Top 5 Nursery Rhymes for Counting

by helenonthesofa (follow)

Preschoolers (19)      Under 5's (10)      Play based learning (3)      Nursery Rhymes (2)      Counting (1)     

Play based learning is an ideal way for preschoolers to have fun learning the basic concepts of things such as counting and reading through activities that they are enjoy and find pleasurable. If you have a child who enjoys nursery rhymes, music or singing, then these can prove to be an exceptional medium for learning through play. Here are 5 great nursery rhymes for counting:




This rhyme starts all the way from 10 and brings to life the tale of 10 kids in the bed who each in turn rolled over and fell out of bed, leaving only the little one left in bed. A great hand gesture for this is to hold your fingers up for the numbers that you use, and then roll your hands for the 'roll over, roll over' part. Here's an example for the first verse:

There were ten in the bed hold up 10 fingers
and the little one said, "Roll over, roll over" roll hands around each other
So they all rolled over and one fell out. hold up one finger to indicate one child has fallen out.

Kids will quickly learn about subtracting one number away to reveal how many children are left in the bed.


1,2,3,4,5 Once I Caught a Fish Alive

One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive,
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Then I let it go again

Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on the right.

Featuring the numbers 1-10 this tale has kids squealing with delight especially if you do the hand actions of being a fish that bites their little finger.

5 Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed

This has long been a favourite in our house, with some likely not so advisable reenactments of monkeys jumping on the bed. This is another rhyme where children will learn about numbers going down by one, each time a monkey falls off the bed and bangs their head.

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed.
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mumma called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

For hand gestures, use your fingers for counting the number of monkeys, tap your head for when the monkeys bump their head and a pretend call to the doctor goes down a treat. Jumping is optional but guarantees lots of fun.

The Animals Went in 2 by 2

This song tells the story of all of the animals getting into Noah's ark to get out of the rain, and in addition to helping with counting, kids will also learn all about the different types of animals in our wonderful world.

The animals went in two by two, hurrah! hurrah!
The animals went in two by two, hurrah! hurrah!
The animals went in two by two, the elephant and the kangaroo
And they all went into the ark, for to get out of the rain.

The animals went in three by three, hurrah! hurrah!
The animals went in three by three, hurrah! hurrah!
The animals went in three by three, the wasp, the ant and the bumble bee
And they all went into the ark, for to get out of the rain.

10 Green Bottles

My son used to love this song, but it's admittedly not my favourite as it gets very repetitive. With this rhyme, you start with ten green bottles sitting on the wall, and you find out what happens if one green bottle should accidentally fall. By the time you get to one green bottle left on the wall, you realise that it's likely no accident that these bottles keep falling off the wall. Love it or hate it, kids seem to enjoy counting down from 10 green bottles down to no green bottles. When you get bored of green bottles you can jazz the song up and make it 10 pink bottles sitting on the wall, or other such derivatives. Many things work with this song, so get imaginative and use your child's favourite items to keep the fun going.

Ten green bottles sitting on the wall
Ten green bottles sitting on the wall
and if one green bottle should accidentally fall
They'd be nice green bottles sitting on the wall.


What's your child's favourite rhyme for counting?


#Play based learning
#Nursery Rhymes
#Counting
#Preschoolers
#Under 5's

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