Last week, Ella and I flew down to North Carolina for a week of family vacation. To spare her (and us for that matter) a 10-hour car ride, my husband had already left the day before to take our car down to NC. So every time I travel with Ella by myself, I try to have an array of entertainment options at hand: toys, coloring books, video clips etc.
Among the videos that Ella loves to watch these days are Nursery Rhyme Videos from Little Baby Bum, a UK-based company that makes colorful, 3D videoclips for kids in different languages. You can download the videos for purchase on Little Baby Bum’s website or watch them for free on Youtube. Here is an example from Youtube (and, oh, yes, my husband and I do know the lyrics by heart! ;-)):
The English version:
The German version:
For further reading:
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There is research which suggests that kids who are exposed to nursery rhymes have enhanced phonological awareness (i.e., awareness for the distribution and patterns of speech sounds in a language and how these rules govern pronunciation). Laurie Harper explored the relationship between knowledge of Euro-American nursery rhymes and phonological awareness in 3-year old children. For more on her study click here.
[Complete citation: Harper, L. J. (2011). Nursery rhyme knowledge and phonological awareness in preschool children. The Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 7(1), 65-78.]
1 comment
We listened to nursery rhymes in the house and also in the car when we were on the move. Repeated listening and memorization the keys to using Spanish nursery rhymes and getting the most benefit from them.