Recommended activities to celebrate World Nursery Rhyme Week

World Nursery Rhyme Week takes place all over the world from 11th to 15th November 2024. This rhyme-tastic week offers a fantastic opportunity to immerse young children in the magical world of rhymes. By celebrating this special week, we can instill a love for language, rhythm, and storytelling from an early age while having lots of fun! 

Why World Nursery Rhyme Week matters

Nursery rhymes play a crucial role in early childhood development. Listening to and singing nursery rhymes support children’s speech and language development by introducing them to the patterns and rhythm of speech. They help children to distinguish between different speech sounds: hearing and learning to say them. Children acquire new vocabulary through rhyme and repetition. As well as being a huge amount of fun, nursery rhymes support all areas of learning!

The 5 official rhymes for 2024 are:

• Twinkle Twinkle
• Old Macdonald
• The Big Ship Sails
• Incy Wincy Spider
• 5 Currant Buns

Example World Nursery Rhyme Week activities

To get you inspired, we’ve put together a roundup of some free resources and activities you can use in your setting:

Music videos
Singing days are happy days, so why not try award-winning Piccolo Music songs and videos that encourage babies, toddlers and children to learn, play and of course smile & laugh!

Inclusive expert ideas using music (webinar)
Join Zoë Austin in this expert, affordable webinar where she will share strategies and ideas to use music in an inclusive way.

Zoë Austin – Music in the Early Years: examples of easy, effective, inclusive activities

Paper-based activity ideas you can print
The official World Nursery Rhyme Week have also shared some free resources that you can download, print and get creative with! https://www.worldnurseryrhymeweek.com/activity-ideas/ Here are some of the phonics activities they recommend too:
https://www.worldnurseryrhymeweek.com/phonics-shed-resources/ 

How to incorporate rhymes in your setting

You can be creative in how you incorporate the nursery rhymes in your setting, for example:

• You can have a nursery rhyme ‘table’ with activities and resources set up that are relevant to the different rhymes
• You can dedicate some time every day to sing the rhymes. Using actions, Makaton signs, pictures or physical resources can help to make this inclusive for all children
• You can also encourage children and parents/carers to bring in a song from their own culture to share with the group
• Remember you can also use a ‘choosing board’ to encourage children with limited verbal language skills to share their preferences and get involved!

Want more expert, early years advice? Stay on top of your practice by signing up to award-winning software, Kinderly Together! Includes our CPD webinar platform too and loads of support!