Foundations of Language and Literacy · Junior Infants

Active learning ideas

Enjoying Nursery Rhymes and Songs

Active learning works for nursery rhymes and songs because young children learn best through movement, sound, and repetition. Phonological awareness grows when students physically engage with rhythm and rhyme, making abstract sounds tangible through clapping, chanting, and sorting. This multisensory approach builds foundational skills that prepare children for reading and writing in a natural, enjoyable way.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Junior Cycle English - Reading - Understanding and Interpreting
• NCCA: Junior Cycle English - Language - Literary Devices

• 15–20 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Inquiry Circle
• 20 min · Pairs

Inquiry Circle: Rhyme Hunters

Place pictures of rhyming pairs around the room. In pairs, students must find two pictures that 'sound the same at the end' and bring them back to the circle to explain why they match.

Can you clap along with the beat of this nursery rhyme?

Facilitation Tip

During Rhyme Hunters, model the first sorting round aloud so students hear your thinking as you decide whether words rhyme or start with the same sound.

What to look for

Sing a short, familiar nursery rhyme like 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'. Ask students to raise their hand when they hear two words that rhyme. Call on a few students to name the rhyming pair.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Self-Awareness

Activity 02

• Experiential Learning
• 15 min · Whole Class

Whole Class Simulation: The Human Drum

Students stand in a circle. As the teacher recites a poem, students must clap the syllables or stomp the rhyme. They then try to keep the rhythm going while the teacher stops speaking, relying on their internal sense of the beat.

Which words in this rhyme sound the same at the end?

Facilitation Tip

For The Human Drum, allow students to choose their own body percussion first, then guide the group to match the rhythm of the rhyme together.

What to look for

Read a rhyme that features alliteration, such as 'Baa, Baa, Black Sheep'. Ask: 'Can you find any words in this rhyme that start with the same sound?' Encourage students to repeat the words that sound alike.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness

Activity 03

• Peer Teaching
• 20 min · Small Groups

Peer Teaching: Silly Rhyme Swap

In small groups, students take a well-known rhyme like 'Humpty Dumpty' and try to change the rhyming words to something silly (e.g., 'Humpty Dumpty sat on a spoon'). They then teach their new version to another group.

What actions could you do to go along with this song or poem?

Facilitation Tip

In Silly Rhyme Swap, circulate and listen for students who revise their rhymes after peer feedback, noting which children need more examples.

What to look for

Provide students with a simple picture of an animal making a sound (e.g., a cow saying 'moo'). Ask them to draw a line from the animal to the word that sounds like the noise it makes. This checks understanding of onomatopoeia.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Experienced teachers approach this topic by treating rhymes as miniature musical scores, where each word is a note. They avoid over-explaining and instead let the rhymes and songs do the teaching through repetition and engagement. Research shows that children who physically act out rhymes develop stronger phonological awareness than those who only listen. Teachers also model mistakes openly, such as humming the wrong rhythm, so students feel safe experimenting and correcting themselves.

By the end of these activities, students will confidently identify rhyming words, mimic rhythmic patterns, and sort sounds into categories without prompting. They will use their bodies and voices to demonstrate understanding, showing that they can distinguish between rhyme, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. Success looks like students actively participating, correcting peers gently, and applying these skills in new contexts.

---

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Rhyme Hunters, watch for students confusing words that start with the same sound with words that rhyme.

  Provide a clear sorting mat with two labeled columns: one for rhyming words and one for alliteration. Use picture cards like 'cat' and 'hat' for rhyme, and 'ball' and 'banana' for alliteration. Model sorting the first few cards aloud so students hear the difference in ending versus beginning sounds.

• During The Human Drum, teachers might think rhyme is only for entertainment.

  Use the activity to highlight 'word families' by clapping out the shared ending sounds of rhyming words. For example, clap 'Twinkle, Twinkle' and pause on 'star' and 'are' to show how the '-ar' sound repeats. Ask students to name another word that fits the same family after the activity.

---

Methods used in this brief

• Inquiry Circle
• Experiential Learning
• Peer Teaching