Nursery rhymes are classic and get an update with augmented reality. Everyone is familiar with nursery rhymes from a very young age. Their familiarity, predictable patterns, simple storylines, and flair for drama makes them a perfect pair to augmented reality.

Keep reading for a quick lesson idea to get students creating their own augmented nursery rhymes!

What is ARVR?

Augmented and Virtual Reality (ARVR) is one of the MOST FUN tools to use with students during remote teaching. It is highly engaging for them and they LOVE creating and consuming content.

Augmented Reality (AR) is when you augment, or change, your reality. Virtual Reality (VR) is when you create a virtual environment that is different from the one you’re in.

When using ARVR with students, the enthusiasm and engagement is unmatched. Augmented and Virtual Reality are more than just a fun tool or gimmick to engage students.

Check out ARVR Activities

Why Use Nursery Rhymes with Augmented Reality?

Nursery Rhymes Are Familiar

Nursery Rhymes are familiar to students. They are typically students’ first introduction to word and story patterns.

At early ages, they test young children’s memory skills and develop their language. Through language acquisition, they are learning how to listen for rhyming words and how to inflect their voice.

Nursery rhymes are super short stories. Within a few lines, they hear a story’s beginning, middle, and end. When students retell a nursery rhyme, they are invited to be as creative, dramatic, and humorous as they wish.

Nursery rhymes are low risk for students, regardless of their age.

Augmented Reality and Media Literacy

Augmented and Virtual Reality engages students in media literacy skills. According to the National Association for Media Literacy, media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act in a digital world.

ARVR provides teaching and learning opportunities for each of those. As with any educational technology, it’s not about the app. It’s about how you use it.

ARVR can teach Media Literacy through:

• Virtual Field Trips and simulated experiences. Ex: Nearpod, 360Cities, YouTube 360, Merge, Chromville.
• Creating alternative and/or reimagined environments. Ex: CoSpaces, 3DBear, ARPortals.
• Interactive reading, writing, numeracy, and arts that provides immediate feedback. Ex: NarratorAR, Quiver, Novel Effect, Wonderscope, Disrupted, Architect.

Using a variety of media in school, included ARVR, flips the script on media. Students learn a new perspective of why and how to use technology.

Why Use Nursery Rhymes with Augmented Reality?

Nursery Rhymes are a natural fit for augmented reality. Each engage students in interactive reading.

When students use AR to recreate nursery rhymes, they are creating reimagined environments. This is only inherit in how students dramatize nursery rhymes. It also how they engage in media literacy.

When introducing a new web tool or app to students it is helpful to use something that they are familiar with. This is especially true when attempting to get students to stay on task with highly engaging tools. Introduce one new thing so they can maintain focus.

Augmented Nursery Rhyme Lesson

Here is a quick augmented nursery rhyme lesson to use with students in grades 1-5. Before the lesson, students should have been introduced to the app and experience with making academic choice. 3DBear is a great app to use with this activity!

1. Read Aloud After the Fall (or another nursery rhyme picture book).
2. Tell students they will create an augmented version of a nursery rhyme of their choice. Decide if you want them to create an image or video.
3. First, students will choose a nursery rhyme. Print and laminate the lyrics before the lesson.
4. Students use 3DBear to create an augmented nursery rhyme. It should be an accurate visual representation of the nursery rhyme. It is good to think of them as a tableaux, and even better if your student are familiar with tableaux.
5. Students share their augmented nursery rhyme with others.

Short and sweet. This lesson can easily happen in 30 – 60 minutes!

Differentiate the Lesson

There are a couple of ways to differentiate the augmented nursery rhyme lesson.

• With a 3DBear class account, you have the ability to group students. This is an incredibly cool feature that gets students creating collaboratively on separate devices.
• Have some students create one scene while others create a full length video. This is a great way to meet IEP and 504 accommodations and modifications.
• Have students storyboard before they create. Use post-its or a graphic organizer for them to plan the assets they’ll use and the order they’ll go in.
• Give students the opportunity to remix the nursery rhyme! In other words, give them the option to change a line or two. This is another way for them to engage in media literacy.

As long as your students have access to the app at home they can also complete this activity during hybrid and/or distance learning.

For more ideas on using Augmented Reality download this handy guide! It includes quick teaching ideas for AR apps like 3Dbear, Quiver, and Narrator AR.

It also includes tips for introducing apps to students, which ages they are perfect for, and cost (if any).