10 Favourite Nursery Rhymes to Study English

Maria 3y. 7m.

 

For our English “lessons” we organized a special so called “English Zone”, where we have UK’s map, English books, an envelope with cards for articulatory gymnastics, different animals’ masks and other requisite.  This all is needed for our fun lessons, where the majority of exercises are done by performing some actions like running, jumping, drawing, modeling etc. But the most adorable part of the English studies (except for catch-up game, of course) is singing and finger-playing. Maria learns the nursery rhymes one by one and does it with pleasure remembering the words and repeating them all through the day. here is the list of her most favourite songs:

 

1. Row row row your boat

2. The Wheels on the bus  

These two songs we sing and move the respective transport mean on our UK map and then make particular exercise such as drawing or gluing or making articulatory gymnastics.

 

3. Incy Wincy Spider

4. Hockey Pockey

Excellent finger/body play!

 

5. Finger Family

6. Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Very good when one needs to study parts of the body

7. Sing a Rainbow

Absolutely top hit when studying colours

 

And of course the lovely classics such as:

8. Old Macdonald Had a Farm

9. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

10. London Bridge is Falling Down

The most favourite songs are definitely those, which are sung by the children.

Get Active with Little Ones

Andrew 4 m.

 

At his age of 4 months Andrew is rather well-developed: swims and dives with pleasure, rolls around, stands on his fours (to prepare himself for creeping), sings and speaks with his toys and his family members, is able to play independently for some 15 to 30 min. So, what are our time and effort investments for Andrew to develop physically and mentally? Here is the list of things we do (almost) every day:

1.    5 min fit ball exercises;

2.    10-15 min massage;

3.    5 min exercise on inflatable ball;

4.    Listening to various types of music, but primarily classics;

5.    30-40min swimming;

6.    Reading and singing nursery rhymes. Also Andrew becomes active listener when we read to Maria short stories.

Gymnastics with mum is another option to be added to the list for the mum and baby to be fit.

 

Besides, Andrew and Maria enjoy speaking and playing together, which undoubtedly stimulates mutual development and learning. It is said, that second, third, fourth children develop faster than their older siblings.

Playreport: Kids want to Play with Parents!

What is a Play according to children: Building, Reading, Role play, Exercising, Creating, Thinking, Dressing Up, Cooking

 

 IKEA has undertaken a major research-driven project to investigate the subjects of children's development and play called the Playreport. 7,933 Internet-based interviews were conducted with parents and 3,116 interviews with children aged 0-12 years during October and November 2009.

The good thing discovered during the study is that the kids preferring 9 to 1 to play with friends and their parents over watching TV. However, there were also some worrisome findings:  

·         45% of parents feel they don't have enough time to play with their children

·         26% agree that they're too stressed to play with their kids

·         46% of parents admit to feeling guilty about not spending enough time with their kids

Very interesting results were obtained when asking single, wide-ranging question that invited them to tell us in their own words, ‘If you could wish for anything, what would that be?’ It's needs to be noted that a significant of children wishes are not to difficult to fulfill.

“To be an Olympic swimmer”

 “A time machine. A library”

“A TV in my room”

 “(I wish that) we lived in New Zealand - it looks wonderful, beaches are great”

“To grow up to 16”

“My own laptop”

“Liverpool to win the league”

 “A pony”

“To live in the country and have lots of animals”

“To get a good job and be happy and have lots of holidays”

“That my school friends lived closer so that we could meet up and play more, especially at the park”

“I would wish that me and my mum could spend more time with each other and go to the park and bake things. I would also like my mum to take me to places like swimming pools and the zoo and farm. I would wish that we could all eat together like a proper family (with no TV.) I would like to do art with my mum and Christmas cards and decorations. (I would like to have some more takeaways as well.)

“To go to a dance school and to be famous and rich”

 “I’m happy as I am”

“To be a professional footballer with lots of money”

“To have my nanny back from heaven as she used to play with me a lot and let me do fun things! That's it”

“A brilliant life and loadsa friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“I wish I could go a visit my big sister in America for a long holiday”