Nursery rhymes are EXCELLENT for language development. My Mam's been teaching August a new word a day by singing to him and it's so exciting to see!

HOW does it help? Well nursery rhymes are sang with rhythm which helps your child hear all the sounds and syllables in words, which in turn helps them to develop their speech sounds. Being able to tap out syllables (the rhythm) is a big building block for reading in the future too, as is being able to hear and create rhyming words (I know - that seems so far away but you CAN be impacting on their literacy skills now!). When you add actions to rhymes, you're also supporting your child's motor skills, memory, concentration, spacial intelligence and thinking skills. HUGE!

FIND how to sign this song to your baby on my feed! It's super easy!

TRY using this song as a communication temptation. You could leave off one of the 'rows' at the start or leave of the last word and wait expectantly for your baby to communicate with you.

YOU COULD ALSO sit face to face holding hands and rock backwards and forwards together like you're rowing. Kids LOVE IT! PRO TIP: I found this to be the BEST burping technique when Auggie was tiny!!

INVEST in a good nursery rhyme book. Books are the BEST way to support your child's language development as books have pictures which they can reference. Just listening to rhymes (Spotify etc) isn't as powerful and TV is a no-no for so many reasons.

We mix it up. Sometimes I sign it, sometimes we sit face to face, sometimes he sits in his step rocker - which brings the action to life a little bit. How we got ours is a long story but @joyboxdesign sell them :) see the stairs in action and learn about why we use them by watching the youtube video 'magda gerber how they move' - you won't regret it.

What's your baby's favourite nursery rhyme?

Watch the video here