Fingerplay Category

Early Learning Teaching Your Child to Read
1

Well I think we have all decided fingerplay is important to child development. Can we start a fingerplay category and make some exciting readers for the kids. If these are done really nice it would be a great tool to teach to read that the kids would love. It also would help kids with disabilities. :slight_smile: I would like to help make these. If we work together and make these really good I think it would benefit all the kids. These are just some of the more popular ones. I have some others. What do you think?

Where is Thumbkin? Where is Thumkin?
(Hide hands behind back)
Here I am! Here I am!
(Show L thumb, then R thumb)
How are you today, sir?
(Wiggle L thumb)
Very well, I thank you.
(Wiggle R thumb)
Run away, run away.
(Hide LH behind back, then RH)

  1. Where is Pointer?..

  2. Tall man?..

  3. Ring man?..

  4. Little man (or Pinkie)?..

  5. Where is family? Where is family?..
    (Hide hands behind back)
    Here we are! Here we are!
    (Show LH, fingers erect, then RH)
    How are you today, sirs?
    (Wiggle fingers of LH)
    Very well, we thank you,
    (Wiggle fingers of RH)
    Run away, run away.
    (Hide LH behind back, then RH)

Open, shut them

Open, shut them, (open and close hands in front of you)
Open, shut them,
Give a little clap clap clap. (clap 3 times as you say “clap” )
Open, shut them, open, shut them,
Lay them in your lap lap lap. (fold hands in lap)

Creepy crawly, creepy crawly,
Right up to your chin chin chin. (fingers crawl up chest to chin)
Open up your little mouth, (open mouth)
But do not let them in in in. (quickly put hands behind you)

The Grand Old Duke of York (Gymboree does a cute version of this where you sit
the kids on your legs move them up and down on your knees while sitting with legs stretched out.

Stand. March in place to the beat.

Oh, the… grand old Duke of York
He had ten thousand men,
Stop marching.

And he marched them up to the top of the hill,
Wiggle your fingers and “march” them as high as you can.
And he marched them down again.
Wiggle your fingers as you “march” them down.
And when they were up, they were up,

And when they were down, they were down,

And when they were only half-way up,
Hold your arms at waist level. Cross and uncross them.

They were neither up
nor down.

Here are the bee hives
(left hand cupped downward)
Where are the bees?
Hidden away where nobody sees.
(hide fingers of right hand under it)

Soon they’ll come creeping
(fingers come out one by one)
Out of the hives
One, two, three, four, five Buz-zz.
(hand circles around)

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker’s man.
(Clap hands together)

Bake me a cake as fast as you can.

Roll it,
(Roll hands over each other)

And pat it,
(Pat hands together)

And mark it with B,
(Draw a B in the air)

And put it in the oven for baby and me.
(Touch tummy)

Here’s the church,
(fingers interlocked; fingers inside)
And here’s the steeple.
(index fingers rise to a point)
Open the door
(keep fingers interlocked but turn palms up)
There are all the people.
(wriggle fingers)

5 little monkey’s swinging in the tree
teasing Mr. Alligator can’t catch me….can’t catch me
along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
and snapped that monkey out that tree

4 little monkey’s swinging in the tree
teasing Mr. Alligator can’t catch me….can’t catch me
along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
and snapped that monkey out that tree

3 little monkey’s swinging in the tree
teasing Mr. Alligator can’t catch me….can’t catch me
along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
and snapped that monkey out that tree

2 little monkey’s swinging in the tree
teasing Mr. Alligator can’t catch me….can’t catch me
along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
and snapped that monkey out that tree

1 little monkey’s swinging in the tree
teasing Mr. Alligator can’t catch me….can’t catch me
along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
and snapped that monkey out that tree

No more monkey’s swinging in the tree!

Stand up high,
Spread your arms wide,
Fly like the birdies fly,

Bend down low
Touch your toes,
Waddle like the old duck goes.

