Little Miss Muffet

Babies love rhythm and rhyme. They respond particularly well to nursery rhymes like this because of the strong beat when saying the words. Younger babies can be cradled in your arms, or they can lie on your lap so that you can bounce gently along.

Introduce some simple actions and encourage your child to join in with you. You could take it in turns to be Miss Muffett and the spider. Make up your own actions, acting out the words.

Try playing a circle game based on the rhyme. Choose a child to be the spider while the others sit in a circle. As everyone says the rhyme, the ‘spider’ goes round the outside of the group making tickling movements with his/her hands. When everyone says ‘and sat down beside her’, the spider taps or tickles one of the children who then runs around the outside of the circle whilst everyone says ‘and frightened Miss Muffett away’. That child then takes a turn at being the spider.