Dear Mother Goose by Michael Rosen was the perfect choice of book for World Nursery Rhyme Week as it featured two of this year’s chosen nursery rhymes. We enjoyed finding out what advice had been given by Mother Goose to the problems encountered by several well-known nursery rhyme characters in her letters to them. The children showed a keen interest in the book all week and enjoyed looking at the pictures, lifting the flaps in addition to reciting the rhymes.

 

Sing a Song of Sixpence

The children learned the rhyme at together time and made up actions to accompany the song. Not many of the children were familiar with the rhyme so we continued to learn the words throughout the week.

 

A tuff tray activity was set up to encourage the children to make a picture of a blackbird using 2D shapes.

‘A circle for the head.’

‘One square body.’

‘Triangles for the wings and tail.’

‘Blackbirds in the king’s pie.’

 

Humpty Dumpty

The children consolidated their understanding of positional language when placing a Humpty Dumpty finger puppet in different locations throughout the nursery.

‘On a chair.’

‘Under the table.’

‘Next to the bin.’

‘Behind a cushion.’

‘On top of the blocks.’

‘Above my head.’

 

Matching Humpty Dumpty picture cards provided the children with an opportunity to develop their understanding of halves and symmetry which we have been learning about recently.

‘These two pieces go together.’

‘Both sides are the same.’

‘That’s not right, the colours don’t match.’

‘Where does this half go?’

 

When I Was One (The Pirate Song)

The children enjoyed pretending to be pirates while singing the counting rhyme. We added actions and included a few dance moves as well.

‘I’m a scary pirate!’

‘Forwards and backwards dancing.’

‘Three rhymes with knee.’

 

Numicon was used to make a pirate hat and ship. The children used their problem solving skills and number recognition to position the shapes within the outlines. They showed good concentration and helped each other to fit the shapes together.

‘I need a shape with three holes.’

‘This is like a tricky puzzle.’

‘Where does this bit go?’

 

I Hear Thunder

This song was known to most of the children as we sing it regularly on rainy days during our together time.

‘We sing this song.’

‘Let’s sing it again.’

‘Pitter patter raindrops.’

 

A mark making activity allowed the children to create their own umbrella designs. There was an interesting discussion about the variety of colours, shapes and patterns chosen by the children.

‘I’m using red and blue.’

‘I want spots and stripes on my umbrella.’

‘Don’t forget to write your name.’

‘Look at my pattern.’

 

Two Little Dickie Birds

This was another rhyme that the children were familiar with. We had fun substituting the birds’ names (Peter and Paul) with staff and children’s names. The children had the opportunity to make finger puppet birds which they were keen to use when performing the actions while reciting the rhyme.

‘Fly away Peter, fly away Paul.’

‘My dickie birds are different colours.’

‘Two finger holes and two more – that’s 1, 2, 3, 4.’

‘Come back Mrs Goodlad, come back Mrs Hyde.’