Learning and Development: National Bookstart Day - It's rhyme time!

On Friday 9 October, early years settings around the UK will again be celebrating National Bookstart Day. This annual event, organised by Bookstart, the national book-gifting programme, aims to remind parents and carers that sharing books with young children is a very important and a very enjoyable activity. It also encourages nurseries, libraries, book shops and, most importantly, children and their families, to get together and have fun at a range of special events based around a chosen theme.

Last year's celebrations focused on pirates, with lots of nautical activities, treasure maps and pirate songs. This year's theme is 'My Favourite Rhyme'.

Bookstart has been conducting a survey to discover the nation's favourite nursery rhymes. The winning rhyme is a closely guarded secret that will be revealed at the start of Children's Book Week, which runs from 5 to 11 October.

By the time the results are made public, a million free copies of a specially published booklet containing eight of the most popular rhymes, produced in association with Boxer Books, will have been distributed by Bookstart co-ordinators to thousands of nurseries and, and in selected areas of the country, to parents. The booklets, plus celebratory posters, bookmarks and stickers have all been designed by award-winning illustrator Sebastien Braun. If your setting has received a supply, now is the time to put them to good use!

Why rhymes matter

The basis of Bookstart is being passionate about books, and about getting them into the hands and homes of all children as early as possible. Babies respond to the sound of their parent's voice, so talking, reading and singing to them is a fundamental step in helping them to understand how language works. Babies respond to soothing, rocking rhymes and movements, and as they grow older, children love the rhyme, rhythm and repetition of nursery rhymes and simple songs. Reciting these early 'poems', with lots of added actions and tickles, can provide the perfect opportunity for adults and children to spend some fun time together.

'Rhymes are a great way to involve all the family in songs and stories and a wonderful way to get children excited about books,' says Rosemary Clarke, Bookstart's Director of Bookgifting. 'They can also introduce concepts such as counting, colours and shapes, and can teach children to move to a beat, which helps them develop good motor skills.'

Bookstart's free book packs for babies include a laminated place mat with rhyme lyrics on both sides, to encourage mothers and fathers to start reciting and singing rhymes at home. Bookstart also promotes organised Rhymetime sessions all around the country to get parents and carers involved in supporting their child's learning and development in a fun way. The 'Great Books for Babies' brochure recommends several nursery and finger rhyme choices.

Ms Clarke says, 'My own favourite rhyme is "The Grand Old Duke of York", because no matter what age the child is, you can have great fun marching up and down, and babies and toddlers love being lifted and lowered in time with the words.'

Research by children's music charity Youth Music has shown that music-making can help to develop skills in communication listening, concentration, sharing and other social skills in the under-fives. There is overwhelming evidence that learning nursery rhymes and songs significantly contributes to early reading skills and mathematical development.

Professor Peter Bryant, senior research fellow in the department of education at Oxford University, agrees that there are strong links between an early introduction to rhymes and later educational progress. 'Encouraging young children to enjoy and remember nursery rhymes is a good way to prepare them for reading and writing,' he says. 'Our research has shown a clear relationship between how well children know nursery rhymes before they go to school, and the progress that they make later on when learning to read and to spell. Children learn a lot about rhyming sounds through nursery rhymes and this eventually helps them when they learn how alphabetic letters represent spoken sounds.

'Nursery rhymes are a really good start, but it is also worthwhile to concentrate on songs that emphasise rhyme and on word games that involve rhyme, and to encourage children to produce their own rhymes. A world without rhymes would be very dull!'

How to join in

Look locally in libraries, bookshop, children's centres and other venues, for Rhymetimes, story sessions and adventures based on the nursery rhyme theme. The big blue Bookstart Bear, always a popular attraction, will be making an appearance at many of this year's planned events during Children's Book Week.

If you are not able to participate in an event, it's easy to celebrate by incorporating some nursery rhyme activities into your early years setting on National Bookstart Day or spread over the whole of Children's Book Week.

Here are a few suggestions:

- Conduct your own miniature version of the Favourite Rhyme survey. Ask each child in your care to nominate their personal favourite and see how your results compare with the national poll. You can announce your top three on the day and all of you can sing the winners together.

- Decorate your setting with nursery rhyme pictures and simple mobiles, or create a large collage together. Children can make black sheep from painted balls of cotton wool, create a Humpty Dumpty from washed eggshells, or use dried or paper flowers and real seashells in a 'Mary Mary Quite Contrary' garden scene.

- Visit your local library and borrow some nursery rhyme books to supplement the book corner. And of course, rhymes are not just for one day of the year, so ask about regular Rhymetime sessions as well.

- Invite the children to wear nursery rhyme fancy dress on 9 October. Dressing up as well-known characters can bring the whole experience vividly to life. Costumes need not be elaborate or expensive - you can add simple but effective accessories by making crowns or stars from card and glitter. Face painting skills will also come in useful.

- Be confident and enthusiastic. If you sing songs that you know well and enjoy, the children will enjoy them too. Involve parents (including fathers) in your singing session. Hand out songsheets and ask them to share their own favourites. This may present the chance to learn new rhymes from other countries that the children have not heard before.

- Include rhymes with actions or with unusual sounds - for example, 'Oranges and Lemons', with its different bell sounds. Or try singing 'London's Burning' in the traditional way as a round, with half the children singing one line as the rest sing another, always one line behind. This is especially good for concentration and co-ordination, and great fun when the children get in a muddle!

- Use instruments to add to the fun and enhance the rhythmic quality and musicality of rhymes. This also allows all children to join in, even if they are too young, or too shy, to sing. Beating on drums makes a wonderful accompaniment to 'I Hear Thunder' or 'The Grand Old Duke of York', while ringing small bells works well with 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'.

- Don't forget that this is the ideal time to promote the Bookstart scheme, by arranging to gift book packs yourself or signposting parents to their nearest health centre, library or other supplier. Packs are available for babies, toddlers and three-year-olds. There are special packs available for blind and deaf children, and dual language versions for those families whose first language is not English.

USEFUL RESOURCES

- Bookstart's website contains information about sharing books with children and downloadable rhymes. You can search for your nearest National Bookstart Day events by entering your postcode. Visit www.bookstart.org.uk

- Children's Book Week, www.booktrust.org.uk/Campaigns/ Childrens-Book-Week

- The Usborne Book of Nursery Rhymes is one of many nursery rhyme books. This collection of 40 favourites is beautifully illustrated and comes with a singalong CD.

- Tadpoles Nursery Rhymes (published by Franklin Watts) is an imaginative series of books that include the original rhyme alongside a fun alternative version, designed to help children spot the rhyming words and play with language.