Nursery Rhymes

Little Jack Horner

Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner
Eating his Christmas pie.
He stuck in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said,
"What a good boy am I!"

Mary Had A Little Lamb

Mary had a little lamb,
little lamb,little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.

Everywhere that Mary went,
Mary went,Mary went.
Everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.

Hey, diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon.
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.

The King was in his counting house,
Counting out his money;
The Queen was in the parlor
Eating bread and honey.
The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes.
Along there came a big black bird
And snipped off her nose!

One for my master,
One for my dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives in the lane.

Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full.

It's Raining,
It's Pouring

It's raining, it's pouring;

The old man is snoring.

Bumped his head

And he went to bed

And he couldn't get up in the morning.

Rain, rain, go away;

Come again another day;

Little Johnny wants to play.

Day 1:  introduce poem, invite predictions, discuss the message
Day 2:  read poem together, discuss new/interesting vocabulary
Day 3:  read poem together, use poem to introduce or reinforce any new print concepts; model left-to-right directionality and review the terms poem and title;
identify the pairs of rhyming words and highlight them.
Day 4:  read poem together,
move/stamp/clap/snap to the rhythm, reinforce print concepts; act out the poem using simple props.
Day 5:  students add poem to poetry journal, then illustrate and "highlight" (with yellow crayon) the rhyming words.

I went to school.
My lamb followed me.
Who Am I? ( Mary)

We went to fetch water.
We fell down the hill.
Who are we? ( Jack and Jill)

I'm nimble and quick.
I jumped over the candlestick.
Who am I? ( Jack)

I sat on a wall.
When I fell off the wall, I broke.
Who am I? ( Humpty Dumpty)

I'm a merry old soul.
I called for my pipe, my bowl and three fiddlers.
Who am I? ( Old King Cole)

I blow my horn to call the sheep.
I fell asleep under the haystack.
Who am I? ( Little Boy Blue)

Little Miss/Mr. Muffet (could substitute the child's name)
Sat on his/her __________________.
Eating his/her __________________. Along came a ____________________.
And sat down beside him/her
And frightened ________________ away!

"Jack Be Nimble"
Graph

Preparation: Make a large posterboard graph.  Title the top "Jack Be Nimble".  Divide the board into 4 columns.  Draw five horizontal lines to make blocks under the title.  In the 1st column on the left print 5,4,3,2,1 in each block going down.

Make assorted colored, candles out of poster board. ( not more than 5 of one color but not the same number for each color! ) Duplicate a paper graph for each child to use in the center.

To Play: Children work in center groups to place the candles by color on the large graph.  Then each child colors one block on his own paper graph for each candle of the same color on the poster board graph.  They can also print the number of blocks that are colored in each column, under that column, on their own paper.

Sing a Song of
Sixpence Math

Have toast with honey. Sample two kinds of honey. Which did we prefer on our toast?

How Many Blackbirds?  
Cut out  blackbirds. Put some birds in the pie. Count the birds.

Itsy Bitsy Spider
Counting Book

Use stamp pads to make thumbprint spiders on a programmed step-page booklet.
(1-5, or more)

One, Two,
Buckle My Shoe

1,2  Buckle my shoe
3,4  Shut the door
5,6  Pick up sticks
7,8  Lay them straight
9, 10  A big fat hen.
Let's get up and count again!

This makes another good counting book, or try having students match objects to pre-programmed number cards.       

Hickory Dickory
Dock Clock

Provide each child with a 7-inch wide paper plate (clock face) and a 9x12 brown construction paper sheet trimmed to resemble a clock. On construction paper, reproduce the mouse, ear, pocket, and clock-hand patterns. Staple yarn to the mouse to resemble a tail. Staple the loose end of the yarn near the bottom center of the brown paper. Extend the mouse toward the top of the brown paper before you staple or glue the nursery rhyme pocket on top of the yarn, leaving an opening at the top of the pocket. Decorate the back of a paper plate to resemble a clock with a smiling face. Attach the clock-hand cutouts with a paper fastener. Glue or staple the plate to the upper part of the construction paper

Little Boy Blue
Positional Words

Practice positional words with this hands-on activity. Make a haystack shape from tagboard. Coat the haystack with a layer of glue and then sprinkle on crushed shredded wheat. Make a little boy blue puppet from craft sticks. Have students position their boy cutouts around their haystacks to match particular positions: over, under, on top, etc.

