Are Nursery Rhymes Still Relevant?

I'm sometimes asked if nursery rhymes are still relevant.

Asking if nursery rhymes are still relevant is like asking if learning to speak, read and write is still relevant.  The truth is, there is nothing better than nursery rhymes to prepare your child for speech and  literacy.

I often wonder if one of the reasons literacy rates have dropped so much in the last 30 years is because children today are exposed to less and less nursery rhymes.

Consider this:  nursery rhymes have been around for hundreds of years.  Nothing can survive that long unless it is proven to be worthy or useful. 

Why Are Nursery Rhymes So Useful

Rhymes were used in olden days to help children learn to read, count, rhyme, learn vocabulary and string words together, especially to a meter.  They survived to this day because nothing accomplishes the job better.

Nursery Rhymes Are Packed With Learning Elements

Why are nursery rhymes such valuable teaching tools?  Much of the answer lies in their simplicity. They are short, catchy, rhythmic, easy to memorize.  But most importantly, they contain real-world language elements that promote "learning by osmosis."  The words, rhythms, meter and phrasing in nursery rhymes "sink in" to a child's mind without the child even trying.  Actually, while the child is having fun with the rhyme!

With nursery rhymes, the learning happens automatically simply by hearing, chanting, learning and playing with the rhyme.  It's the natural way children learn.  So parents don't have to worry about missing any important pedagogical elements - they're built in.

In addition the unique qualities of nursery rhymes stimulate both sides of the brain to work.  When the right and left hemispheres of the brain work in synchrony on a regular basis, higher intelligence develops.

Children Love Nursery Rhymes

Children love nursery rhymes and never tire of them (until they outgrow them starting at about 8 years old).  There are so many things to learn in any given rhyme that children need constant repetition of the rhyme over a period of years to absorb them all.  And again, the learning takes place unconsciously, without effort, simply by repeating, reading, chanting, playing with and enjoying the rhyme.

There's No Better Way For A Child To Learn

Does learning get better than this?  No method of learning can match children learning automatically while having fun and using both sides of the brain can ever become obsolete.  Long live the humble nursery rhyme!