Nursery rhymes play an important part in all our lives. As children we listened to our loved ones singing them to us, wiggling our toes to them and reading them to us as we drifted off to sleep. Then as we grew older we sang them ourselves at home, at school and on the bus. They were great fun and hold wonderful memories for us. Now as we grow older we do the same for our children and Grandchildren, and even sing them to ourselves sometimes! And so it goes on …

Why do we love them so much, and what good do they do?

Let’s pick one rhyme, “Round and round the garden, like a Teddy Bear” and see what that gives us, or more importantly the children. Singing the rhyme is often accompanied by the action of going around the childs tummy or the palm of their hand, then as you do the one step, two step your fingers may walk up their body or arm, finishing with a tickle in the place where they are most ticklish.

So the rhyme combines singing, physical contact and counting by the parent or carer, and the child learns to listen establishing the early formation of words whilst recognising the excitable change in pitch and volume of the singer as they anticipate the tickle. This excitable game provides social contact and development, usually ending with laughter and a cry of “more, more!” proving that they recall the whole process and the fact that they enjoyed it.

What else can provide so much in just four lines of verse? Priceless.

That’s just one example of how a nursery rhyme works and if used correctly provides great fun for both parent and child, together with an educational value in those key important developing years. As can be seen by the many products on our site, the rhyme can be told by way of a story from a book, watched in a video or sung in the car as you drive around town. Maybe you like to use finger puppets to add some colourful visuals to the show, just let your imagination take you.

So which are your top 10 nursery rhymes?

No doubt the answer will be arrived at by considering which ones you remember best, or the ones enjoyed most by your child. In an attempt to provide a variety of products on our site, relating to a cross section of rhymes, we have arrived at our top 10 and so, in no particular order they are;

• Hickory Dickory Dock
• Little Miss Muffet
• Baa Baa Black Sheep
• Incey Wincey Spider
• Old MacDonald Had A Farm
• The Grand Old Duke Of York
• Jack And Jill
• Mary Had A Little Lamb
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
and of course,
• Humpty Dumpty

No doubt you will wonder why one of your favourites has been left out of our list, and if that is the case why not buy one of the collections of nursery rhymes either as a book or a C.D. and let the listener decide?