In and Out
of the Web

Preparation: Make a spinner gameboard. I use a piece of poster board and put a spinner in the middle o fit. Divide the board into four equal sections. Draw a box in each section. Two boxes are labeled IN and two boxes are labeled OUT. In the IN sections draw a spider IN the box and in the OUT sections draw the spider OUT of the box.  Write "Little Miss Muffet" on the gameboard. For spider webs, glue a real berry basket near each corner.

To play: Each player is given four spider rings to start play.  In turn, each child spins and puts a spider in his basket or takes one out of his basket as decided by the spinner. Play goes on until one player has all four of his spiders in the basket.

The Old Woman's
Shoe

After reciting "There Was An Old Woman Who Lived in  a Shoe", try this project.  Each child traces a simple shoe pattern out of oaktag or cardstock, and cuts it out.  Punch holes for lacing. Children take a piece of yarn to lace the shoe with. Look for a picture of an "Old Lady" in a magazine or copy one that the students can color, cut and glue onto the shoe. Have smiley face stickers they can put on the shoe for the children or they use a "smiley face stamp"

Twinkle, Twinkle,
Little Star

A Visual Memory Game

Recite the nursery rhyme. Then place eight to ten, different colored star cut outs on a table or floor.  Give the children time to look at what is there.  Ask the children to close their eyes and remove a star. The children guess what color star is missing.  As children get better, you can remove more than one star.

Pat-a-Cakes

After reading and memorizing the familiar rhyme, give each child a toothpick and a slice of cut-and-bake cookie dough. After patting the slice to mold it somewhat, have each child use his toothpick to prick a configuration of holes representing the first letter of his name.

Nursery Rhyme
ABC Centers

Students identify the characters in the story.  Then, to complete a Nursery Rhyme Review Book, each student will write in the initial letter sounds for each character's name:
"__ee __illie __inkie  ran down the street."

Hey Diddle Diddle
Finger Painting

Finger-paint while listening to country fiddle or classical violin music. When dry, decorate with cat stickers.

Nursery Rhyme
Story Box

  Choose a nursery rhyme that is familiar to the children. Find the "pieces" needed to tell the story.  Put them in a box large enough to hold the biggest pieces (a shoe box would work) and put the words to the nursery rhyme or a brief outline of the story on the inside of the lid. These can be used independently by the children or a parent helper can work with a small group. 

High Stepping
Humpty Dumpty

Use a sheet of light blue construction paper.  Pre-draw a horizontal line across the middle of the paper.  Cut two holes below the lines just big enough for fingers. (Do this ahead) Without covering the holes, glue torn bits of red construction paper below the line for the brick wall.

Next, trace an oval shape onto white paper (to become Humpty's body) and decorate it to look like Humpty Dumpty. Cut it out and glue just above the pre-cut holes in the blue paper. Draw arms on the blue paper to complete Humpty...... or you can make folded, accordion arms and glue them on.

As the children poke their fingers into the holes, Humpty will be able to kick about as they recite the rhyme.

Humpty Dumpty

Students cut out egg shape and add features to resemble Humpty Dumpty; then they sponge paint a brick wall for him to sit on.

Another
Humpty Dumpty

Cut a tagboard oval shape. Cover it with thinned glue. Cover the glue with crushed eggshells or bits of white tissue paper. Once the glue has dried, attach wiggle eyes and create additional features if desired.

Pat-a-Cakes
Mini Cakes

Read as many rhymes as possible, but end with "Pat-a-Cake". Recreate the poem using children's names.  Each child illustrates a cake, frosts it with "fluff" (a wonderful concoction of shaving cream, glue, and food coloring) and then tops it with the appropriate die-cut letter for his/her name.

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, Baker's man.
Bake me a cake as fast as you can.
Pat it and prick it and mark it with a __.
Then put it in the oven for _______ and me!

Baa Baa
Black Sheep

To make imitation wool, shake cotton balls in a ziploc bag with powdered black tempera paint. As you remove each cotton ball from the bag, shake it to remove the excess powder. Glue several of the dark cotton balls to a sheep cutout.

