Fill-in-the-Blank Nursery Rhymes

Step by step

1. 1Pick a nursery rhyme your child knows by heart.
2. 2Sing the first verse all the way through to get the melody going.
3. 3Stop dead right before the last word of a line ("Twinkle, twinkle, little..."), with a knowing look.
4. 4Wait in silence with raised eyebrows until they fill it in ("star!"). If they don't, drag out the beginning of the word ("staaar...") and try again on the next line.
5. 5Play the fool: sing the wrong word on purpose ("Twinkle, twinkle, little... car?") and let them gleefully correct you.
6. 6Take it further: leave gaps in the middle of a line, invent silly rhymes together, or chain several nursery rhymes in a row.

What it builds

Filling in the missing word turns your child into a real singer, not just a listener. And to find that missing word, their ears are tuning into rhymes and sounds: the exact building blocks for learning to read.