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Rhymes which have been passed down from parent to child for generations are being shunned for more fashionable modern alternatives, they said.
A survey by the charity Booktrust revealed they are seen as too old-fashioned by modern parents - meaning old favourites including Hey Diddle Diddle and Mary Mary Quite Contrary could be forgotten. Only 36% of the parents surveyed regularly read nursery rhymes with their children, while almost a quarter admitted to having never sung a nursery rhyme with their child.
And more than 20% of young parents claimed not to use them because they were not educational.
But experts said use of the rhymes could play a vital role in children's language development, and help to form a loving bond between parent and child. Head of primary education at the Institute of Education, professor Roger Beard, said they were as important now as they had ever been. He said: "It is not dying out, but it is a recurring concern that parents of young children are not being encouraged to use nursery rhymes as often as they might do.""