Why We Do What We Do: Nursery Rhyme Programs and Attention Span
Sustained attention: The amount of time that someone can focus on a task without becoming distracted.
Most educators agree that the ability to focus one’s attention on a task is crucial to learning.
The ability to listen and focus is developmental, but there are things
that can help your child to increase that ability at a young age.
Attending the library’s nursery rhyme programs can introduce your child
to a group setting and help your child increase his or her ability to
focus on the task at hand – in this case, listening to a story and
learning some popular nursery rhymes and songs.
Here is how you can help:
• Listen to the story and recite the rhymes: Babies and toddlers tend to
focus on adults more than on other children. When you, as an important
adult in their lives, focus on the story and actively take part in the
rhymes, it sets an example your child will want to follow.
• Give your child a snack before coming to the library: The ability to
pay attention is hampered by hunger, so if it’s been a while since your
child’s last meal, try to give a snack before you come to the library.
Remember that no food or drink is allowed in the library itself.
• Choose a program time that best coordinates with your child’s nap
time: Fatigue can affect the child’s ability to pay attention. We offer
the rhymes programs twice on Thursday evenings and twice on Friday
mornings to make it easier to find the time that’s best for your child.
• Be on time as often as possible: It’s difficult to plan for every
little thing that can happen when you are dealing with babies and
toddlers, but your child will benefit most from the rhymes program when
he or she is present at the start. The program follows a plan that is
repeated from week to week so that the routine becomes familiar, and
each rhyme or song is chosen carefully to help your child keep or
refocus attention on the librarian who leads it.
• If you do arrive after the program starts: Wait to enter between
rhymes, and do so as quietly as possible. Sit in the back so that the
other children are not distracted. A good time to enter is when everyone
claps after each rhyme.
• Attend the program frequently: Children are able to focus their
attention best when something is familiar. Repeated attendance at the
rhymes programs will soon make your child familiar with the routine and
help your child feel confident in reciting the rhymes and taking part in
the actions.
How We Do It and Why:
• Gathering: We gather everyone from the public children’s area and
enter the program space together. Why? Because it helps us all to start
on the same page. We have moved from being individuals in a public space
to being a group here for a purpose. By entering the room when it’s
time for the program to start, the children have not had a chance to
become too familiar with it or get bored or be distracted by the props
and puppets waiting to introduce the rhymes. We can greet and welcome
each person at the door as they enter, which helps your child connect
with the librarian who is presenting the program.
• Repetition: Each rhyme is repeated two or three times. Because
repetition plays an important part in learning, this will help your
child become familiar with the rhyme, and will help boost confidence in
your child’s ability to recite and take part in the rhyme once he or she
learns it.
• Following the “road map:” There are some rhymes that we always do.
This gives the children a pattern or “road map” to follow once they
become familiar with the program.
• Clapping: Research shows that no matter the age, we are able to
sustain attention for only a limited amount of time, and then we either
move on to another task, take a break, or refocus on the activity at
hand. When we clap after each rhyme, it serves multiple purposes: It
serves as a “break” that will allow the child to refocus attention on
the next rhyme; it makes the activity of reciting the rhymes more
enjoyable and thus makes it easier to pay attention; and it helps to
build confidence in the child’s ability to recite the rhyme. It’s also
something that even babies can do successfully!
• Reading a book: By reading one book during the 15-minute program, the
children begin to connect books with an enjoyable activity. The books
for this program are chosen because they have bold illustrations that
will stand out in a group setting; they are short with one story line;
they have phrases that can be repeated by the children and parents; and
they have some element of surprise or suspense. (To see a list of some of the books we like to use, see additional posts below)
– material copyright Youth Services, 2011