Every parent has shared poems with their child, whether they realize it or not. Nursery rhymes, fairy tales and picture books all contain poems. This is no coincidence. Researchers have watched the actions of the brain while reading or listening to poetry and seen fascinating reactions. Poems affect two conflicting parts of the brain: both the part responsible for understanding new words and the part that recognizes something familiar.
Rhythm and Rhyme are vital in helping a child learn to love reading. This isn’t just the opinion of teachers and librarians. Aristotle believed that rhythm and rhyme were vital to good literature. For centuries, epics stories were told as epic poems. Why? Because the rhythm and rhyme of the words helped storytellers remember the tale they were to tell. So let’s look at the importance of each.
I have my own experience with the importance of rhythm. I was faced with an extra-credit question in my Honor’s American History in college. I could get five extra points added onto my test if I could write the Preamble of the Constitution correctly, word for word. I was stumped for just a moment because I had not studied that in my test prep. Then, I remembered a song from Schoolhouse Rock. I didn’t rhyme, but the rhythm fit the words so well I remembered it even years later. I started humming the song softly under my breath. Soon the students around me were humming it as well. When we got the tests back, everyone who hummed the song had five points added to their test and our professor had to come up with a new extra credit question.
Rhyme is important too. Neurologists around the world have been studying how the brain reacts to poetry. Professor Adam Zeman of the University of Exeter found that while any reading worked the language center of the brain, rhyme also stimulated parts of the brain that made feel good chemicals. These chemicals lasted long after they read the poem. Your child will quickly associate these good feelings with reading stories and it will foster a love of reading.
Children react the same way to both rhythm and rhyme. Rhythm helps to make books more memorable, while rhyme helps them feel good about what they have heard. In addition, rhyme helps emerging readers decode words by narrowing their choices. For example, in the rhyme, “little Bo Peep has lost her. . .” children will quickly learn that the appropriate word is “sheep.” Even if your child can’t read the word, he will guess or remember the word. You can help your child explore the world of rhythm and rhyme.
Basically, poetry puts new words into a familiar rhythm in a way that makes sense. So, rather than creating confusion in the brain, this conflict encourages the brain to make new neurons and release feel-good chemicals. That means that poetry is actually good for brain development and it makes people feel good.
For young children, almost all poetry is new. These “word puzzles” feed their growing brain and makes them feel good in the process. So giving your child a good dose of poetry feeds their intellect, their sense of humor and their soul. Try some of these activities to bring a little more poetry into your preschooler’s life.
Sing
You don’t have to win a talent contest to have a voice your child loves. Like poems, songs are written around rules of rhythm and rhyme. Basically, singing is nothing more than putting poetry to a tune. If you find singing even in front a little person to daunting, use music downloads. There are thousands of children’s songs available written in every type and style. Looking for classical music? No problem, there are song written to go with everything from The Blue Danube Waltz to Ride of the Valkyries. Like traditional tunes? There are traditional songs from all over the world just waiting for you. Are you a fan of modern rock and pop? Check your favorite rocker. Some of the biggest rock stars in history have recorded children’s songs or even entire albums. Whatever you do, make sure that you choose music that you enjoy as much as your preschooler. You will be listening to these tunes a lot.
Nursery Rhymes
These little poems have been a so long, most parents don’t even know what they mean. Let’s be honest, does anyone really know what a “tuffet” is or why Miss Muffet sat on one? But there is a reason why they have been around for centuries: They are memorable. So share nursery rhymes with your preschooler. If you don’t remember them, google them. There are a wide range of websites that not only list nursery rhymes, but have short videos or animations to help you and your child understand them. Act them out in play. Let your preschooler “scare” you with a spider. Pretend to look for your sheep as Little Bo Peep. Roll down a hill as Jack and Jill. Find ways to give concrete meaning to these little poems.
Read Rhyming Picture Books
There are literally thousands of rhyming picture books in your library right now. Not all of them will rhyme throughout the entire book, some will only have a rhyming refrain. As you read these stories, ask your child to “help” you with the pages. You will find that your child will be able to remember the rhyming portions much faster than those written in prose. This is because rhythm and rhyme are both mnemonic devices. Before writing, storytellers and speaker put their works into rhyme so that people could remember them better. So when you come to “Little Pig, Little Pig, let me come in,” let your child respond “Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin.” Not only will you be reinforcing their memory, you are encouraging them to enter into the book and into the story.
Rules and Rhythms and Rhymes
Because poetry is such a great mnemonic device, it makes a great vehicle to help children remember rules. Take your family rules and put them into rhymes to help your child remember what to do in specific situations. For example, you might say something like: “At 8:00 we go to bed, tuck in our sheets. Lay down our head.” This helps your child remember bedtime. Or “Dirty clothes don’t belong in a pile! But in the hamper, they make Mom smile.” They are simple and cheesy to an adult, but they help little ones remember adult expectations. They end up with more control over their own tasks and responsibilities.
The Beat Goes On
Help your child explore more than rhyme by tapping out the rhythm of poems you read together. Give her a pair of chopsticks and a plastic tub to drum out the rhythm of the nursery rhymes and stories you have shared. For example, “Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.” This rhyme has a two-step feel with the emphasis on the first syllable. So drumming it might be something like: BA-bum BA-bum BA-bum BA-bum BA-bum BA-bum BA BA. Try other poems and songs, then move on to creating your own rhythms to see what you and your child like best.
Rhyme Match
Write pairs of rhyming words on index cards and mix them up. Concentrate on words that not only sound the same, but also have the same final letters. Turn the cards face-down and mix them up. Lay the cards out. Take turns with your preschooler turning over two cards each, memory style. While you will have to read the words in the beginning, you may be surprised at how quickly your child learns to read the cards. When your child gets a match, she keeps the cards and takes another turn. Continue to add rhyming pairs until your child can recognize twenty to thirty pairs of words.
Write poems
Help your child write simple poems. Use the rhyming cards your child recognizes to help him write rhyming couplets of poetry. Start with simple, recognizable forms such as “roses are red, violets are blue. . .” and help him come up with something that speaks to him to finish the rhyme. As he becomes more comfortable with poetry, he will be able to move to creating his own poetry.
I Spy Rhymes
Instead of helping your child figure out what you are looking at by describing colors, give him a rhyme. For example, if you are in the drive through, you might say something like “I spy with my little eye something that rhymes with star.” Guide her to find a car. For this game, homophones are perfectly fine. So you can easily rhyme “tree” with “flea.”
Rhyme Time
You can play Rhyme Time anytime. Just ask your child to say a word and say a word that rhymes with it. The good news is it doesn’t even need to be a real word! So if your child says “orange,” you can say “Smorange.” The more outrageous you are, the more likely you will make your child laugh. After she gets the idea, let her create rhyming nonsense words. As your child becomes more comfortable with rhymes, start playing solely with nonsense words. Then encourage your child to create a rhyming word with specific letter sounds. For example, you might say: “My word is ‘Plat.’ Can you make a rhyming word that starts with a “D?”