25 Nov Old Macdonald Had a Farm- A Fun Way for Children to Learn About Animals

Children learn better by observing. It’s true. But, if you want your child to learn faster and develop their language skills, there is no better way to do it than with rhymes. Nursery Rhymes have been around us for years now and are a part of our memories, passed down generations after generations in different ways. While some parents like to sing it to their children, others might like to make a play out of them. Nevertheless, whichever way a parent might choose to present these rhymes to their children, they are always fun and educational. 

Speaking of fun and education, “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” is one such nursery rhyme and children’s song about a farmer named MacDonald and the various animals on his farm. The interesting thing about the song is that with each verse of the song the name of the animal and its respective noise changes. The nursery rhyme has a rich history behind it and children have loved dancing to its tune ever since it was first created. 

 

The children’s song might just seem like any other simple toddler fun, but learning this vocabulary at a young age actually helps your child develop savvy pre-academic and social skills. 

 

Let’s take a look at the history of the song.

A Little history

The first known version of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” was in the year 1917 when it first appeared in a book titled “Tommy’s Tunes”, a collection of World War I era songs by F. T. Nettleingham. 

 

The version of the song, however, had a slightly different farmer’s name and the lyrics went like this-

 

Old Macdougal had a farm. Ee-I-Ee-I-O,

And on that farm, he had some dogs. Ee-I-Ee-I-O,

With a bow-wow here, and a bow-wow there,

Here a bow, there a bow, everywhere a bow-wow.

 

How does this nursery rhyme help?

Whether you live in the city or the suburbs, your young child surely has seen or heard about farm animals, from the TV or the internet. The nursery rhyme, “Old Macdonald had a farm” helps to introduce children, especially toddlers and pre-schoolers, to new words in a fun way and while also improving their language skills. 

You might have not known it, but songs about animals and nature help children learn about the world we live in, which is important for their early development and readiness for school. The children’s song can get your little ones pretty ecstatic while performing the different actions of the animals and watching you do the same. Moving to music helps to link actions with sounds, in the process, helping your kids with their gross motor skills since they use different parts of their body to do the actions. 

 

Additionally, the song can help children with their balance, coordination, and muscle development. You may find that this song develops your child’s listening skills as there are parts of the body to remember. The repetitive nature of the song can help develop their memory skills too.

Word combinations like “cow” and “moo” may sound simple, but, they are actually the beginning of sentences. Young toddlers between 18 months and 2 years of age who know around 20 words might start combining words like these and it’s a simpler process, doing it with farm animal words because they’re fun and engaging. They capture the attention of a child much more easily than regular, inanimate objects like a bed or a chair.

The parent or caregiver can help their smaller children with simple movements such as putting them on their lap and doing the relevant actions. As your baby gets older, they will be able to do more movements and actions independently. Remember you can make up your own verses and use animals from all around the world. Once your child learns simple farm animal words, he’ll start connecting them together or with other words to create meaning. 

Rhyme lyrics 

Old MacDonald had a farm,

E-I- E- I-O!

And on that farm, he had some chickens,

E-I- E- I-O!

With a cluck-cluck here,

And a cluck-cluck there

Here a cluck, there a cluck,

Everywhere a cluck-cluck

 

Old MacDonald had a farm

E-I- E- I-O!

Old MacDonald had a farm,

E-I- E- I-O!

And on that farm, he had some dogs,

E-I- E- I-O!

With a woof-woof here,

And a woof-woof-woof there

Here a woof, there a woof,

Everywhere a woof-woof

 

Old MacDonald had a farm

E-I- E- I-O!

Old MacDonald had a farm,

E-I- E- I-O!

And on that farm, he had some turkeys,

E-I- E- I-O!

With a gobble-gobble gobble-gobble here,

And a gobble-gobble gobble-gobble there

Here a gobble-gobble, there a gobble-gobble,

Everywhere a gobble-gobble-gobble

 

Old MacDonald had a farm

E-I- E- I-O!

Old MacDonald had a farm,

E-I- E- I-O!

And on that farm, he had some cows,

E-I- E- I-O!

With a moo-moo here,

And a moo-moo there

Here a moo, there a moo,

Everywhere a moo-moo

 

Old MacDonald had a farm,

E-I- E- I-O!

 

Conclusion

 

With the passage of time, this children’s song and nursery rhyme has undergone many changes in language and versions. However, what stuck to it is the tune, which children all over the world still dance to till this day. 

 

OckyPocky has its own fun version of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” that parents can access, on the app, so that they can enjoy it with their kids.