This post is sponsored by Nursery Rhymes TV. As always all thoughts and opinions are my own.
As a school Speech-Language Pathologist, I’m always on the hunt for fun and creative ways to engage my students in language learning. My pre-school students have a wide variety of skills. From language delays to severe apraxia, it can be challenging to find an activity that everyone enjoys and participates in. When I’m having a creative block or just need a quick five minute transitional activity, I use nursery rhymes.
Over the years I have created finger puppets, felt boards, and manipulatives for my students to role play nursery rhymes. They love this type of multi-sensory play and learning.
In a time period of IPad apps, over scheduled activities, and dual working parent families, I find that many children are not exposed to nursery rhymes outside of the classroom setting. Here are a few of the many benefits of nursery rhymes.
1. Language Development-
Nursery rhymes are a wonderful way for children to be exposed to the interaction of sounds, including rhyming and blending. Nursery rhymes also help children hear pitch, volume and vocal inflection. My favorite part about teach children nursery rhymes is the new vocabulary words they are exposed to.
2. Physical Development-
When children recite nursery rhymes they are practicing the way certain sounds are made, which is called oral motor development. Nursery rhymes that involve body movement such as “I’m a Little Teapot”, help develop gross motor (large muscle) skills.
3. Cognitive Development-
Nursery rhymes are one of the first ways children begin to develop memorization and recall skills. They also teach children about math concepts, including size, weight, and numbers. These basic math foundations are necessary as they head into Kindergarten.
4. Social-Emotional Development-
Parents and educators can strengthen a bond with a child through a shared interest. Nursery rhymes encourage positive physical touch including clapping. This skill is vital for developing appropriate physical skills. Nursery rhymes also help children develop their sense of emotions and empathy, as a child identifies with characters in the rhymes.
One of my very favorite nursery rhyme resources is Nursery Rhymes TV. This adorable YouTube channel has many, many animation and song nursery rhyme videos for toddlers and preschoolers. The songs are catchy and the animation is very colorful.
I use Nursery Rhymes TV as a free choice activity at the end of my therapy sessions, as a reward for hard work. All my preschool students just love it!
Stay tuned for more speech and language development posts. After a year break in this series I have decided to bring this series back. I would love to hear suggestions or questions you may have about your child’s speech, language, voice or feeding development. You can reach me on Facebook. Please check out my archived speech and language topics.
A few months ago Xander was flipping through a photo album from when he was a baby and he came across your photo. He asked who you are and where you lived. This was really one of those moments I have been dreading for a while. I had rehearsed what I would say in my mind over and over, ready for it. Yet in that given moment I was speechless. I fumbled through some explanation and quickly distracted him with another photo. His attention was easily diverted, typical of any five-year-old, yet I know this won’t be the first or last time he asks me.
As the boys get older they will wonder what happened to Grandma Bubbie. Where is she? Why doesn’t she talk to us? Why doesn’t she come and visit? Then what will I say? What excuse will I give? I don’t believe in lying to my children about the big things in life, but how do you explain mental illness and estranged relationships? Why do I have to explain it? It’s not fair. 
Getting through the loud moments. Breaking up the fights. Trying hard not to yell when they don’t listen. Praising them when they do.
They are growing up so fast. You are missing it all. As much as I would like to I still can not pause time. I can not keep them this small forever. I just hope one day you will wake up, shove aside your fears and emotions, and come back. Until them you are missing this…
They will bring you joy when you are ready for it.
Some of the kids had no time for crafting. They were all about the sweets. 
Others enjoyed reading a few Christmas books. 
Mr. and Mrs. Claus’ arrival was quite the display. Santa entered the house playing his bag pipes and Mrs. Claus looked stunning as always.
Santa then entertained the kids with some tricks, a story, and he even made snow.
Finally all the kids had a chance to meet Santa and take pictures. It was so nice that he was able to spend a bit of time with everyone.
Before we knew it, it was time for Santa to say good-bye. Most of the kids followed him out to see him on his way.