Printable Preschool Nursery Rhymes Journal

When I taught kindergarten, I loved using poetry journals with the kiddos. In that vein, I’ve put together a super simple journal that focuses on preschool nursery rhymes. There’s a printable version below, so feel free to print one out for your children or students.

Are you following Fun-A-Day’s Nursery Rhymes Pinterest board?

Related: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Printable Sequencing Cards

put together a  preschool nursery rhymes journal

The journal I created is very simple. It has a cover page, followed by ten common nursery rhymes. Each rhyme has its own page, with the rhyme printed at the top and blank space at the bottom. Here are a few ways to assemble the journal:

• Print the pages out and staple them together.
• Print the journal pages. Mount the front cover on a piece of construction paper. Laminate the front cover, along with a blank piece of construction paper to act as the back cover. Bind the journals together, or hole-punch and attach to binder rings.
• Print the journal and hole-punch all of the pages. Place inside a pocket folder with brads.

how to use the nursery rhymes journal

Once the journal is assembled, it’s time to jump into the nursery rhymes! While the journal could be used on its own, I’d suggest using it in conjunction with other activities. This way, the children get a lot of exposure and experience with each nursery rhyme. Ideally, the children could explore one nursery rhyme each week, culminating in adding that rhyme to their journal! Below are my suggestions:

1. First, introduce the nursery rhyme. “I’ve got a fun nursery rhyme that you might know! It’s called Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Have the children say it with you if most of them already know the rhyme. If not, have them be your “echo” – you say one line, they echo you (back and forth until the rhyme is over).

2. Write the nursery rhyme out on sentence strips and add it to a pocket chart. Alternatively, write it on a large piece of chart paper to display. Point to the words and say the rhyme at different points throughout the day.

3. Write the words of the rhyme on individual sentence strips or paper. Have the kiddos match the words on the paper to the words on the pocket chart.

4. Add the kids’ names to the nursery rhymes if at all possible. This makes it even sillier and even more fun for the children. For example, instead of “Mary had a little lamb . . .” it could be “Jeremy had a little lamb . . .” If possible, cover the word in the pocket chart with the child’s name before saying the “new” version!

5. Bring in another fun nursery rhyme activity related to the specific poem being worked on that week. Here are some ideas:

• Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star rhyming cards activity
• Printable nursery rhyme stick labels
• Nursery rhyme letter writing
• Itsy Bitsy Spider cutting practice
• Jack Be Nimble candle craft

6. Have the children illustrate the rhyme in their nursery rhyme journal. Read/say the poem together, review what it’s about, and then encourage the children to draw their own pictures. Be sure to stress that the pictures they draw should match the nursery rhyme on the paper.

7. Leave the nursery rhyme journals out where the kids can access them on a daily basis. This way, they can go back through and say the poems over and over again. Their illustrations should be helpful in reminding pre-readers which nursery rhyme is on each page.

Would your children enjoy this preschool nursery rhymes journal? Do they have any favorite nursery rhymes at the moment? Grab the free printable HERE.

Be sure to hop over and check out these other ideas for teaching nursery rhymes:

Pat-A-Cake Printable Poem and Sequencing Cards by Fun-A-Day

The Three Little Kittens Rhyming Mittens by Growing Book by Book

Gingerbread Many Rhyme and Candy House Craft from The Preschool Toolbox

Cow Jumped Over the Moon Craft by Still Playing School

I Wish I May I Wish I Might – Star Headband by Capri + 3