All talking helps your child to develop their speech. Nursery Rhymes are also a great resource to teaching you child about language and also to help aid reading at a later stage. However, you can also use rhymes to help your child with their maths and numeracy songs by using counting songs.
Although using counting rhymes with your child can be very educational it is important to remember that with a young child the main purpose of counting rhymes is for enjoyment. Do not recite a rhyme over and over again until your child is bored and has memorised it as this is likely to upset your child and make them uninterested. Recite or sing the songs often and make it fun for both you and your child. Many counting songs have actions or you can easily make up actions to go with the rhyme and this will help your child to enjoy the rhymes, to learn to associate numbers on their fingers and also aid their co-ordination skills.
There are many different rhymes that you can share with your child to help their counting skills. You can also make up your own songs using objects that interest your child, for example, if your child is interested in Space, you could have ten rockets sitting on a launch-pad, one got cleared for lift-off and now there are nine.
There are many different traditional number songs, and these are a few of our favourites:
1,2,3,4,5
One, two, three, four, five
Once I caught a fish alive
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten
Then I let it go again
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on my right
Five Currant Buns
Five currant buns in a baker’s shop
Round and fat with sugar on the top
Along came ‘insert name’ with a penny one day
Bought a currant bun and took it away.
Four currant buns in a baker’s shop………
Three currant buns in a baker’s shop………
Two currant buns in a baker’s shop………
One currant bun in a baker’s shop………
Three Little Speckled Frogs (You can start with five if you prefer)
Three little speckled frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs (Yum, Yum)
One jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Now there are two more speckled frogs (glub, glub)
Two little speckled frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs (Yum, Yum)
One jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Now there is one more speckled frogs (glub, glub)
One little speckled frog
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs (Yum, Yum)
He jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool
Now there are no more speckled frogs (glub, glub)
Five Little Monkeys
Five little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
Mummy phoned the doctor and the doctor said
‘No more monkeys jumping on the bed!’
Four little monkeys…….
Three little monkeys…….
Two Little monkeys…….
One little monkey………
No little monkeys jumping on the bed
They’re all jumping on the sofa instead!
Five Little Ducks
Five little ducks went swimming one day
Over the pond and far away
Mummy duck said ‘quack, quack, quack, quack’
But only four little ducks came back.
Four little ducks………..
Three little ducks………
Two little ducks……..
One little duck………
No little ducks went swimming one day
Over the pond and far away
Nanny duck said ‘QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK!’
And Five little ducks came swimming back!
One, two Buckle my Shoe
One, two, Buckle my shoe
Three, four, Knock at the door
Five, six, Pick up sticks
Seven, eight, Lay them straight
Nine, ten, A big fat hen
Eleven, twelve, Dig and delve
Thirteen, Fourteen, Maids a courting
Fifteen, sixteen, Maids in the kitchen
Seventeen, Eighteen, Maids in waiting
Nineteen, Twenty, My plate’s empty
The two song
Two, four, six, eight
Meet me at the garden gate
If I’m late, don’t you wait
Two, four, six, eight
Apple Counting
One apple, two apples
Three apples, four
Five apples, six apples
Seven apples, more
Eight apples, nine apples
Ten apples in a pie
Please give me a piece
Or I might cry
Ten fat Sausages
Ten fat sausages sizzling in a pan
One went pop and another went bang
Eight fat sausages sizzling in a pan
One went pop and the other went bang
Six fat sausages sizzling in a pan
One went pop and another went bang
Four fat sausages sizzling in a pan
One went pop and the other went bang
Two fat sausages sizzling in a pan
One went pop and another went bang
No fat sausages sizzling in a pan
None went pop and none went bang!
Ten Green Bottles
Ten green bottles hanging on the wall
Ten green bottles hanging on the wall
And if one green bottle
Should accidently fall……..
There’ll be nine green bottles hanging on the wall
Nine green bottles hanging on the wall
Nine green bottles hanging on the wall
And if one green bottle
Should accidently fall……..
There’ll be eight green bottles hanging on the wall
Eight green bottles…….
Seven green bottles…….
Six green bottles…….
Five green bottles………
Four green bottles……..
Three green bottles……..
Two green bottles…………
One green bottle…………. There’ll be no green bottles hanging on the wall.
Magpies
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four for a boy
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret never to be told
Ten Little Men (A rhyme for your fingers)
Ten little men standing straight
Ten little men open the gate
Ten little men all in a ring
Ten little men bow to the king
Ten little men dance all day
Ten little men hide away.
by Jenny, mum to William and James
