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It's Rhyme Time!

Why Toddlers Love Books That Rhyme

By Shannon McKelden

Research has also shown that rhyming – and the rhythm that goes along with it – makes it easier to remember things. "Most of us can still remember the nursery rhymes we learned as young children," Hayes says. "We haven't 'worked' at remembering them; our brains are just wired to help us remember them."

Hannah Hayes of Chicago, Ill., found this to be the case with her young son. "When he was about 18 months old, he picked [up a book] one day and read the entire book out loud, from memory, using exactly the intonations and gestures that I used," she says. "People were amazed because it looked like he was reading."

Another benefit of rhyme is the steady beat. Dr. Stamm notes that children who can't keep a steady beat often struggle with reading and mentions a study from University College in London that links the inability to keep a steady beat with dyslexia. "Bouncing a baby or patting a preschooler's leg while chanting 'Hump-ty Dump-ty sat on a wall' in a steady beat helps build this pattern into the brain through multiple senses," she says.

Rhymes are just naturally fun for kids. But there are ways to make them a blast for everyone and to encourage youngsters who may not pick up on the joy right off.

"Be as animated as possible!" Dr. Cox says. "Read standing up. Turn stories into puppet shows. Modulate your voice. Include lots of facial expressions. And don't forget to let your child choose the book you will read together."

Hannah Hayes found that she did many of these things automatically – and it rubbed off on her son. "The fact that he imitated every cadence and gesture told me the rhyme had a lot to do with it," she says. "It was so funny to hear myself in his voice, and how I was unconsciously sing-songing the rhymes."

Former preschool teacher and author of Classroom Routines That Really Work for Pre-K and Kindergarten

Want to see more?

• The ABCs of the ABCs: Teaching the Alphabet
  to Your Toddler
• Ready to Read: Sparking Your Child's Interest in Books
• Reading Rocks! Steps to Encourage Our Children to Read
• Check out our Article Library.
• Talk about it!