Early Childhood News

Most adults can recall one or more Nursery Rhymes from their childhood, but did you know that Nursery Rhymes also help develop a child’s hearing awareness? At St Helena’s our children in Pre-Kindergarten to Year Two learn Nursery Rhymes as part of their phonological awareness program! 

Nursery rhymes teach children how to pronounce words. A lot of nursery rhymes are full of funny words. They have the role of helping children repeat difficult groups of sounds with the aim of improving their speech. Above all, nursery rhymes teach children intonation and correct pronunciation.

Nursery Rhymes are full of rhyming words, and usually it is words or groups of sounds that you don’t encounter in regular words. By children hearing these patterns of sounds, Nursery Rhymes help a child’s brain to differentiate between syllables and to identify similarities between words that rhyme or words that begin with the same sounds. 

Nursery Rhymes also helps children learn to understand abstract concepts like big, small, in front, behind, first and last. The words used in nursery rhymes help them develop language comprehension by associating words with people, objects, and events in their life.

Nursery rhymes are fun for children and they can be excellent conversation openers between children, parents and grandparents. Ask your child about the rhymes they have learnt in class and see if you know them!