Nursery World - Learning & Development: Rhythm

Rhythm is a critical area for both communication and physical skills development, so how can practitioners ensure children's learning is supported? Lala Manners reports.

From life in utero to effective verbal communication and successful engagement in physical activities, rhythm is a critical element in ensuring young children's smooth overall development.

Children are surrounded by different rhythms throughout the day and in every environment they experience. From birth onwards, they must begin to understand and manage their own bodily rhythms in relation to the demands of others and the wider world - when to eat and sleep, how to be soothed or stimulated - and acquiring the skills and means to make themselves heard.

Communication

Babies respond positively to sounds that follow a rhythmic pattern and offer them opportunities to engage, respond and contribute. Effective later verbal communication will be influenced by the level of rhythmic awareness acquired - waiting for a turn, exchanging ideas, reciprocating emotions, using appropriate gestures, predicting correctly, listening rather than simply hearing.

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