.  They may not let on at first, but then one day you will hear them playing and singing and reciting.

Not only are nursery rhymes a great way to help inprove speech and vocabulary but they also offer a valuable base for later literary building.  Think of how often nursery rhymes are alluded to in our culture!  How sad to not understand because you don't know your nursery rhymes.

Teaching your children nursery rhymes doesn't have to be a huge affair.  I just say the rhyme we are learning a few times in a row and then say the other ones we have learned in the past.  I think the best time to do this is when you can truly have your children's attention...in the car!!  They aren't going anywhere.  So turn off the movie and the music and start learning some nursery rhymes!

You may be tempted to just put in a movie or tape of nursery rhymes.  This can work, but children really do love their mother's voice.  Hearing words from a real person means a lot more than from a machine!