Nursery Rhymes

When it comes to quality nursery rhymes, the creators of Mother Goose Club are dedicated to producing and distributing only the very best content to serve their young, global audience. This means every nursery rhyme must engage, entertain and, most importantly, educate. Whether it be a traditional work like "The Wheels on the Bus", or an original like "Driving in My Car", Mother Goose Club holds all of its content to the highest educational standards.

Why Are Nursery Rhymes So Important?

Research shows that the first few years of a child’s life, including time spent in the womb, is when the brain develops most rapidly. So, it is never too early to begin exposing your baby to nursery rhymes. These simple songs promote phonemic awareness, vocabulary and story structure.

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate the different sounds that make up words. For example, a child that recognizes that the words to a familiar rhyme share the same ending sounds is more likely to predict words and story. Furthermore, a child who understands that the word “car” can be broken down into three sounds, /c/ /a/ /r/, and that adding the letter T to the end will make a new word, “cart”, is exercising their phonemic awareness. With extensive exposure and practice, children will begin to understand that we express sounds through certain letters and letter combinations, and that these combinations of sounds empowers us to communicate in the real world.

Nursery rhymes are also one of the best ways to expand vocabulary. A child who can sing along to Mother Goose Club’s 10 most popular songs on YouTube will have added 234 unique vocabulary words to their arsenal without even knowing it. As children memorize the sounds of these new words in the context of a nursery rhyme, they naturally deepen their understanding of the words for use in other contexts.

Children also learn through repetition. This is why many nursery rhymes for babies use simple words and melodies. Have you ever noticed that "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "ABC Song" share the same melody? And nursery rhymes generally have predictable story arcs with a beginning, middle and end. Each time a child sings a rhyme, they deepen their understanding of the content and improve their comprehension skills.

Getting the Most Out of Nursery Rhymes

Just as you naturally respond to a song you love, children will also naturally respond to their favorite nursery rhymes by smiling, dancing and singing along. Showing enthusiasm for your child’s favorite songs encourages them to continue interacting with similar invaluable content. So, even if you feel like rolling your eyes after you’ve played "Baby Shark" countless times, show your child that you are excited and model the behavior you want to see in them. Spending even a few minutes each day singing Mother Goose Club’s songs with your child is a simple, cost-effective way to bond and promote early literacy.

Mother Goose Club’s website is a premier nursery rhyme resource. The mobile-enabled site includes videos, streamable songs, sheet music lyrics and printable coloring pages for an extensive library of classic and original nursery rhymes. For parents and teachers, the site offers activities and tips on using nursery rhymes to promote literacy at home and school.

Happy rhyming!