Teaching Mother Goose Rhymes Interactively Using Richard Scarry DVD

Richard Scarry's Best Sing-Along Mother Goose Video Ever starts off with the story of Huckle Cat dreaming. In his dream, he is looking for his friend Lowly Worm who has gone missing. He then encounters different characters who sing different nursery rhymes as well as featured nursery rhyme characters such as Mary's lamb, Miss Muffet's spider, and Old King Cole. In the end, Huckle Cat ends up meeting Mother Goose herself. He then wakes up to find out that Lowly Worm has just been baking a pie in the kitchen.

The nursery ryhmes featured in the video include:

• "London Bridge"
• "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
• "Old Mother Hubbard"
• "Little Bo Peep"
• "Hey Diddle Diddle"
• "Little Miss Muffet"
• "Hickory Dickory Dock"
• "Three Little Kittens"
• "Little Boy Blue"
• "There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe"
• "Wee Willie Winkie"
• "Old King Cole"
• "Sing a Song of Sixpence"

1. Recite the songs from the video together. This will encourage the kids to remember the rhymes.

2. Get a nursery rhyme book or print out copies of the nursery rhymes in the video. Showing these words and pictures will help to create connections between written words, spoken/sung language, and pictures with children. Read the nursery rhymes aloud when you can.

3. Talk about the stories and concepts behind the nursery rhymes. For example, get a soft toy animal (e.g., a lamb) to talk about lambs and/or pretend that they are characters from the rhymes.

4. Make crafts or create pictures based on the nursery rhymes. Some ideas include:

• decorating a shoe print-out when talking about "There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe"
• draw/paint spiders when talking about "Little Miss Muffet"
• create a night collage, with moon, stars, cows, and cats, when talking about "Hey Diddle Diddle"

5. Play rhyming games. For older preschoolers, playing basic rhyming games will also be very beneficial in developing early literacy skills.