Book Review: Lucy Cousins' Book of Nursery Rhymes

A little over a year ago when I was reading The Read Aloud Handbook, Jim Trelease strongly recommended reading nursery rhymes to children, especially babies and toddlers. He listed a few nursery rhyme books he really liked at the moment, and Lucy Cousins' Book of Nursery Rhymes was one of them. I hopped on Amazon and ordered our copy.

McKenna was around 18 months old when we got it. She is now 27 months old. She has been in love with the book from the moment we got it to now. She loves it. At first, she would haul it around the house with her everywhere. Now, she looks at it at independent play every day and wants it read to her every single night. 

When we do nursery rhymes for learning time, she knows them all because of this book. 

I recently read Reading Magic by Mem Fox, which is another book on literacy. Fox also recommends nursery rhymes, and says important elements in reading are rhyme, rhythm, and repetition. 

Anyway, this is a great nursery rhyme book. In all honesty, it probably doesn't matter much what nursery rhyme book you get--a nursery rhyme is a nursery rhyme. The difference in book collections is which rhymes they include. There is also the picture factor--which I think is a big one. For whatever reason, children love Lucy Cousins' books. Another nursery rhyme book we have read and liked is Sing a Song of Sixpence: A Pocketful of Nursery Rhymes and Tales.

Paper Cup Spider

This is a simple, fun craft to do at Halloween, while learning about insects, or while learning about the Eency Weency Spider nursery rhyme. This is something Brayden made a year ago at Preschool.

Age Range

Older Toddler and up.

Skills Taught

Fine motor

Supplies

• Paper cup
• Pipe cleaner cut into pieces (for legs)
• Eyes
• Marker for drawing if desired
• 1/8" elastic if desired (for putting around wrist)
• Glue

Prep

1. Cut paper cup down to size
2. Poke holes in paper cup for legs. This will make it easier for your child to get the legs in
3. Cut elastic to size
4. Cut pipe cleaner to size

Activity

This activity is simple. You have your child glue eyes on the spider and draw anything they want on the spider's body. You then have your child poke the pipe cleaner into the holes. Glue or staple the elastic to the bottom of the cup if desired. 

Your child can then put the cup on his wrist and walk it around and be a spider.

Fun With Nursery Rhymes

With a little imagination, you can come up with fun ways to incorporate nursery rhymes into your week with your children. Brayden's preschool teacher is always doing fun things with nursery rhymes. One week at preschool, Brayden learned about Little Boy Blue.

They colored a little boy blue, cut him out, and glued him to a popsicle stick. They then took a bunch of grass (you could use straw or strips of paper), glued it to a crumpled piece of paper, and glued it on a paper plate.

They then used little boy blue to learn about spacial relationships. They did things like put him over and under the hay stack. It also helped them to get a visual for the nursery rhyme.