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Did you know Mother Goose Day is May 1? I was searching for unusual holidays coming up and stumbled across it. Of course, the preschool teacher buried inside me got excited. I miss teaching preschool (sigh). So, I couldn’t resist doing a search and sharing some fun Mother Goose nursery rhyme activities for young kids.

I may not be teaching preschool anymore, but I sure do love finding ways to make learning fun for kids and their families.

So, I have come up with a list of several fun nursery rhyme activities for Mother Goose Day or just a fun unit study with your kiddos.

Nursery Rhyme Activities for Preschoolers

Felt Story Board Nursery Rhyme Activities (And Alternative Options)

One activity my preschoolers LOVED was felt stories! You don’t have to buy fancy sets because they are easy to make.

I would find images, clip art, etc. (characters and objects) from a nursery rhyme, and cut them out. After, I would laminate them and glue felt on the back. If you don’t have a laminator, you can use contact paper. It is easy enough to find.

Then, I took a poster board and glued rectangular felt pieces onto it to make the felt board. So now I had a felt board to retell nursery rhymes and the kids to retell them.

Download your own Jack and Jill felt story pieces to make it at home!

If you don’t want to use a felt board, no problem! You can place magnets on the back of the pieces and use them on a magnetic whiteboard, chalkboard, or your refrigerator.

For one last suggestion, you can also have your kids use the pieces on a table or floor and move them around.

This is a very easy activity to adapt to what you have at home.

Nursery Rhyme Read Alouds

Of course, read aloud is an obvious nursery rhyme activity. However, there are different ways to make it happen.

1. Enlarged Copies: I used to write out nursery rhymes and other poems on large chart tablets (you could also use a poster board). The writing is nice and large for kiddos, and you can point to the words to work on letter or word recognition (highlight a specific letter or sight word).

2. Video: You can find nursery rhyme read-alouds on YouTube. Super Simple Songs is a fun channel with nursery rhymes and kid songs. Here is a video by Toddle Fun Learning with a collection to listen to.

3. Read Aloud Books: Many nursery rhyme books are perfect for reading on Mother Goose Day. One of my favorites is Mary Engelbreit’s Mother Goose. We love the illustrations in this book. You can also find some free books on Kindle (or the app) and Audible. Your best bet is check out your local library for more options.

Cooking: A Great Nursery Rhyme Activity

We love adding food activities to our day. Most kids also love helping in the kitchen. So why not make food items to go along with particular rhymes. You could:

• Serve hard-boiled eggs for Humpty Dumpty.
• Make a cake for Pat-a-Cake.
• Eat curds and whey (discuss what it is).
• Bake a pie for Simple Simon.
• Make homemade dog treats for Old Mother Hubbard (so the family dog can have fun).

You get the idea.

Another fun thing is to use different food items as a final celebration or teatime!

Nursery Rhyme Crafts

You can’t celebrate Mother Goose Day without adding nursery rhyme craft activities! Here are some great sites with fun craft ideas.

• 45 Nursery Rhyme Crafts: Sara at How Wee Learn has you covered with crafts. She has a large selection of super cute ideas! See for yourself.
• Nursery Rhyme Activities and Crafts: Red Ted Art is one of my all-time favorite craft sites! She has so many fun craft ideas you’ll want to check out.
• Nursery Rhyme Crafts: All Kids Network shares 15 crafts for the most popular rhymes.

Do a Little Skit or Puppet Show

Another fun nursery rhyme activity for Mother Goose Day would be to put on a skit. Kids could dress up and act out their favorite nursery rhymes. For example, kids could sit on a stool with a bowl and spoon and pretend to be Miss Muffet. Someone could lower a spider, and Miss Muffet could run away.

If your kids don’t want to be in the limelight, they can make puppets. You can use so many materials: paper bags, socks, pictures (can even be a picture from a coloring page) on popsicle sticks or spoons, finger puppets, paper dolls, etc.

It doesn’t need to be complicated. Kids will have fun and practice story sequencing skills.

Add a Little Music

Kids often enjoy music. Add a little fun to rhymes by having the kids keep the rhythm with rhythm sticks, tambourine, maracas, etc.

Putting All the Nursery Rhyme Activities Together

Make a fun day of it by putting it all together. For example, you can hold a final celebration with food, display crafts, share favorite nursery rhymes with a skit or felt board stories, etc.

Doesn’t that sound fun?!

You can also make a whole unit study by focusing on one nursery rhyme for the week. If you do this, you can also add in other things.

Set up an area in your home where kids can continue to learn. For example: If you are doing Pat-a-cake, you can:

• Put out a sand table (or shallow pan) with sand and practice writing b.
• Set up a kitchen area with cake pans, mixing bowls, big spoons for stirring, a chef’s hat for dressing up and/or apron, and play dough to make little cakes. If you don’t have a kitchen set, you could make a small one with a cardboard box.
• Set out dolls for the kids to sing them the rhyme.

When planning, think about different exploratory play opportunities with:

• A craft
• Similar story/poem or alternative version for them to look at
• Water table
• Sand table
• Dress up
• Kitchen area
• Blocks
• Puppets
• Music
• And many more!

I hope this has given you some ideas whether you are celebrating just Mother Goose Day or if you want to do a whole nursery rhyme study with your little ones. There is so much fun and learning that you can do.

Happy Homeschooling!