BOUNCE & RHYME FILM SERIES
Songs and fingerplays are a regular part of library storytimes for young children. We use them because they are great for teaching pre-reading skills, including phonemic awareness (the ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds that make up word)—and also because they are fun!
It’s great when a parent or caregiver can bring a child to library storytimes, but sometimes that’s hard to do. Don’t worry though—you can have language fun all day long, no matter where you are.
Our Bounce and Rhyme series will show you how to do some of our favorite songs, action rhymes and fingerplays. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear not only encourages phonemic awareness with its rhyming text, but also helps teach your child how to follow instructions.
TEDDY BEAR, TEDDY BEAR
Some of the words in nursery rhymes may seem pretty crazy, but that’s part of the fun. Hearing and repeating nursery rhymes lays a foundation for language skills. The sing-song cadence and bouncing or clapping to the beat of the words helps to emphasize the syllables and the individual sounds that make up words. Your baby develops Phonological Awareness without even knowing it!
TO MARKET, TO MARKET
Nursery rhymes can pack a lot of concepts into just a few words! This one includes counting, addition and colors, as well as the idea that baby chickens come from eggs.
FIVE EGGS
Lots of children’s songs use the same tune with different words. This time the tune for “Down by the Station” becomes a farm song. You and your child can have lots of fun making up new words for all kinds of songs. What animals besides baby chicks could you feed on a farm?
OVER IN THE BARNYARD
We use a mitt with this rhyme—a gardening glove with little teddies glued to the fingertips. It’s fine to do it without the mitt, just hold up your hand. Or try taping pictures of bears to your fingertips, or to your child’s!
FIVE LITTLE BEARS
Sing and bounce, and practice your colors too!
LITTLE RED WAGON
You can make just about any fun poem into a bouncing rhyme! Bounce child on your knee in rhythm with the rhyme or clap your hands or the child’s hands together.
THE PURPLE COW by Gelett Burgess
Math skills are part of literacy, and begin with learning numbers and counting. Here’s a fun counting rhyme!
FIVE LITTLE FISHES
You will have so much fun with your young child, teaching vital pre-reading skills with rhymes, songs and play. Be sure to visit your public library often! And for a schedule of OC Public Libraries' programs for children, click here.
