Forget Twinkle, Twinkle - toddlers now want techno, techno

Traditional nursery rhymes have fallen in popularity, parents say, with children preferring techno and hip hop, according to new research.

Baa Baa Black Sheep, Humpty Dumpty, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star are no longer favoured by parents of under-fives, a study by charity Youth Music found.

Nearly half of parents (47 per cent) find more traditional nursery rhymes are now outdated, the charity found.

The survey of 500 parents with children under five found around half thought they would benefit from a wider choice of sounds, and would like a rethink of many nursery rhyme lyrics.

Half of parents said their toddlers already have a taste for different music genres beyond nursery singalongs. Nearly one in five parents (17 per cent) said their young children liked listening to rock and hip hop, while 16 per cent said R&B, 12 per cent said classical music, and even 3 per cent said their under fives liked grime.

The charity highlighted the popularity of Australian children’s music group The Wiggles’ latest release, an EDM (electronic dance music) album of remixed children’s classics entitled “The Wiggles Soundsystem: Rave of Innocence”, as a pointer to the shift in preferences for pre-schoolers.

More than half of parents (51 per cent) said they even found out about music they like from their children, and they believe listening to a wider range of music fosters greater creativity in their children’s formative years, the research found.

Concern about lyrics

Nursery rhymes are valuable in supporting the development of language and communication skills in children, the charity said. However parents have shown concern about the lyrical content of some songs, with 47 per cent of parents saying lyrics but not the music should be updated.

Baa Baa Black Sheep was cited as an example of a rhyme with lyrics that have not kept pace with today’s society. More than two thirds of parents (69 per cent) said they think about the messages in a song before playing it to their child.

Matt Griffiths, the CEO of Youth Music, said: “It’s clear that music, whether that is traditional nursery rhymes or more surprising genres like rock, plays an important role in nurturing the creativity of pre-schoolers.

“As music tailored to early years children continues to diversify, the tried and tested route that is typically taken with pre-schoolers music education is no longer resonating.”