I’m so excited to share today’s resource–I drew up some simple nursery rhyme cards and have thought up some fun ways to use them! Make sure you’ve learned our folk song for the week, The Alphabet Song, and printed out your song card to use with today’s free download!
When I created these cards I was trying to think of different ways children could experiment with the clear ABAB pattern in this song. The ABC verse is the A, and the Nursery Rhyme verse is the B. Children will definitely begin to pick up on this clear pattern as they sing the song and play with these cards, which is a great conversation spark for talking about patterns composers use in their pieces!
I’ll share the instructions for some ways to play here in this post, but you’ll see at the bottom of the page I’ve also provided a printable version of the instructions in case you want to store them with your copy of the cards!
Ways to Play:
Composition: Give each child their own set, along with a large piece of construction paper. Allow them time to arrange the cards as they’d like, then glue down onto the construction paper. Let them share their composition with a friend or the class as everyone reads the child’s composition.
Played in pairs: distribute half a set of both the nursery rhyme cards to each friend, and arrange the ABC cards in front of them in a row with a blank space in between each one (for the nursery rhyme cards–so that it will become an ABAB pattern when layed out). Sing the song and use the cards to prompt what nursery rhyme verse should be sung. Players lay down their cards as they sing their verse, both players sing the ABC chorus. After playing, look through the composition they created together and celebrate!
Look for patterns: Children will begin to notice as these cards are being played with that the song turns the cards into an ABAB pattern. Talk about it as they make the discovery, mention how just like we can see patterns in the pictures, there are patterns in music that we can hear. Find a masterwork to share with an ABAB pattern (In music we call this “Binary Form”), and enjoy finding the two distinct sections, as well as when the pattern repeats. A possible suggestion of Binary Form is Für Elise by Beethoven.
Scaffolding: When playing the game if you notice a child needs extra help coming up with a nursery rhyme verse, hand them the deck of nursery rhyme cards so they can have one ready to go!
One possible extension for students who are ready for more of a challenge is to have them think up a nursery rhyme that is not included in the deck and provide a card the same size to let them draw their own nursery rhyme card to add to their composition. This could make for some fun variety in everyone’s compositions!
I hope these cards are helpful and promote some fun ways to work with this song, and that they spark some great conversation about composition and musical patterns.
Click Here to Download the Nursery Rhyme Cards
Click Here to Download a Printable Copy of the Instructions
Happy Singing! -Lauren