Sharing Rhymes
Five baby owls
sitting in a tree.
One flew away!
How many do you see?
Four baby owls… Three baby owls… Two baby owls…
One baby owl…
Why number rhymes matter
Number rhymes can help children’s mathematical learning in many ways. They:
- expose children to the ‘sounds’ of number
- draw children’s attention to quantities
- help children with early counting
- develop children’s awareness of subtraction
- help children to hear number patterns
Tips for sharing number rhymes
- Say rhymes slowly so that children can hear the words clearly
- Where possible, include props so that children can see how numbers link to quantities
- Repeat rhymes several times so that children become familiar with them
- Look out for rhymes that count down as well as count up
- Make up some number rhymes of your own – for example, ‘There were four little children sitting on the ground’
Suggestions for sharing this rhyme
Use actions to help children understand the changing quantities within the rhyme:
- Five baby owls (Hold up five fingers, with your wrist bent)
- Sitting on a tree (Place your other arm under your hand)
- One flew away (Indicate one with your thumb while raising your arm)
- How many do you see? (Now hold up four fingers and count them with the children)
Ideas for extending the learning
- Using Velcro, create a display of five owls on a branch.
- Encourage children to say the rhyme and remove one owl at a time.
- Make a list of animals that are active at night
- Share picturebooks about owls such as Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson, Good-Night, Owl! by Pat Hutchins and The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Darkby Jill Tomlinson and Paul Howard
- Explore different kinds of birds in non-fiction books and online.
- Provide some feathers, ideally of different kinds, and encourage children to touch and look at the structure of the feathers using a magnifying glass.
For other rhymes in this series, visit: www.nurseryworld.co.uk
