Sing-song style helps learning

“Open, shut them. Open, shut them. Give a little clap, clap, clap.
Open, shut them. Open, shut them. Place them in your lap, lap, lap.
Creep them, creep them. Creep them, creep them. Right up to your nose, nose, nose.
Creep them, creep them. Creep them creep them. Right down to your toes, toes, toes.
Falling, falling. Falling, falling. Right down to the ground, ground, ground.
Then you pick them up again,And turn them round and round, round, round.
Faster, faster. Faster, faster. Give a little clap, clap, clap.
Slower, slower. Slower, slower. Place them in your lap, lap, lap.
Creep them, creep them. Creep them, creep them. Right up to your chin, chin, chin.
Raise them high. Up to the sky. For now our stories begin!”

This simple song that the children and I sing together at the beginning of every story hour may not be on the Top 40 list, but (thanks to a great deal of patient instruction from my storytelling mentor, Jean Townsend) it has made me a star among the Marion County preschooler crowd.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I was eating a sandwich at a local shop and a young child kept peeking over her booth and waving to me. Her mom finally came over and said her daughter kept saying, “Mom! That’s the Open-Shut Them Lady!” And while I’m hoping that the children take away much more from story time than just our opening song, I submit that even if that is all, we’re not doing too badly.

Because packed inside that little ditty is a whole lot of learning: including basic body parts vocabulary (nose, toes, and chin), complex concepts such as opposites (fast and slow, high and low), rhyming words—those golden sounds that help so much in early literacy (clap-lap, nose-toes, ground-round, high-sky, chin-begin), and plenty of repetition, which helps children learn and develop confidence in what they know and remember And I haven’t even begun to discuss the fine motor coordination that develops as children learn to follow the movements of opening and closing their hands in rhythm, of creeping (think “Itsy Bitsy Spider”) their fingers up their arms, and of touching their noses and toes.

Add in the self-control it takes to move and sing slowly after you’ve just spun your hands as fast as they can possibly go and the giddy humor inspired from the faces we make while singing the slow part (it helps if you pucker your lips outward and open your eyes as wide as you can) and you get an idea why we believe this song is an early-learning gem and why here at the Marion County Library, story time is rarely a quiet affair.

So, am I suggesting that everyone begin singing the “Open, Shut Them” song to your toddlers and preschoolers? No. (But if you’d like me to sing it for you, so you can learn the melody, just call the library and ask for Cathy. On second thought, better ask for Jean!)

What I am suggesting, however, is that there are many simple ways you can help your child develop language skills every day and singing together is one of the best. The old Mother Goose songs from your own childhood are a great place to start.

There are many books in the library with nursery rhymes and more. Making up your own songs as you go about your daily activities is another way to increase your child’s vocabulary and have fun at the same time. Songs help children hear words broken down into syllables because usually there is a different note for each syllable. Without knowing it, children are learning to break words down into parts, another skill that will help them with reading.

I’m proud of my role as a preschool singing celebrity because I know it won’t be long before my “Open, Shut Them” fans are opening and shutting books that they are reading on their own. Your children will be enthusiastic readers too with your help.