World Nursery Rhyme Week is an annual celebration of nursery rhymes and the important role they play in supporting early childhood development and education. In 2026, World Nursery Rhyme Week runs from 9th – 13th November.
Each year, World Nursery Rhyme Week selects five rhymes and runs a ‘Rhyme a Day’ challenge that invites pre-school settings to encourage their pupils to learn and sing one of the rhymes each day.
The rhymes have been chosen to support development across key areas such as vocabulary, language and literacy skills; numeracy skills; and fine and gross motor development. The 2026 rhymes are:
- Hickory Dickory Dock
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Once I Caught a Fish Alive
- Doctor Foster Went to Gloucester
- Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat
- Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Find a good anthology of nursery rhymes such as the Iona Opie ones that are illustrated by Rosemary Wells, but there are other very comprehensive ones.
Many nursery rhymes also come in stand alone picture or board books, eg
When I meet with my preschool classes I have noticed though, that they do not know their nursery rhymes like they used to and if the picture book I'm sharing with them relies on knowledge of a nursery rhyme I need to do more scaffolding than I had planned. I will say the nursery rhyme and ask the students to join in, sing it, do actions etc and then go back to the book. The library has many stories that spoof nursery rhymes eg.