The Land of
Nursery Rhymes.

Tell the children you are going on an imaginary trip to "The Land of Nursery Rhymes." Brainstorm about what they might do in this imaginary place and who they might meet. Brainstorm presents to bring for each nursery rhyme character. Pack the presents in a large duffel bag. later on throughout the unit, give students opportunities to unpack and repack the items, recalling as they do the nursery rhyme character with whom each item is associated.

To Rhyming Land We Go!
[tune: The Farmer In The Dell]

To Rhyming Land we go,
To Rhyming Land we go!
Hi-ho the derry-o,
To Rhyming Land we go!

Continue singing the song above, substituting the following verses:
Verse 2: King Cole wears a crown
Verse 3: Jack and Jill fell down.
Verse 4: Bo-Peep has lost her sheep.
Verse 5: Boy Blue is fast asleep.
Verse 6: The cat can play a tune.
Verse 7: The cow jumps over the moon.
Verse 8: A star shines in the sky.
Verse 9: And now we'll say goodbye!

Jack and Jill
Sink and Float

Fill a pail full of water. Create two poster-board cutouts. (Label one with sink and the other with float.) Provide several objects that will sink and several that will float. For each object, make a matching picture card. Attach a ziploc baggie to each cutout - making the float baggie appear to be above the water line. Make predictions and then try your guess. Move the appropriate card to the correct pail when trying and concluding your guesses

Little Boy Blue
Haystacks.

Melt two packages of butterscotch chips on a hot plate or microwave. Do not stir. Mix a large package of chow mein noodles with the melted butterscotch chips. Drop spoonfuls of this mixture onto waxed paper to cool. Serve theses mouth-watering treats for snack. (You can also used peanut butter chips as some children do not like butterscotch, but be careful for allergies!)

Queen of Hearts
Tarts

Use refrigerator biscuits and cherry pie filling.  Have the children flatten the biscuits and then put a spoon full of pie filling in the middle of the circle.  Fold one edge of the biscuit over and seal shut.  Bake until golden brown.  Watch them because the children flatten them and the cook quickly.

Humpty Dumpty's
Wall

Materials: supply of tiles, all the same color
Before beginning this activity check to see if the children know the rhyme. If they do not know it teach them the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. Using one-to-one correspondence, one tile for each word said, for several phrases model several examples. (Student full names could be modeled as examples.) Make sure that each child knows how to name the tiles. Set up a pool of tiles in the middle of the table. Then have the children name each tile as she/he lines them up. Be sure to use a left-to-right orientation. The children will be building Humpty Dumpty's wall. When Humpty Dumpty's wall has been built give each child a picture of a "Humpty Dumpty" to place on top of her/his wall.

Humpty Dumpty
and Friends

Materials: set of sound cards with pictures of words beginning with vowels
Explain to the children that Humpty Dumpty wasn't the only one who "had a great fall". Hold up a picture of an a sound such as a card with a picture of an apple. Tell the students to listen for this sound in the poem. Then recite poem changing the short /u/ sound to an /a/ sound.

Hampty Dampty sat on the wall,
Hampty Dampty had a great fall,
All the king's horses and all the king's men,
Couldn't put Hampty Dampty together again.

Now hold up a picture of an /o/ sound word. Work with the children to help them change the rhyme to the following:

Hompty Dompty sat on the wall,
Hompty Dompty had a great fall,
All the king's horses and all the king's men,
Couldn't put Hompty Dompty together again.

Continue in this manner next using the /i/ sound and finally the /e/ sound.

Humpty Dumpty
and Friends
(Version 2)

If the children have difficulty with the vowel game, initial sounds may be used changing the name of Humpty Dumpty to a targeted sound such as Bumpty Dumpty. Children's name sounds can be used to personalize it, increase interest and draw attention to matching sounds. For example:

Bumpty Dumpty sat on the wall,
Bumpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Bumpty Dumpty together again.

Where is
Humpty Dumpty Sitting?

To further emphasize the rhyming nature of these activities children can brainstorm words that rhyme with wall/fall, men/again These new words can then be substituted in the rhyme. For example:

Humpty Dumpty sat in the mall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great ball,
All the king's horses and all the king's men,
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again.

