We hope you enjoyed our first ‘Toddler Tuesdays’ activity last week, if you missed it you can find it here. This week we are having fun with the nursery rhyme Jack & Jill.

If you are not familiar with this nursery rhyme the words are -

Jack and Jill went up the hill,

to fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down,

and broke his crown,

and Jill came tumbling after.

You will need -

Couch cushions or pillows from around your house to make a hill.
Optional - a blanket to cover your cushion hill.
2 dolls, teddies or other soft toys to use as Jack & Jill.
A small plastic bucket, container, or tub to use as Jacks pail.

Instructions -

Gather items from around your home so that you are ready to start. Sing the nursery rhyme ‘Jack and Jill’ with or too your child a few times. Encourage them to help you build a hill for Jack to climb, then encourage them to help you act out the rhyme. Encourage your child to show empathy to Jack when he hurts his head, ‘poor Jack’, ‘sore head’. Once your child has the hang of the rhyme mix it up a bit, perhaps Sam & Sally went up the hill, or Jill fell down instead of Jack. Make it fun and encourage them to correct you, “Oops! Silly Mummy. Jill didn’t fall down, it was Jack.”

Focus -

Nursery rhymes like Jack & Jill are great for learning sequencing as they have a clear beginning, middle and end. Sequencing is one of the key steps to storytelling. Physically acting out the scene can help children to retain the information better and is engaging their gross motor skills.

If you try out one of our activities please let us know what your toddler (and you) thought. Feel free to leave a comment here or post an image or comment to our Facebook page. If you enjoy the activity we would encourage you to share this post with your friends.