Here are the top five nursery rhyme activities.
Number One: Peas, Bowls, Spoons:
Peas Porridge Hot
Purpose:
Practice identifying, copying and making AB, AAB, ABB, & ABC patterns.
Directions:
The pattern activities can increase in difficulty which makes it a great project for a variety of children and parents.
•First you need to have pre-made cutouts and pattern strips available.
•Next you need to choose 1 pre-made pea, bowl, and/or spoon pattern strip
•Next you want to place the cutouts on top of the pattern strip, making the same pattern that is already on the strip.
•Now you want to continue making the same pattern off the edge of the strip.
To double check your pattern go back to the beginning of the pattern and say either the color or letters for each pattern
•You can also use the cutouts to create your own pattern. And then let an adult guess what your pattern is or you can discuss with them what kind of a pattern you made.
Number Two: Humpty Dumpty Egg and Spoon:
Materials Needed:
Depending on the age of the children involved you can use hard boiled eggs or you can use ping pong balls. You can also use raw eggs but they will make a mess if dropped.
•Plastic or metal spoons
Directions:
•First thing you need to do is place the egg on the spoon making sure it is balanced.
•Now you need to have the children walk up and down the room while balancing their egg.
•The winner of the game is the first child back to the starting point with their egg. You are not supposed to drop the eggs during your trip but with kids it is bound to happen so it is just the first one back.
To make things interesting you can make some kind of obstacle course for the children to maneuver, such as things they need to step over or crawl under.
Number Three: Handprint Lamb Craft:
Materials needed:
•Construction paper
•Paint or ink
•Markers
•Cotton balls
•Glue
Directions:
•Trace the child’s hand onto a piece of construction paper and then cut it out. Or you can make the handprint by using ink or paint and pressing the child’s hand down onto paper. But even if you do a hand paint print you are still going to need to cut it out.
•Next have the children fill in the palm area of the handprint with cotton balls. Depending on the age of the child you will have to apply the glue and they can place the cotton balls. Older children can use popsicle sticks to apply the glue and then place the cotton balls.
•Next have the children draw a face in the thumb area of the hand print. They are going to want to draw eyes and a mouth some will even draw noses and that is o.k. let them be creative.
•Now tape a ribbon or string to the back of the lamb so they can hang it as a decoration or as an ornament on the Christmas tree.
Number Four: Baa Baa Black Sheep
Materials Needed:
•Paper, color white
•Pencil
•Glue
•Sheep outline
Directions:
•First you are going to need to draw a sheep outline or find one on the internet
•Next you need to cut the white paper into paper strips. You can make them as thin or as thick as you want.
•Now you need to curl the paper strips around the pencil, this is to make curly q’s for the actual sheep.
•Finally you need to glue the curled paper strips onto the outline of the sheep.
Number Five: Nursery Rhyme Puppets
Materials Needed:
•Nursery rhyme coloring books
•Crayons
•Glue
•Popsicle sticks
•Contact paper
Directions:
•Have children color any page that they want out of the nursery rhyme coloring books
•After the pages have been colored cut out the characters from each page
•After cutting out the characters use contact paper to laminate them, you can also actually laminate them with a laminator
•Staple or hot glue the laminated characters to a popsicle stick
•Now have the children act out their rhymes with their new puppets.
