Finger plays and clapping songs

Finger plays are another option when you want to work on small real texts with young children. Those are a good option because children perceive them as a game (what it is) and they imply movement, which might be helpful to remember the lyrics or to relate them to their meaning (working as scaffolding).

There are many songs and games available. One of the most popular and simple ones is  Eensi Weensy Spider (it is very likely that you find many other spellings for the title).

The Eensy, Weensy Spider

The eensy, weensy spider,

climbed up the water spout.

(opposite thumbs and index fingers climb up)

Down came the rain,

And washed the spider out.

(flutter fingers downward)

Out came the sun,

And dried up all the rain.

(arms form circle overhead)

And the eensy, weensy spider,

Climbed up the spout again.

(opposite thumbs and index fingers climb up)

As you can see the movements are very simple and even somebody as clumsy as I am might be able to perform it (although I have to train it for a while every single time).

Here there is a video which explains how to perform it and can be used for the first times you do the song in your class.




This other video relates the song to an animated story. It has the lyrics too, so I'll try to find one without them in case we don't want our students to receive a written input yet.

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

All the king horses and all the king men

couldn't put Humpty together again.

This is a very well known finger play for which you won't need anything but a drawn wall (on a piece of paper) and a finger puppet made out of your own thumb. Any child can do it too and you can even use it as an introduction for Alice adventures as it is one of the characters that appear in through the looking glass.

Five little monkeys

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed

One fell off and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor,
And the doctor said
No more monkeys jumping on the bed

Four little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor
And the doctor said,
No more monkeys jumping on the bed

Three little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor
And the doctor said,
No more monkeys jumping on the bed

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor
And the doctor said,
No more monkeys jumping on the bed

One little monkey jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor
And the doctor said,
Put those monkeys right to bed

In addition this is a song that helps counting. If you wish to see other songs you can use for this purpose check our classified links post. Or go to the links column on the right.