Rhyme and Sing

Preschool

Young children love to hear, sing and say nursery rhymes and songs. Counting rhymes and songs can be both enjoyable for them and introduce them to basic mathematics concepts, such as number names and number sequence.

What You Need

• Book of nursery rhymes or songs
• Feather

What to Do

• Teach your child to the following counting rhyme.

Four Little Ducks
Four little ducks that I once knew,
Fat ducks, skinny ducks, they were, too.
But one little duck with a feather on her back,
She ruled the others with a quack! quack! quack!
Down to the river they all would go,
1, 2, 3, 4, all in a row.
But one little duck with a feather on her back,
She ruled the others with a quack! quack! quack!

• Say the rhyme with your child several times. When she can say the rhyme all the way through, have other family members join you. Give your child a feather and have her lead everyone around the room as you all sing.

• For the following rhyme, show your child how to perform the actions.

Five Little Speckled Frogs
Five little speckled frogs
(hold up five fingers)
Sitting on a speckled log
(sit on your heels)
Eating some most delicious bugs
(pretend to eat)
Yum! Yum!
One jumped into the pool
(jump)
Where it was nice and cool
(cross arms over chest and shiver)
Now there are four little speckled frogs.
(hold up four fingers)
Burr-ump!
(Continue until no frogs are left.)

• After saying the rhyme, ask your child to hold up the correct number of fingers to show how many frogs are in the rhyme at the beginning. Then have her hold up the correct number of fingers and count to five with you as you say each numeral.

• Teach your child any counting rhymes and songs that were your personal favorites when you were a child, or have your child ask her grandparents what rhymes they knew when they were children. Other counting rhymes, songs and games that you may want to teach your child include “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe,” “This Old Man,” “Ten in a Bed (Roll Over)” and “One for the Money.”

By Barbara J. Feldman

Barbara J. Feldman is a syndicated columnist and the publisher of Surf Net Parents, Surfnetkids.com and 51+ other family-friendly sites. She has been creating websites since 1996, and loves teaching others how to solve WordPress problems.