World Nursery Rhyme Week Day 2 Ring A Ring O' Roses

Let's continue our adventure into Nursery Rhyme Land with  Ring A Ring O' Roses




Ring A Ring O’ Roses
Ring A Ring O’ Roses
A Pocket full of posies
Atishoo! Atishoo!
We all fall down
*
Fishes in the water,
Fishes in the sea,
We all jump up,
With a 1, 2, 3!

I often share this rhyme in the summer months where we can go outside, pick flowers, and sing the song while holding hands in a circle in the garden. But, it's autumn here a little bit too cold to venture into the garden! I did manage to find one rose though! There is so much language that could be exploited here but we focused on big/small and 'rings'. 

What you will need:

rose petals

A variety of different size rings:
old curtain rings (I found these in a charity shop)
metal rings (found in any DIY store)
napkin rings would be great too, but I didn't have any. 

A variety of different sized tubes:

wrapping paper tubes 

crisp tubes

loo rolls

tape ring

I also added a couple of wooden spoons

I recently did this activity in one of my Baby English sessions, a group of mums with their children aged between 8 months and 2 years. Sitting in a circle I opened my hand to reveal petals of a rose, we touched and smelled them as I described the texture and odor 

Do you like the smell? It smells lovely doesn't it? Feel it, it's so smooth and silky. I then a smelt the roses and gave a huge sneeze and fell backwards. Oh, I fell down!

I then introduce the rhyme with actions. Have baby sit on lap facing you, toddler sitting in a circle with adults.

Ring A Ring O’ Roses  (Draw rings on baby's tummy with flat of hand, toddlers turn around on the spot slowly, either on their bottoms or standing up)
A Pocket full of posies (pat their pockets)
Atishoo! Atishoo! (bump forehead head gently onto baby's forehead as you sneeze, toddlers sneeze with hands in front of face)
We all fall down  (drop baby between legs, toddler fall down)
*
Fishes in the water, (hold baby's palms together move them from side to side, bending at the wrist. Toddlers lying on their tummies, do the same)
Fishes in the sea,
We all jump up, (lift babies in the air, toddlers jump up)
With a 1, 2, 3! (lift babies in air three times, toddler jump three times)

I then presented the treasure basket, tubes and wooden spoons. They LOVED this! They rolled the tubes, put the little rings in and through the tubes, shook them up, threaded the rings into their fingers, but no, they didn't manage to get them onto the wooden spoon. The parents and I watched them play and described what they were up to. The big tube rolls a long way, you have got two small rings on each finger, you have put the rings inside that big tube. That makes a big noise!....We played particular attention to the baby, as the metal rings were very small and he is still mouthing quite a lot. I gently said no each time he tried to put one in his mouth. Don't be afraid to do this with small children, just be VERY watchful. It was great for his developing pincer grip. They could have played with this for a long time, but we tidied up after 10 minutes and repeated the nursery rhyme a few more times.

Main communications aims:

• Listen to spoken English, develop an awareness of other languages spoken 
• Begin to mime actions in a song 
• Enjoy listening to nursery rhymes
• Begin to repeat words, phrases and parts of a nursery rhyme
• vocabulary: a rose, a big ring/a small ring, fall down/jump up

Activity at home:

As well as repeating the nursery rhyme every day, look for different sized rings in nature and in the home. Bring something to share for the next session.