2

I had never hear of some of those before… those are really cute would “the wise man built his house” be a fingure play song?

3

Those are wonderful, Patreiche! Karma to you!

Perhaps we can turn them into either Little Reader Categories or PDF printouts / PPT slide shows.

For those who are interested in contributing, perhaps you can take pictures of the relevant slides - the more the better! (esp if we do an LR Category which can rotate between pictures each time)

For those of you who want to know more about the importance of fingerplay, see this thread:

http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-other-topics/speech/

4

Great Idea! I have a couple to add.

Rain is Falling DownRain is Falling Down - splash
( make rain movements with fingers)

Pitter patter, pitter, patter,
Rain is Falling Down - splash
(make pitter patter sounds by clapping hands)

Sun is peeking out, peek!
(Make sun with fingers & peek face out from behind)
Sun is peeking out, peek!
Peeking here, peeking there
Sun is peeking out, peek!

Here are baby’s fingers

Here are baby’s fingers
(touch fingers)
Here are baby’s toes
(walk fingers down to toes & tickle)
Here is baby’s belly button
(walk fingers to belly button)
Round & round it goes
( draw circle on belly)

I imagine every one knows The Intsy Wintsy Spider?

The last one I can think of is The Wheels on the Bus. This song often uses larger motions, but some of the verses can be adapted to use fingers.

The wheels on the bus go round and round,
round and round,
round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
all through the town.

The wipers on the bus go Swish, swish, swish;
Swish, swish, swish;
Swish, swish, swish.
The wipers on the bus go Swish, swish, swish,
all through the town.

The horn on the bus goes Beep, beep, beep;
Beep, beep, beep;
Beep, beep, beep.
The horn on the bus goes Beep, beep, beep,
all through the town…

The money on the bus goes, Clink, clink, clink;
Clink, clink, clink;
Clink, clink, clink.
The money on the bus goes, Clink, clink, clink,
all through the town.

The Driver on the bus says “Move on back,
move on back, move on back;”
The Driver on the bus says “Move on back”,
all through the town.

The baby on the bus says “Wah, wah, wah;
Wah, wah, wah;
Wah, wah, wah”.
The baby on the bus says “Wah, wah, wah”,
all through the town.

The mommy on the bus says “Shush, shush, shush;
Shush, shush, shush;
Shush, shush, shush.”
The mommy on the bus says “Shush, shush, shush”
all through the town.

Substitute these also:
The doors on the bus go open and shut.
The bell on the bus goes ding-ding-ding.
The lady on the bus says, “Get off my feet”…
The people on the bus say, “We had a nice ride”…
“Your name” on the bus says Let Me Off!

Hope these are helpful! :smiley:

5

How about the The Incy Wincy spider?

The Incy Wincy spider climbed up the water spout
(The thumb of each hand to the pointer of the other walking upward)
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
(Wiggle fingers like rain falling from above your head down to your waist)
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
(Arms ov head in a circle like the sun followed by crossing arms at the wrist and throwing them out to the side)
And the Incy Wincy spider went up the spout again!
(Climbing spider motion again)

6

Round and round the garden

round and round the garden like a teddy bear
(tickle palm in a circular motion)
1 step
(climb up arm)
2 step
tickle you under there

7

tommy thumb

tommy thumb, tommy thumb
where are you?
here i am, here i am and how do you do?

(wiggle babies thumb or your own
repeat the verse replacing tommy thumb with peter pointer,middle man, ruby ring and baby small)

fingers all fingers all where are you?
here we are here we are and how do you do?

(wiggle all 5 fingers)

8

One more verse on

OPEN SHUT THEM

Creep them creep them slowly upwards
To your rosy cheeks
Cover up your shiny eyes
And through the fingers peek

a variation on monkeys and alligator:

5 little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell down and bonked his (her) head
Mommy called the doctor
The doctor said:
“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

Keep going down the numbers

Cheers