Lately, I have come to really appreciate the importance of finger plays. Children naturally have a great interest in them - both in imitating the movements and hearing and repeating the words. Finger plays benefit children in many ways, including: finger dexterity, coordination, developing the muscles of the hand, fingers, and arms, development of vocabulary, rhythm of language, memory skills, listening skills, following directions, order and sequence, and development of the span of attention. When we visit our library for story time my daughters have so much fun participating in finger plays, reciting the familiar ones and learning new ones. As a result, I have been working on compiling a print out of finger plays and some poems and verses that we like and will use. Right now we use finger plays randomly throughout the day and I have been doing some reflecting on if there should be a particular time of day for us to use them? And if so, when? Before story time, after a snack, before or after outside time?
The download is a box net file and is found at the side of the blog with Printables and Resources. (I think it is working correctly, but let me know if not!) Here is a winter finger play we enjoy:
Chubby Little Snowman
A chubby little snowman
Had a carrot nose. (point to nose)
Along came a bunny
And what do you suppose? (hold up two fingers on right hand to make bunny)
That hungry little bunny
Looking for his lunch
Ate that little snowman's nose (pretend to grab nose)
Nibble, nibble, crunch.
6 comments:
Thank you for the poems and fingerplays! I had no trouble downloading them.
Thank you Amy, for your time and efforts to maintain this inspirational blog!
Thank you!! I've been looking for something like this, the finger plays are great!
I am a huge fan of finger plays! Thanks for sharing some new ones.
Hello,
Thank you very much for your efforts as a mother and for taking the time to share on the internet! I have been looking for a daycare for my daughter for a long time and have not found one I was happy with. I have been frustrated, wanting just a little break and also found myself struggling so much to figure out how to spend our days in a harmonious way. (I also have a 5 year old and 9 month old!) I know quite a bit already about Waldorf and Montessori though I am really appreciating reading your blog and doing the activities, bringing it down to earth. So far my daughter has loved doing some of the activities you have written about! Please keep it up! Thank you again.
After finish reading your blog I realized how important Finger plays are for children.
Now on, I'll be able to behave in a wiser way because of your help.
Thanks!
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