“Nursery rhymes” is a term which describes songs and poems traditionally used for children around the world.
100 Popular nursery rhymes can be in the form of poems or songs, and many teach children vital skills such as dexterity, rhyming, mnemonics, and serve as the first introduction children have to language.
While nursery rhymes are not necessarily great literature, their patterns and vocal tones resonate with babies as young as one day old.
Parents who sing these nursery rhymes to their babies in utero actually increase the recognition the baby has of the mother’s voice upon birth.
As children grow, more complex games can be used such as clapping games, where the parent and child clap with the beat of the song.
Counting songs teach children how to count and how to memorize things such as days of the week.
As children get older, they can be introduced to riddles where metaphors are used, or fables, where a moral is taught.
Benefits of Nursery Rhymes
Nursery rhymes enhance the development of these cognitive skills, making children more active and receptive. Nursery rhymes also aid verbal skills.
When children are read nursery rhymes, it improves their motor skills. Reading nursery rhymes also exposes children to language skills.
By teaching children nursery rhymes together, they can cultivate improved social skills. In addition to this, the regular use of nursery rhymes will give children improved auditory skills.
Why does singing nursery rhymes to babies work so well in calming them down?
Because babies can discriminate rhythmic patterns. Babies, from the day they are born, can detect differences in rhythmic patterns.
Infant-directed music is actually a type of communication between children and their caregivers or parents which involves a manner of sing-song speaking, play songs, and lullabies.
Around the world this is done characterized by singing or speaking with an emotional voice quality, a slower tempo, or a raised pitch.
This method of singing is what is referred to as “infant-directed singing”. It is important because there is an evolutionary link between child develop and this type of singing.
Here is a list of 100 popular nursery rhymes for kids:-
- A Was An Apple
- A Wise Old Owl
- A-Tisket A-Tasket
- Aiken Drum
- An Apple A Day
- As I Was Going To St. Ives
- As I Was Going To Charing Cross
- Baa Baa Black Sheep
- Billy Boy
- Bingo
- The Big Ship Sails
- Bobby Shafto’s Gone To Sea
- Bye Baby Bunting
- Christmas is Coming
- Cock a Doodle Doo
- Doctor Foster
- Ding Dong Bell
- Eeny Meeny Miny Moe
- Frog Went A-Courting
- Goosey Goosey Gander
- The Grand Old Duke of York
- Georgie Porgie
- Hark Hark the Dogs Go Bark
- Here’s The Church
- Hey Diddle Diddle
- Hickory Dickory Dock
- Horsey Horsey
- Hot Cross Buns
- Hush a Bye Baby
- Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
- Hush Little Baby
- How Many Miles to Babylon
- Humpty Dumpty
- If Wishes Were Horses Beggars Would Ride
- If I Had A Little Nut Tree
- I’m A Little Teapot
- Itsy Bitsy Spider
- Jackanory
- Jack and Jill
- Jack Be Nimble
- Jack Sprat
- Little Bo Peep
- Little Miss Muffet
- Little Robin Red Breast
- Little Tommy Tucker
- London Bells
- Lucy Lockett
- Little Boy Blue
- Little Jack Horner
- London Bridge is Falling Down
- Little Poll Parrot
- Matthew Mark Luke and John
- Mary Had a Little Lamb
- Mary Mary Quite Contrary
- Mondays Child
- Needles and Pins
- Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep
- Nuts in May
- Old King Cole
- Old Mother Hubbard
- Old Macdonald
- One Two Buckle My Shoe
- One Two Three Four Five
- Oranges and Lemons
- On Top of Old Smokey
- Pat a Cake
- Pease Pudding Hot
- Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater
- Pop Goes The Weasel
- Rain Rain Go Away
- Ring Around the Rosy
- Rock a Bye Baby
- Round and Round the Garden
- Roses are Red
- Row Row Row Your Boat
- Rub a Dub Dub
- Solomon Grundy
- Seesaw Marjorie Daw
- Sing a Song of Sixpence
- Starlight Star Bright
- The Farmer in the Dell
- The Muffin Man
- The Lion and the Unicorn
- The Sandman
- The Queen of Hearts
- There Was a Crooked Man
- There Was an Old Woman
- Thirty Days Hath September
- This is the House That Jack Built
- This Little Piggy
- Three Blind Mice
- Three Little Kittens
- Three Wise Men of Gotham
- Tinker Tailor
- To Market To Market
- Tom Tom the Piper’s Son
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- Wee Willie Winkie
- Where O Where Has My Little Dog Gone
- Wind the Bobbin Up
- Wynken Blynken and Nod
Why does singing nursery rhymes to babies work so well in calming them down?
Because babies can discriminate rhythmic patterns. Babies, from the day they are born, can detect differences in rhythmic patterns.
Infant-directed music is actually a type of communication between children and their caregivers or parents which involves a manner of sing-song speaking, play songs, and lullabies.
Around the world this is done characterized by singing or speaking with an emotional voice quality, a slower tempo, or a raised pitch.
This method of singing is what is referred to as “infant-directed singing”.
It is important because there is an evolutionary link between child develop and this type of singing.
History of Nursery Rhymes
The oldest songs for children, of which any records can be found, are lullabies. These are songs meant to help children sleep.
They have been discovered in every culture on earth. The term “lullaby” in English is derived from a combination of three popular sounds used by nurses and mothers to calm their children: “lu”, “la”, and “bye”.
If you examine medieval English lullabies, the text is often associated with the birth of Jesus. Contemporary lullabies have text such as “lullay, my liking, my dere son, my sweting”.
Today, many of the lullabies used come from the 17th century. Songs such as “Rock-a-bye, baby on a tree top” is not found in written records until it was printed in 1765 by John Newbery.
Throughout the world several attempts have been made to revise the current popular songs, fairy tales, and nursery rhymes.
Some organizations concerned themselves with ridding nursery rhymes of their more violent elements. One such organization was the British Society for Nursery Rhyme Reform.
Universal Appeal of Lullabies
For centuries lullabies have been used to soothe children and cultivate emotional bonds between parents and children.
In fact before human language even evolved the appeal of lullabies was prominent.
Lullabies soothe and comfort children and reinforce an emotional bond between the caregiver or parent and child. As it turns out this universal appeal is founded in actual science too.
