Sing nursery rhymes – rhythmic patterns in songs are great for speech development

What to do 

• Sing repetitious nursery rhymes. These are rhymes with an easy-to-follow rhythmic sequence and a repetitive beat. 
• A great song is 'Miss Polly had a Dolly'. 

Miss Polly had a dolly who was sick, sick, sick (rock baby in arms) 
So she phoned for the doctor to come quick, quick, quick (hold phone to ear, then tap index fingers together) 
The doctor came with his bag and his hat (pretend pick up your bag and put on hat) 
And he knocked at the door with a rat-a-tat-tat (air knock on the door) 
He looked at the dolly and he shook his head (shake your head) 
And he said “Miss Polly, put her straight to bed!" (put your hands on your face, some versions point finger) 
He wrote on a paper for a pill, pill, pill (pretend to write a note) 
“I'll be back in the morning yes I will, will, will” (nod your head) 

Good to know 

Nursery rhymes and action songs are great for introducing rhythmic patterns in speech. Rhymes are often simple and predictable which helps toddlers to memorise speech patterns.  

Using actions helps make the songs easier to remember and your toddler might be humming along in no time and joining in with some of the repetitive words/sounds.