Basic craft : Nursery Rhymes

As explained before, rewriting nursery rhymes is a good exercise for developing rhyming and rhythm skills.

First, say aloud or read the nursery rhyme several times until the rhythm has stuck in your head. Then read it from the worksheet so that you can see how each bit of the rhythm has its own box.

Change a few words (write the new word in the box under the old one). Read the changed line to check that the rhythm is still right - now change another word. You'll find it easiest to change words like dish or little or hill.

If you change a rhyming word (these are marked by shaded boxes) find the word it rhymes with (it's marked by a box of the same colour) and either change it to the new rhyme at once or write the new rhyme sound nearby to remind you how it needs to change.

Do not worry if your first attempts are total nonsense and the `story' is a mess - once you can keep the rhythm or get better at swapping words and rhymes you will find it easier to make more organised and satisfying stories.

For further information on this sort of game click on games listed under BASIC CRAFT in the INDEX side bar.