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the king's horses and all the king's ten,
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty into the pen.

Extensions
and Connections

To take the above activities a step further, they could be used, with slight adjustments, at a later date as reading, phonics, and/or spelling activities.  for example, the rhyme could be written out on large, heavy paper, the words cut apart and mixed up.  The children could then be asked to reconstruct the poem.

 As a phonics/reading activity children could be given the poem in a written format with the vowels deleted and then asked to substitute vowels and read the poem. A cloze activity could lead students into writing their own poems. Similar activities could be done with other rhymes.

The Real
Humpty Dumpty

You will need several blocks to make a "wall, shallow pan, raw egg, markers. Look at a picture of Humpty Dumpty and ask the children what he is. Work together to build a small "wall" (6 to 12 inches tall) of blocks on a table. At the base of the wall place a shallow pan. Take a raw egg and carefully draw a face on it. Hold the egg so that it is "sitting" on the wall. Together recite the nursery rhyme and let your Humpty Dumpty "have a great fall" into the pan. The children really love to watch this, so feel free to do it again four more times! You can use the five eggs you've cracked for making Pat-A-Cakes.

Pat-a-Cakes

(Remove the egg shells from your Humpty Dumptys
and use the eggs to make this recipe)

In a large bowl mix: 5 cups of flour, 5 tsp. baking powder, 1 1/2 c. sugar, make a hole in the dry ingredients and add: 5 eggs, 1 c. oil, and 3 t. vanilla. Mix into dough. Give each child a fork. Let each take some dough and roll it into a ball about 2" in diameter. Then as you recite the Pat-A-Cake aloud, let them pat it flat on the table, prick it with a fork, and then with the fork mark their initials. Carefully remove the cakes from the table with a spatula and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Jack Be Nimble

You will need a small unbreakable candlestick holder and a unlit candle. Place it on the floor and have the children take turns jumping over the candlestick as you say the nursery rhyme aloud.

Lots of
Rhyme Ideas

• The rhyme Ten Little Monkeys can be used in a unit on numbers. Make (or have the children make) ten paper monkeys, and they can put out the right number of monkeys for each verse of the rhyme. The rhyme One, Two, Three, Four, Five also works for this, using fish.
• The rhyme Monday's Child can be used as a supplement to teaching the days of the week.
• You can use rhymes to introduce the children to the idea that languages and customs change over time. Many of the words used in rhymes are slightly archaic but have modern-day equivalents. For example, in the rhyme Old Mother Hubbard, ask (or tell) the children what the modern equivalent of cupboard is (a cabinet). Also, the rhymes can introduce the children to some of the interesting differences in the ways we live now and how people lived long ago. For example, in the rhyme Rub-a-dub-dub, Three Men in a Tub, one of the men is a candle-stick maker. You can explain that long ago, people didn't have electricity or electric lights, and used candles for light. Jack and Jill are fetching water; this can start a discussion about where we get water now and how people used to go to wells for water and carry the water home. These rhymes can lead to a discussion about the many differences between now and then.

Mother Goose
Olympics

To end your unit, celebrate "Rub a Dub Dub". Take a field trip to the Butcher, the Baker, and the Candlestick Maker (local gift store with many candles).

Continued on to the park where you may have lunch and the Mother Goose Olympics.

-- Jack Be Nimble Relay:  Line up cones about four feet apart in two lines and then separate the children into two teams. The students have to jump over the cones (candlesticks) down and back until the last team member has had a turn.

--Baa Baa Black Sheep Relay:Have burlap bags to put a child in. Have them hop down the course and back and switch with the next in line until all done.

--Jack and Jill Relay:Dip a pail in a LARGE bucket of water run to the other end (don't spill it), dump the pail into another waiting bucket, run back and continue with the next child in line. At the end the team that has the most water in the large bucket is the winner. The trick is not to spill water or fall down and break your crown.

-- Little Jack Horner Relay: The children hold a pie plate above their head, run down the course and back handing it off to the next student until each team member has had a turn. 

Don't forget the Mother Goose Gold Medals at the end of the day!