Favorite Nursery Rhymes for Babies

Nursery rhymes are fun for children and babies and can help them learn important skills such as vocabulary, early counting and music. Research has shown that early exposure to music is important and can help with developing brain connections, boost IQ and even improve your child's overall health! Your baby loves to listen to you sing and nursery rhymes are a fun way to interact with them. It can calm your baby down if they are upset and can also be a good way to distract them.

Little man loves nursery rhymes and these are some of our favorites. He especially loves the bouncing horsey ones. I can remember my parents playing most of these with my brothers and me when we were little and we loved it. I guess we heard them so many times they are now engraved forever in my memory. The nursery rhymes you sing with your baby now are probably the same ones they will sing with their children later. What a fun little tradition to pass on for your family!

I'm sure you are familiar with a lot of these and the actions that go with them. In case you are not, I will try to explain what we do for each one. 

1. This Little Piggy (Touch baby's big toe and each toe after that as you go until you get to the end where you tickle baby all over! They will probably love that part of it.)

2. Pat-A-Cake (This is kind of a clapping game with baby. We usually make the rolling and patting motions and point to "baby and me" at the end.)

3. Jack in the Box (Cover your eyes at the beginning and then throw your hands in the air at the end.)

4. This is the Way the Ladies Ride (This is the first bouncing horsey ride one, it's best for older babies who have strong neck muscles because of all the bouncing. Same with the one after this. Have your child sit on your lap facing you and bounce along with the rhyme. The ladies ride with gentle bouncing, the gentlemen with a little stronger bouncing and the farmers use rather wild bouncing. This is usually the favorite part.)

5. Giddy Up Horsey (Pretty simple, bounce baby until the last line when you tip baby to the side, or upside down like we do. Every baby I've ever done this one with absolutely loves the upside down part!)

6. Ring-a-Round the Rosie (This one is obviously for babies and toddlers that can walk. We used to all hold hands in a circle and go around until the end when we "all fall down." I remember playing this game quite often when we were little, so it must have been fun.)

Nursery rhymes are such a fun and easy way to play with your babies and they love it! What are your favorite nursery rhymes to sing with your children?

(Linking to some of these lovely parties)