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Nursery rhymes fall out of favour

Traditional nursery rhymes could be in peril as parents claim they are too old-fashioned to interest their children, a survey suggests.

The survey by the charity Booktrust, to mark National Bookstart Day onFriday, found that almost a quarter of parents have never sung a nurseryrhyme with their child, while one in five parents aged under 24 saidthey did not use rhymes because they believed they had no educationalvalue.

The theme of this year's Bookstart Day was My Favourite Rhyme.

More than 2,500 people participated in the survey, which discoveredregional differences in rhymes' popularity. 'Twinkle Twinkle LittleStar' appeared to be the favourite nursery rhyme around the UK, apartfrom the north-east, where it is 'Incey Wincey Spider'. Parents in theMidlands and Wales reported most frequently using rhymes, while parentsin Northern Ireland were the least likely to.

The survey also found that men are far less confident about singingrhymes than women.

Visit www.booktrust.org.uk.