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!