Are Nursery Rhymes Obsolete?
September 5, 2008
Just how old are they? No one knows for sure, but let’s take one nursery rhyme, “A APPLE PIE” (listen to the “A Apple Pie” nursery rhyme here - it’s the first audio clip on the page). We know this is a very ancient rhyme as reference is made to it as early as 1671 in one of the writings of John Eachard.
As to be expected, anything that has survived hundreds of years changes over time. The rhyme currently has several versions, and today’s most popular version differs slightly from the original, but the rhyme is still in use and is still accurate.
As can be guessed from the title, “A APPLE PIE” is about the English alphabet. There is nothing obsolete about the English alphabet. It is still very much in use and differs only slightly from what it was in 1671.
What Nursery Rhymes Do
Rhymes such as this were used in olden days to help children learn to read, count, rhyme, learn vocabulary and string words together, especially to a meter. Not bad for simple verse.
Traditional nursery rhymes, such as those you’ll find you’ll find on the “40 Favorite Nursery Rhymes and Songs” CD were developed and used for centuries because they were tremendously useful. In fact, they survived to this day because nothing accomplishes the job better.
Why Are Nursery Rhymes So Useful?
But exactly why are nursery rhymes such valuable teaching tools, you might ask? Much of the answer lies in their simplicity. They are short, catchy, rhythmic, easy to memorize and contain real-world language elements that promote “learning by osmosis.” And, they rhyme – which helps the mind learn. In other words, the words, rhythms, meter and phrasing in nursery rhymes “sinks in” to a child’s mind without even trying. Actually, it sinks in 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 already there.
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 the child needs 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.
Does learning get better than this? No method of learning where the child learns automatically while enjoying him or herself can ever become obsolete in my book. Long live the noble nursery rhyme!
Rufina James
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