Application of Engineering Concepts in Nursery Rhymes: An Innovative Approach

Abstract

Children have been the most sought-after artist, sculptors, creators, innovators, poets, builders, and are likely to practice many professions and become one. As curious learners from their toddler life, they try to grab any object that is around and make some sense out of them. For instance, playing on a heap of sand they construct their dream homes, getting hold of their dad’s stethoscope they try to feel the ‘lub dub’ beat on the chest of their parents; playing with the cooking vessels that they stealthily take it from their mother’s kitchen and play the role of a cook and chef by heating water on a toy gas stove etc. These little incidents in their life, as little ones, have given a giant leap for mankind in the field of discovery and inventions.

Many scientists like James Watt (watching the boiling kettle in his mother’s cottage), Archimedes (incident in his bathing tub), Isaac Newton (falling apple) and many other such scientists have invented something or the other, through observations and experiences.  These inventions are taught to children in their science classes according to their syllabus that are graded by the education department and syllabus makers.  This article will make an attempt to cater interest among students to get into the picturesque and fascinating world of children’s Nursery Rhymes to understand and learn many scientific and engineering concepts from it. Through the pictorial representations found in the nursery rhymes, many engineering concepts can be taught to children between the ages of six to fifteen. This can be seen as one of the innovative methods of revealing the great wonders of science through the Nursery Rhymes.