I don’t know that I knew many of these growing up. I knew the classic, “Here is the Church and Here is the Steeple,” but that was about the extent of it. Since becoming a parent though, I realize how much I love these! Kids are drawn to the movement of the hands and fingers, and I love watching them try to puzzle out how to do these. There are so many finger plays out there. Here are some of my favorites:
This is one of my favorite finger plays and one we turn to often. It’s a great one for learning opposites and reinforcing rhyming words. We often leave out the finger play part and just do just the lyrics of this one while on a car ride. We take turns coming up with rhymes. I had always heard it as “Two Little Birds,” but I like “Two Little Friends,” since it allows for various finger puppets or little painted faces on fingers.
Lyrics:
Two little friends, sitting on a hill
One named Jack and one named Jill.
Run away, Jack!
Run away, Jill!
Come back, Jack!
Come back, Jill!
After that, you can start having fun with the lyrics. If the friends are sitting on a cloud, one can be named “quiet” and one named “loud.”
Or they can be sitting on a pot, with one named “cold” and one named “hot.” Sometimes the places get rather silly as I search for rhyming words. When I do “young” and “old,” these poor friends always seem to end up sitting on some mold. But, I think the silliness adds to the fun. It’s a good brain exercise for me as I try to keep it going, and it usually holds the kids’ attention as they try to guess the rhyming opposite word.
Alina Celeste has a great example of just how fun this rhyming finger play can be!
This is one of my favorite nursery rhymes, even though I don’t remember it from my own childhood. I didn’t know until researching for this post that there were other verses, and I’m so happy there are. Our kids have had their fair share of tough bedtimes, so I’m happy to read in this I’m not alone.
With lines like,
But here’s a wakeful little boy who will not fall asleep!
and
Shrieking like I don’t know what, waking sleeping folk.
I’m feeling that perhaps the poet, William Miller, had similar experiences with his children. I gotta say, I was also bolstered to read that the original lyrics say “10 o’clock” and not “8 o’clock,” since my kids have had their share of being very stubborn with bedtimes.
“Wee Willie Winkie” was first published in 1841 in Whistle Binkie: Stories for the Fireside by Scottish poet, William Miller.
You can read the full lyrics here, my favorite lines being the last ones:
Who always has a battle with sleep before he’ll close an eye
But a kiss from his rosy lips gives strength anew to me
How sweet is this mama, and I love her Scottish accent, which is perfect for this Scottish nursery rhyme.
You can hear the full song in Scots here. Such a treat to hear this if you have the Facebook, and you’ve gotta stay tuned for the lullaby that follows.
This is a really fun one for movement and for talking about soft and loud. It shares a tune with “Johnny, Get Your Haircut,” which is how I originally heard it, but I think, from the brief amount of info I could find, this song came first. It dates back to at least the early 1800s.
Lyrics:
Hey, Betty Martin, tip toe, tip toe,
Hey, Betty Martin tip toe fine.
Hey, Betty Martin, tip toe, tip toe,
Hey, Betty Martin, please be mine.
Then replace tip toe, with walking, jumping, spinning, stomping, etc. You can also add soft, quiet voices for tip toe lyrics and loud voices for stomping, etc.
Alina Celeste (This is how I found her! And she rocks! Watch this and her other songs)
Sheet music and simple playing of the song (with the in-between bits–I had only ever heard this with the chorus part repeated over and over)
