When my girls were toddlers I used to spend a long time sat on the floor with them clapping and singing a variety of nursery rhymes. I spent many hours singing a variety of verses from row, row, row your boat or baa baa black sheep just to keep them happy. Unfortunately, when my kids were younger we didn’t have as many technical gadgets as we do now so I didn’t have the option to introduce them to something like ChuChu TV.
We were visiting family this weekend and I was put in charge of a nine-month-old baby which gave me the perfect opportunity to test out the ChuChu TV channel and see if the nursery rhymes were really as good as I thought. My niece is at the stage of being able to clap and being really happy with herself when she does it so the videos I shared with her were perfect for her development. It got me thinking about what my girls thought were their favourite nursery rhymes when they were younger.
- Row Row Row your boat gently down the stream – We ended up adding all sorts of verses to this that included lions, polar bears and a variety of other animals that I have now forgotten. It is a great action rhyme that you can start to do from a very young age.
- Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes – Another fabulous action rhyme we used to use Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes as a great way to stay warm when out and about as well as a good stretching technique.
- Ringa Ringa Roses – For a rhyme with such a dark history it is still one of our all-time favourites and even now the girls will join in just so they can fall to the floor at the appropriate time.
- 5 little ducks – like all good counting rhymes, 5 little ducks incorporates learning, actions and silly sounds and of course we always make sure that all of the little ducks make their way home again at the end.
- Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star – A great rhyme for really young babies as they love to hear you sing and see your hand actions and as they get older they love to join in too.
- 10 in a bed – Both of my girls find the 10 in a bed song absolutely hilarious and enjoy trying to recreate it and push us out of our bed even now.
- Incy Wincy Spider – This is a fantastic rhyme if you have a ticklish child and it is bound to end up in fits of giggles. The actions are easy for kids to learn too which makes it a perfect toddler rhyme.
- Hickory, dickory, dock – This is a great rhyme that has a learning element to it. The rhyme not only introduces the idea of the passing of time but also numbers. It comes with some great actions and lots of silliness.
- Rain, Rain, Go Away – A great way of personalising a rhyme to really make it special for your child. This is something that my girls loved me doing.
- Wheels on the bus – Obviously I can’t list nursery rhymes without including the Wheels on the bus. We have had to come up with all sorts of variations for this over the years and have had the same rhyme going for over half an hour in the past.
So they are the girls favourite nursery rhymes from when they were little. With the use of YouTube and fabulous channels such as ChuChu TV putting their own special spin on the rhymes along with some brilliant eye-catching animations, I am sure you will be able to find some new favourites. Do head over to their channel and check out this video as an introduction to the fantastic child-friendly videos that ChuChu TV produce.
As well as nursery rhymes and kids songs, they also have a channel for surprise egg openings – these, of course, are very popular with older children. This one is completely different as it is an animated channel where the animated eggs are opened to reveal different vehicle’s, colours and vegetables. Inside each coloured egg is something to do with that videos channel and it teaches children the use for that item.