Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Tucson, AZ

Experts agree that saying, reading, and singing rhymes are essential to the process of learning to read.  When you combine words with movement you are giving the abstract word a meaning.  Of course there is always the added benefit of touch therepy as well.  What mom, or dad, can resist playing "This Little Piggy Went to Market" on those cute baby toes.  Even now, 3 year old Little J sticks his feet in my lap several times a week toplay with his piggies.  This is usually followed by an itsy bitsy spider climbing up his belly.  When he is feeling especially snuggly, he wants me to wrap him in my arms and sing "Rock a bye Baby."

While I love these sweet moments, I like to throw in silly ones too.  One of my go-to books is First Picture Action Rhymes. with clamation models by Jo Litchfield.  Most of the rhymes have claymation kids posed in the positions with written cues underneath.  If you use the quicklinks website on the back of the book, you can also hear the tunes for some of the less familiar rhymes. 

The internet is a treasure trove of free finger plays and action rhymes.  all you need is a search engine to find them.  Some of my favorite sites are Kinderstart, thebestkidsbooksite, and Natural Learning.

Spend a little time each day rhyming with your kids.  You could even make up your own words and actions together.  You start a line and let your child make up the ending.  "The little green frog..."