Nursery rhymes are not only fun little songs to keep your little ones entertained, they’re also great tools to help them learn and grow in their bilingual proficiency!

 As they sing, move, and dance, kids are building language, motor, and many more skills.  

 As a Latina mom, I know how important it is to ensure that fun activities be also learning opportunities. 

It’s for this reason that I love the power of nursery rhymes. 

Here are just a few of the benefits of nursery rhymes for baby and toddler development.  

Nursery rhymes can:

• Develop early literacy skills: Through fun rhymes and catchy bilingual songs, kids learn phonics and vocabulary effortlessly.  Nursery rhymes books can be a child’s first exposure to literacy and provide a rich oral and visual experience.
• Create connections and build community: For parents, these songs provide an opportunity to connect through music and play. For kids, knowing common songs helps them connect with other kids in preschool, the library, and everywhere they go.  The familiar nature of nursery rhymes connects families across generations and across locations. 
• Build memory capabilities: Repetition is a great way to develop memory capabilities that go beyond the songs and can be applied to any activity.  
• Improve fine motor skills and coordination: Picture little fingers mimicking a spider climbing up a water spout. Now think of the palm of a child’s hand honking on an imaginary horn going “beep beep beep”. These actions help little ones move their bodies and work on coordination. 
• Provide hours of fun: Whether through songs (try searching YouTube kids music) or books, these children’s songs provide endless entertainment, smiles, giggles, and more! There’s nothing better than that!

So next time you’re singing Wheels On The Bus for the n-teenth time, smile, you’re giving your little one the gift of learning…all through the town!