Nursery Rhymes 2
Nursery Rhymes are of course mainly for smaller children… and we know that lots of you are rather more grown up. But even if you are older, we think you can listen to these rhymes again and learn lots about rhythm and verse. These are very old rhymes and they have lasted for a reason – they are actually very good verses!
Natasha gives some actions that you can do while you are saying the rhymes and some of them have dances. Listen again to these familiar rhymes and be reminded just how charming they are.
For some educational activities that you can do with Nursery Rhymes, see Learning With Nursery Rhymes.
Read by Natasha. Duration 9 min.
Proofread by Jana Elizabeth.
Hello,
This is Natasha, and I’m dropping by with some more English Nursery rhymes. They come with actions and dances,that you can do while you say them. They are fun to do and will help you learn about rhythm and verse.
This first one is perfect for bath times -
Rub a dub dub
Three men in a tub
And who do you think they were?
The Butcher , the Baker,
The Candlestickmaker
Turn them out knaves all of three.
You can pretend to be drying yourself with a towel by doing a shaking action up and down with two arms and your hands clasped in front of you.
The action will help you find the rhythm in the verse.
This verse is particularly good for watching the Clock -
Hickory Dickory Dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down
Hickory Dickory dock
Why not try making a clock shape with two arms as you say it? Hold the right arm up to the sky and the other arm out to the side – like the hands of a clock. And you can bring one arm up in a tick-tock motion, 1,2,3.
That is an extra fun verse and good for warming up your feet for the longer rhymes we have to come. Lots of mothers enjoy saying this verse to their young children but any one can do it too -
This little piggy went to Market
And this little piggy went home
And this little piggy had roast beef
And this little piggy had none.
And this little piggy went “wee wee, wee” all the way home.
Pinch your own toes as you say the rhyme, imagining that each toe is a little pig.
This is a Christmasy verse, but you can say it any time of year -
Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner eating his Christmas pie
He put in his thumb
And pulled out a plumb
And said “what a good boy am I?”
Picture a big juicy plumb pie in front of you. And as you are saying the rhyme imagine that you are putting in your thumb and pulling out a plumb.
Well actually, I don’t think everyone would agree with Jack that he had such good table manners.
And now here are some rhymes often sung in schools and they come with dances that you can do with them. Some of them are very old verses indeed, but they are timeless and children still play them to this day.
This is a rhyme about a special tree called a mulberry bush -
Here we go round the mulberry bush
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush
Here we go round the mulberry bush
On a cold and frosty morning
As you sing it, you all hold hands.
And here’s another verse with a simple circle dance. It’s from the 17th Century. I’m sure everyone knows it! First you link hands, and you skip round and round in a circle, and when it says ‘a tissue’ you hold your nose and you all fall down -
Ring a ring a roses
A pocket full of poses
A tissue a tissue
We all fall down.
Did you know that some people say the verse is about the plague that happened in the 17th Century. The poses – which were flowers like roses – were supposed to protect you from the plague which they thought was caught in the air.
This is a longer rhyme well known in English schools and has a game like a dance that is performed with it. Two children link their hands in the air to make an arch. The others dance under the arch – but at the end, their hands come down to make a “chopper” and catch who ever is going through just then, as you will hear -
Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement’s.
You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin’s.
When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.
When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.
When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.
I do not know,
Says the great bell of Bow.
Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
And all those bells, are bells of London churches.
And here is a very old rhyme from from The Mother Goose tales first written in 1765. Its called Two Little Dickie Birds -
Two little Dickie birds
Sitting on a wall
Fly away peter, fly away Paul
Come back Peter, come back Paul!
For the actions, use your index finger on either hand to act out the birds sitting on the wall when they fly away bring each bird behind your back and then bring them back again for the last line.
Well I hope you enjoyed those nursery rhymes. They can help you learn a lot about rhythm and verse. Some of the verses are very old, and children have sung and played to them for 100s of years. So they give us a feel for history too. Bertie says they are really fun for little children and even when you are grown up!
I’ll be back with more stories from Storynory.com soon.
For now,
From me Natasha
Bye Bye