Jack and Jill: Using the Nursery Rhyme in Your Preschool Lesson Plans

The nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill, allows preschool teachers to introduce and reinforce the concepts of up and down. Jack and Jill also provides an opportunity to discuss differences and similarities between boys and girls. Here you will find ideas for your preschool lesson plans about teaching the concepts of up and down and also about boys and girls. There are a couple of new words for your preschool students to learn the meanings of and some fun gross motor activities, too!

Jack and Jill: The Nursery Rhyme

Jack and Jill went up a hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down
And broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.

Using Jack and Jill in Preschool Lesson Plans: Up and Down

Use the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme to teach your students the concepts of up and down. One way this can be done is with a felt board, a boy shape and a girl shape made of felt and a large felt "hill." Show your students Jack and Jill going up and then down the hill. Let your students demonstrate up and down using the felt board set.

Using Jack and Jill in Preschool Lesson Plans: Boy and Girl

Make and then set out a boy figure and a girl figure cut from felt. Also set out pants, shirts, dresses, skirts and so on. Have your students separate the traditional boys and girls clothing. Let them dress the boy and girl felt figures accordingly.

Keep in mind, of course, that we do not live in the Dark Ages. While understanding traditional male and female differences is an important part of a child's early development, so is the understanding that rules are sometimes bent. For example, in this age it is not at all unusual for girls to wear army fatigues and overalls, just as boys might.

Using Jack and Jill in Preschool Lesson Plans: New Words

Nursery rhymes, having been around for centuries, often include unfamiliar words and Jack and Jill is no exception. Take this opportunity to expand your preschool students' literary horizons by introducing them to familiar words with unfamiliar meanings.

Crown: Most preschool students understand a crown to be something that kings and queens wear on their heads. Explain to them that the word crown in the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme refers to one's forehead. Jack didn't break a royal headdress, but rather he bumped his head.

Fetch: This will be a completely unfamiliar word to many preschool age children. Explain to your students that the word fetch means to go get something and bring it back. Jack and Jill were going to get water to bring back home.

Using Jack and Jill in Preschool Lesson Plans: Gross Motor Activities

Climbing: Find an incline in your preschool or on your preschool's outdoor property where you can let your students actually climb, or at the very least pretend to climb, a hill.

Rolling: Should there be a grassy hill on your preschool's property, let your students roll down it just as Jack and Jill did in the nursery rhyme.

To make the rolling gross motor activity even more fun, put a band aid on each child's forehead after they have successfully rolled down the hill!