Fingerplay Fun: Five Little Pumpkins!

Halloween is less than a week away!  Here is a slightly scary fingerplay to help get your kiddos in the mood: Five Little Pumpkins

Five Little Pumpkins

 Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The first one said: "Oh, my it's getting late."
The second one said: "There are witches in the air."
The third one said: "But we don't care."
The fourth one said: "Let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said: "Let's have some fun."
Ooooo! Went the wind, and out went the light.
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

I like this one because you can make it as scary as you want.  If you play up your delivery, the "Oooooo!" can be extremely chilling.  Or you can sing it and make it fun and friendly.  Experiencing emotions is a very important part of early childhood development.  Kids need to feel comfortable and loved before they can successfully focus on learning.  Please follow your child's cues and be ready to offer comfort if they get a little too scared.

When we allow kids the opportunity to explore emotions in a safe and caring environment, we help them practice coping and self-regulation skills that will be of benefit as they learn to read.

Here is a less supernatural version of Five Little Pumpkins:

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The first one said: "Oh, my it's getting late."
The second one said: "The moon is shining bright."
The third one said: "The bats are out tonight."
The fourth one said: "Let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said: "Let's have some fun."
Oooooo! Went the wind, and out went the light.
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

Fingerplay Fun Friday: Miss Mary Mack!

Here's an old hand clapping rhyme that isn't too difficult for little hands to master: Miss Mary Mack

Miss Mary Mack

Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
All down her back, back, back

She asked her mother, mother, mother
For fifty cents, cents, cents
To see the elephants, elephants, elephants
Jump the fence, fence, fence

They jumped so high, high, high
They touched the sky, sky, sky
And they never came back, back, back,
'Til the Fourth of July, 'ly, 'ly!

I love hand clapping rhymes! The rhythm is always bouncy and infectious. Unfortunately, many of the motions associated with hand clapping rhymes are way too complicated for toddlers and preschoolers. Nevertheless, it isn't too difficult to simplify clapping patterns to make the rhyme appropriate for young kids.

For Miss Mary Mack, I alternate patting myself and clapping (it works great if you slap your thighs when in a seated position). The motion that goes along with the final word in each line gets repeated three times.

Here is the basic pattern:
Pat, Clap, Pat, Clap-clap-clap!

If you have a young toddler, you may simplify the pattern even more.. like this:
Pat, Pat, Pat, Clap-clap-clap!

Recognizing patterns and making predictions about what comes next are very important skills for kids to master. Playing with hand clapping rhymes is a great way for kids to develop important skills that will eventually help them learn how to read, do math and even play music.

Once your kids have learned the pattern, encourage them to come up with a new one!

Fingerplay Fun Friday: Five Little Monkeys!

Here's a fun rhyme that lets kids practice counting down: Five Little Monkeys Swinging In a Tree

Five Little Monkeys Swinging In a Tree

Five little monkeys swinging in a tree
Teasing Mr Crocodile
"You can't catch me! You can't catch me!"

Along came Mr Crocodile as quite as can be ...
And snatched a monkey right out of the tree!!

Four... Three... Two... One...

No more monkeys swinging in a tree
And away swims Mr Crocodile as full as he can be!

I like to do this one with puppets.  You can make a crocodile puppet really easy by taking an old green sock and simply pasting on a couple of googly eyes.  Take a piece of felt and cut out some monkey shapes and you're good-to-go.  If you are feeling especially crafty, try using this finger puppet pattern from Homemade By Jill.

Counting backwards is a fun challenge for little kids.  The ability to count forward and backwards is an important early numeracy skill.  Early numeracy is what kids know about math concepts before they begin school.  When kids practice making meaningful one-to-one correspondence between real objects like monkeys/fingers and abstract concepts like numbers they are getting valuable early math experience that will help them once they begin doing real math later on.

Fingerplay Fun Friday: Peanut Butter!

Here's a fun rhyme/song about making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich: Peanut Butter

Peanut Butter

Peanut, peanut butter ... JELLY!
Peanut, peanut butter ... JELLY!

First you take the peanuts and you dig them,
You dig them, you dig them, dig them, dig them.
Then you smash them,
You smash them, you smash them, smash them, smash them.
Then you spread them,
You spread them, you spread them, spread them, spread them.

Peanut, peanut butter ... JELLY!
Peanut, peanut butter ... JELLY!

Then you take the berries and you pick them,
You pick them, you pick them, pick them, pick them.
Then you smash them,
You smash them, smash them, smash them, smash them.
Then you spread them,
You spread them, spread them, spread them, spread them.

Peanut, peanut butter ... JELLY!
Peanut, peanut butter ... JELLY!

Then you take the sandwich and you bite it,
You bite it, bite it, bite it, bite it.
Then you chew it,
You chew it, chew it, chew it, chew it.
Then you swallow it,
You swallow it, swallow it, swallow it, swallow it.

(hummed): Peanut, peanut butter ... JELLY!
Peanut, peanut butter ... JELLY!

This rhyme has been sung and chanted with kids for years and years.  Sadly, I was not able to find a substitute for peanuts to help make it more fun and inclusive for kids with allergies.

This rhyme is great because it goes through the whole process of making and eating a sandwich step by step.  It is great when paired up with the actual hands-on process of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Of course, you probably won't be digging up peanuts and picking berries.  But, maybe you will!

Rhymes can tie-in with real-life processes to help make meaningful connections.  This contributes toward building a child's background knowledge of the world and the way things work.  Once they begin to learn how to read, these past experiences will help them to make sense of the stories and texts that they decipher.