Nursery Rhymes II: Teach Reading and Math

In PART I, we explored how nursery rhymes boost speech and vocabulary. Now, let’s dive into how they also help children develop reading and math skills!

Reading and Phonics

Nursery rhymes are perfect for teaching rhyming because they help children recognize patterns in sounds and letters. For example, words like hat, bat, cat, and fat all rhyme and share the same ending letter. This practice strengthens phonics and reading skills.

Additionally, rhymes feature alliteration (e.g., Goosey Goosey Gander) and onomatopoeia (e.g., Baa, Baa, Black Sheep), further boosting phonics skills and awareness of word patterns.

Reading and Reasoning

Many nursery rhymes tell short stories, offering practice in understanding story structure—beginning, middle, and end. For example, in Jack and Jill, Jack goes up the hill, falls down, and Jill follows. You can reinforce this by having your child arrange pictures of the story in the right order.

Math Skills

The rhythmic patterns in nursery rhymes also strengthen math skills. The repetition and syllable structure teach pattern recognition, which is key for mathematical thinking and memory. Many rhymes introduce math concepts like counting and quantities.

For instance:

One, Two, Three, Four, Five

Once I caught a fish alive

Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten

Then I let it go again.

One, Two, Buckle my shoe.

Three, Four, shut the door.

Five, Six, pick up sticks.

Seven, Eight, lay them straight.

Nine, Ten, a big fat hen.

Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard

to get her poor dog a bone

but when she go there the cupboard was bare

and so her poor dog had none.

These rhymes also reinforce words related to quantity, like “none,” “many,” or “few,” enhancing early math learning.

For more on how rhymes promote speech and vocabulary, check out PART I. Stay tuned for PART III, where we’ll explore how nursery rhymes support coordination, social skills, and music! And don't forget to look for the bonus give at the end of the post!

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