Your child will listen, watch, and imitate words and actions as you perform each fingerplay.
Learning Area(s): Reading and Writing; Physical Development
MATERIALS
- None
LET'S PLAY
Fingerplays combine hand movements with a rhyming song or chant. Fingerplays, like nursery rhymes and singing, encourage young children to tune in to sound patterns in ways that prepare their brains for later reading and spelling. This group of fingerplays helps children learn about location and position words, action words, and adjectives such as quiet, loud, fast, and slow.
Start by telling your child the name of the fingerplay, and then use an animated voice to say the words while performing the actions. Try to emphasize the rhyming words and other key words in each fingerplay, as you see in this demonstration video. Once your child has seen the fingerplay at least once, encourage him to put up his fingers or hands and try to do it with you.
“Two Little Blackbirds”
Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill
One named Jack, the other named Jill.
Fly away, Jack! Fly away, Jill!
Come back, Jack! Come back, Jill!
Two little blackbirds sitting on a cup
One named Down, the other named Up.
Fly away, Down! Fly away, Up!
Come back, Down! Come back, Up!
Two little blackbirds sitting on a cloud
One named Quiet, the other named Loud.
Fly away, Quiet! Fly away, Loud!
Come back, Quiet! Come back, Loud!
Two little blackbirds sitting in a row
One named Fast, the other named Slow.
Fly away, Fast! Fly away, Slow!
Come back, Fast! Come back, Slow!
“Flitter, Flutter, Butterfly”
Flitter, flutter, butterfly
Flying in the big blue sky!
Flutter high and flutter low,
Flutter fast and flutter slow.
Flitter, flutter, butterfly
Flying in the big blue sky!
“Open Shut Them”
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Give a little clap, clap, clap!
Open, shut them
Open, shut them
Put them in your lap, lap, lap!
Creep them, crawl them
Creep them, crawl them
Right up to your chin, chin, chin!
Open wide…
your little mouth…
But do not let them in!
TIPS
- It takes practice to get comfortable with each of these fingerplays, so be sure to practice ahead of time. You may want to practice along with the demonstration video or in front of a mirror.
- You do not need to do all the fingerplays in this group at once, but you may want to do more than one if your child is attentive and interested.
- For more fingerplays, see the activity named “More Fingerplays.”