Why do nursery rhymes matter?

Research published by the Journal of Child Language reports ‘a powerful and lasting connection between [children’s] early knowledge of nursery rhymes and aspects of their linguistic development later on’.

The Reading Framework tells us that ‘learning poems including traditional nursery rhymes such as ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’, ‘Little Jack Horner’ and ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ can also heighten children’s awareness of the individual sounds within words.’

Who would have thought that such simple, everyday rhymes could be so powerful for children’s language development!