How rhymes and songs benefit your baby and toddler

The incredible eight different ways that songs and nursery rhymes can help your child's development

1. Language development

Rhymes, rhythms and melodies are a lot of fun to listen to and say and can make learning words more fun. The different speeds, volumes and sounds make them much more interesting to hear and to sing or say! The mirroring of the sounds also helps your child to identify specific vowel and consonant sounds which makes learning easier.

2. Social play and relationships

Singing and saying rhymes together has been proven to help create bonds and helps build relationships. Singing together also is a lot of fun and your child will build social interaction skills, observation skills and learn from other older children's model behaviour.

3. Physical skills

Many nursery rhymes include hand movements or actions or role playing. These help to build spatial awareness as well as fine and gross motor skills.

4. Memory improvement

You child will improve their memorising skills by learning new songs and rhymes through visualising and repeating.

5. Reading skills

Nursery rhymes are wonderful to read with your child and the repetition of sounds and letters are easy to pick out and see and will help your child build good reading skills.

6. Writing Skills

It may even be fun to write out the nursery rhymes. Similarly, the repetition and alliteration will help your child to build knowledge of the letters of the alphabet very quickly.

7. Learning to count

We love the counting songs such as one, two three, four, five, once we caught a fish alive. These types of songs are a wonderful way to help with your child's number and counting skills and can be excellent ways to help engage your child with their environment.

8. Learning a different language

Listening, singing and reading nursery rhymes and songs is also a wonderful way to help your child to learn a second language and is a lot of fun too.