Many traditional rhymes, like Humpty Dumpty and Jack and Jill, contain repetition which makes it easy for children with hearing loss to remember words and how they go together. Learning rhymes, fingerplays, poems, and songs are important for developing listening and language skills but also thinking skills, and early literacy skills.
Each spring near Easter, I target listening and spoken language goals using Humpty Dumpty. Together with the parents, the child learns to act out the nursery rhyme with fun toys, books, crafts, and props.

Listening and Spoken Language Targets:

For toddlers:
We focus on "more", "uh-oh", "sit down", "fall-down" "broken" and talk about the horses.

For preschoolers we often
- Focus on concepts that require fine auditory discrimination involving syntax such as sat/sit, fall/fell, horse/horses/ man/men.
- Talk about positional words (e.g. on, off, above, below, after, before, over, under,).
- Expand vocabulary with synonyms for broken such as break, separate, split up, fall apart, come apart.
- Have conversations and build critical thinking skills while discussing how to fix poor HUMPTY DUMPTY and sometimes try tape and bandaids.
- Talk about HUMPTY DUMPTY'S changing emotions throughout the rhyme - happy, frightened, sad, hurt, disappointed.

A Classic - Hard-Boiled Humpty Dumpty

1. Insta Putting Humpty Dumpty Together Again In Auditory Verbal Therapy.png

Kids love acting out HUMPTY DUMPTY by first decorating a hard-boiled egg. We sing and talk about the nursery rhyme with a shoebox wall, toy horses, and a few king's men. This is a Listen With Lynn™ auditory verbal classic activity that grown kids remember and talk about for years to come.

Humpty Dumpty Favorite Activities To Try

There are countless games and activities to include when targeting nursery rhymes. Each spring near Easter we have fun listening and talking with Humpty Dumpty. The only downfall is that families report that many of the dyed Easter eggs become Humpty Dumpty then fall, break, and cannot be repaired.

Here are links to some of my favorite activities:
HERE is a printable HUMPTY DUMPTY with story props, a mini-book, and rhyming words.

Above is a FREE App: Rhymes for Tots by Emantras that includes putting broken toys together again!
Try a simple listening and language craft and make HUMPTY DUMPTY out of a yogurt container.
My friend and colleague Dave Sindrey M.Cl.Sc., LSLS Cert. AVT has a printable Humpty Dumpty Game that kids love. Grab it HERE or at TheListeningRoom.com hosted by Advanced Bionics and Phonak.