Health & Fitness
Why "Old Mother Hubbard" is Still Important in Our Age of Technology
Remember the Nursery Rhymes and Songs of our childhood? It turns out our families were 'setting the stage' for us learning to read.
A forerunner to children's reading is the ability to hear and distinguish sounds--educators call this process phonemic awareness. Rhyming words in Nursery Rhymes help children become aware of sounds. The importance of this learning is highlighted in research, showing that Kindergarten children need 18 hours of phonemic awareness teaching to learn this skill. What fathers, mothers, and grandmothers have done for generations in teaching infants, toddlers, and preschoolers the nursery rhymes has laid some of the foundation for later reading.
So continue the tradition, dust off the nursery rhyme book and return to Humpty Dumpty, Little BoPeep, and Jack Be Nimble. Or sing the nursery rhymes and do not worry how you sound--your child loves your singing!