Nursery Rhymes are so fun!
They are also a great way for our kids to become more familiar with language.
Rhyme and repetition gets their developing minds all set to learn.
Sing a Song of Sixpence is one of our favorite nursery rhymes.
Here are three easy ways the kids and I have been learning and playing with this rhyme.
1. Fill a Pie
What You Need
- Shape Beads
- Pocket Cube
- Cube Cards with Bead Patterns*
- Bowl
- Pie tin (or another bowl)
- Spoon
*To make your own cube cards with bead patterns, cut out six squares that fit the cube and trace, then color the shape beads onto the cards.
*** The unique supplies in this list were part of our Mother Goose Time curriculum and shipped right to our door 🙂 I have linked to similar items that may be purchased online for your convenience.
How to Play
Discuss
What types of pies have you eaten?
Did you (or Mom ;)) follow a recipe?
What were some of the ingredients?
Set out the Shape Beads and Spoons.
Explore
Invite children to explore using the spoons to sort the beads by color or shape.
Let them practice using a spoon (we used a large plastic serving spoon) to move the beads from one container or bowl to another.
Play
Put all the shape beads in a bowl.
Invite a child to roll the cube and scoop out the matching shapes.
Encourage him to identify the shapes and drop the bead into the pie tin.
Repeat until all of the beads are in the pie tin or empty the tin and roll the dice again to make a different pie.
Mama Notes
The kids really enjoyed playing with the beads and moving them back and forth using the spoon.
They were initially inclined to sort them by color and shape. For example, we made a blue pie and then a square pie.
Once we started playing with the dice they caught on quickly and were really excited to being making pies using a recipe just like Momma and Gram!
Create a Pie (An Invitation to Create)
What You Need
- Play Doh® or Home Made Play Dough
- If you want to make Your Own Play Dough
- Supplies
- 4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups salt
- 2 Tbsp. oil
- 1 cup water
- Large bowl
- Directions
- Mix the flour and salt in a bowl.
- Add the oil.
- Mix in the water a little bit at a time.
- Knead the mixture until dough forms.
- Optional: Use the 5 senses to explore the dough and record words that describe it.
- Supplies
- If you want to make Your Own Play Dough
- Pie tin
- Cornstarch noodles – (my kids love using these in all kinds of crafts like this one and this one too)
- Rolling pins, tubes, or other tools for play with play dough
- My kids love this Play Doh® Kit.
*** The unique supplies in this list were part of our Mother Goose Time curriculum and shipped right to our door 🙂 I have linked to similar items that may be purchased online for your convenience.
How to Play
Discuss
What is your favorite kind of pie?
Set Up
Show the kids some photos of pie.
Set out the play dough and tools (tubes, rolling pins, etc.) in the center of the table.
Provide each child a pie tin and cornstarch noodles.
Prompts
What type of pie do you see in the photo?
What is on top of the pie?
What do you think is inside?
What kind of pie would you like to make?
Mama Notes
My kids are always more than happy to bust out the play dough.
They had a wonderful time rolling and flattening the play dough while discussing the pies they were going to make. Most of them were silly, but my favorite was the rose pie my daughter made.
Best of all this delightful activity kept my little ones hands busy and out of trouble the entire time dinner was being made.
Blackbird Letters
What You Need
Rhyme Time Poster (Enlarged copy of Sing a Song of Sixpence) – You can find the words here.
Blackbird Cards (you can just cut some index cards and draw little birds on them)
An Example Letter “I” or “i” Card (you can write the letter on an index card or a piece of construction paper)
*** The unique supplies in this list were part of our Mother Goose Time curriculum and shipped right to our door 🙂 I have linked to similar items that may be purchased online for your convenience.
How to Play
Discuss
What letters do you recognize in the word “blackbird”?
Explore
Look at the Letter I Card and invite children to explore writing the letter “I” and “i” on paper.
Play
Encourage children to recite the rhyme together or with you.
Invite a child to search for the letter “I” on the poster and cover it with a blackbird card.
Take turns covering “I’s” until all the blackbird cards are used.
Invite children to find other letters on the poster if desired.
Simplify: Cut out a paper arrow and draw the letter “i” on the end of it. Point to the word “pie” and invite the child to use the letter pointer to point to the “i.” Repeat with others words.
Challenge: Make word cards for the words that have the letter “i” in them. Invite the child to find the words on the poster and place the words cards on top.
Mama Notes
Kids learn and retain letters best when they encounter them in context.
My kids were able to “read along” because they knew what words come next in the rhyme.
My daughter insisted on finding all her letters with the rhyme upside down. Maybe she’ll be able to read upside down too someday…..LOL
Suggested Picture Book
And if you are looking for a picture book to top off the fun, here’s a great choice!
Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming and G. Brian Karas
What Nursery Rhyme does your family love to say or sing?
Have fun!
Save these ideas for later, the picture below is perfect for pinning to Pinterest!
