Musical marvels: Enchanting nursery rhymes

A singing voice! As well as the means to play songs and music if you wish to.

The ability to listen and tune into different voices, desire to communicate through vocalisation, gesture and body language. Increased range of vocabulary.

Singing daily with your baby or young child is a lovely bonding experience and a great way to promote language. Try different voices out with your child to capture their interest, and ensure your voice has lots of ups and downs to get their interest. 

Playing different songs will also encourage children, even from the youngest babies, to listen and enjoy moving to the music. Try a range from classical pieces (why not try some Vivaldi?) to some rock and roll, jazz, salsa, or even Bollywood. All of these can be found on YouTube or other music streaming platforms. 

Introducing nursery rhymes from the youngest age is also a great way to develop language. The repetition and use of rhyme and alliteration will benefit language development right the way up to the preschool age group. 

Nursery rhymes to introduce and enjoy together (the lyrics & tune can be found on YouTube!): 

• Twinkle twinkle little star
• Baa baa black sheep 
• Humpty Dumpty 
• Incey wincey spider 
• Little bo peep
• Jack and Gill