What is a nursery rhyme?
A nursery rhyme is a short, traditional poem or song for young children. Many have been sung and recited for hundreds of years. You probably know some by heart:
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
Nursery rhymes are fun to say, easy to remember and full of playful sounds. They are also one of the best ways for young children to get ready to read.
What makes a nursery rhyme?
Most nursery rhymes share a few features.
Rhyme
Rhyme means words that end with the same sound. Hill and Jill rhyme. So do Jack and back, or star and are.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Rhythm
Rhythm is the beat. Clap along as you say Hickory, dickory, dock and you can feel a steady pattern. Rhythm makes rhymes easy to chant, sing, skip and clap to.
Repetition
Repetition means repeating words or lines. It makes rhymes easy to learn.
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.
Alliteration and silly sounds
Alliteration repeats beginning sounds: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Many rhymes also use made-up or silly words: Hey diddle diddle, Hickory dickory.
Short stories
Many nursery rhymes tell a tiny story with characters and a problem, all in a few lines. Humpty Dumpty sits on a wall, has a great fall, and can’t be put back together.
Where nursery rhymes come from
Nursery rhymes are part of the oral tradition. That means they were passed down by people saying and singing them, long before they were written in books. Parents taught them to children, who later taught them to their own children.
Because of this, the same rhyme can have slightly different words in different places. Many well-known English nursery rhymes were first printed in collections in the 1700s, and some are even older. Every culture has its own rhymes, lullabies and clapping songs.
Famous nursery rhymes
| Rhyme | What happens |
|---|---|
| Humpty Dumpty | An egg-shaped character falls off a wall. |
| Hey Diddle Diddle | A cow jumps over the moon. |
| Little Miss Muffet | A spider frightens a girl away. |
| Mary Had a Little Lamb | A lamb follows Mary to school. |
| Baa, Baa, Black Sheep | A sheep shares its wool. |
| Hickory Dickory Dock | A mouse runs up a clock. |
| Old Mother Hubbard | A cupboard is bare when the dog wants a bone. |
| Little Bo Peep | A shepherdess loses her sheep. |
Why nursery rhymes help children read
Nursery rhymes build phonological awareness: the ability to hear and play with the sounds in words. This is one of the most important skills for learning to read.
When children say nursery rhymes, they:
- hear rhymes, which helps them notice word families like -ill (hill, Jill, fill)
- hear syllables by clapping the beat
- learn new words, like pail, fetch and tuffet
- practise memory and sequencing
- build confidence by reciting something they know well
Rhymes also teach story structure, counting (One, two, buckle my shoe) and the joy of language.
How to enjoy nursery rhymes
- Say them aloud with expression, and change your voice for different characters.
- Clap, tap or march to the rhythm.
- Act them out. Fall down like Humpty Dumpty or tiptoe like a mouse.
- Leave out the rhyming word and let a child fill it in: Jack and Jill went up the …
- Change the words to make new, silly versions.
- Draw a picture of the story in the rhyme.
Try it yourself
- Say Hickory Dickory Dock and clap the rhythm.
- Find the rhyming words in Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
- Write your own two-line rhyme about your pet or favourite food. Make the last words rhyme.
Example: My cat likes to sleep in the sun, / Then chase her tail just for fun.
Tip for families
Make nursery rhymes part of everyday routines: in the bath, in the car or at bedtime. Pause before a rhyming word and let your child finish the line.
Quick recap
- Nursery rhymes are short traditional poems and songs for young children.
- They use rhyme, rhythm, repetition and alliteration.
- They come from the oral tradition and were passed down by speaking and singing.
- They help children hear the sounds in words, an important step in learning to read.