Children can remember just about anything if they learn it in a song! I love to make up songs to help my students remember the names and beats of musical notes. Watch the videoto hear my Whole Note Song!
Today's finger play is perfect for the entire winter season! I made simple felt finger puppets to make the finger play even more fun but plain little fingers will work too! Or make your ownStick Snow People! Trouble viewing the video? Click here.
5 Little Snowmen 5 little snowmen standing round my door. This one melted and then there were four. Four little snowmen beneath a green pine tree. This one melted and then there were three. Three little snowmen with caps and mittens blue. This one melted and then there were two. Two little snowmen standing in the sun. This one melted and then there was one. One little snowman started to run. But he melted away and then there was none.
Learn the name and beat of the half note in a super easy song!
This chant is a super easy way to remember and learn the name and beat of a half note.
Half notes are musical notes that are held for 2 beats. They are white or not colored in, compared to the quarter note that is completely filled in black.
Children remember best if the words are clear and rhythmic.
Half note, two
Half note, two
One, two,
Half note, two!
Carolyn, at Wise Owl Factory, has a fun Free Do You Know Your Music Notes Power Point. This is a great way to practice the names and beats of the notes as well as seeing how all the notes compare with one another.
Musical Twister Hopscotch is another fun way to reinforce note names and beats. My students love playing it whenever we get a chance. They spin and have to tell the name and beat of the note the spinner lands on. Then they get to hop to the correct colored circle.
5 Little Turkeys is the perfect finger play to teach your children for Thanksgiving!
My students have been laughing at the turkey finger puppets that I made to go along with this finger play. They think the feathers look like a hat coming out of the turkeys' heads instead of tail feathers! Oh well!
Finger Play Fun Day: 5 Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Fence
Halloween is on its way!
Today is Finger Play Fun Day and we will be sharing 5 Little Pumpkins.
My students have been enjoying this finger play all month long. I made 5 jack-o-lantern finger puppets to add to the fun!
There are different variations for this finger play but here is my favorite!
Here are the words I like the best:
5 Little Pumpkins
5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh my its getting late."
The second one said, "I hear a noise."
The third one said, "It's only some boys."
The fourth one said, "Let's run. Let's run."
The fifth one said, It's Halloween fun."
Then oooooo went the wind and out went the lights.
And away rolled the pumpkins on Halloween night.
Carolyn, at Wise Owl Factory, made an awesome skip counting Power Point with Pumpkins! Count by ones, twos, threes, fives, and tens! The children might watch silently the first time through and then count aloud while watching the second time!
We Sing About a Variety of Spiders in the Popular Children's Song
We are continuing with our Halloween theme this month for Finger Play Fun Day. Today's song is the very popular children's song - The Itsy Bitsy Spider. But in our version, a few other spiders come to visit too.
We have the Great Big Hairy Spider,
the Very Fast Spider and
the Very Slow Spider!
Children enjoy songs that they know but with a little twist. These variations help develop a bigger vocabulary, including opposites such as fast and slow, itsy bitsy and great big. I encourage you to be creative and make your own pairs of opposites!
Today's Finger Play Fun Day is a fun song with lots of animals sounds! The Good Day Song, is also known as When Cats Get Up in the Morning.
In the video I sing about a cat, a dog and a bee but you can sing about all kinds of animals and what they say when they get up in the morning. I used finger puppets but this is another great song for making hand signs for different animals.
After my girls and I sing about a bunch of animals, we often start putting family members' names in the verses and make up what each person says in the morning.
Summer vacation is over and school has begun. Fall and apple season is on the way!
The Apple Tree is the finger play for today's Finger Play Fun Day.
This is a simple finger play that my students always want to repeat and do again. I made some cute little apple finger puppets out of felt but these are not necessary for doing the finger play! Plain fingers do just as well.
Carolyn, at Wise Owl Factory, has created free worksheets: Counting Apples-Counting and Skip Counting. These are wonderful for children to practice counting by 2's and by 3's. One worksheet has the children circling apples and then going back and counting the groups. Another worksheet has the children filling in missing numbers.
Today's theme is all about the Tooth Fairy! The mysterious creature who comes at night to take our baby teeth and leaves money in it's place.
Loosing a tooth is an important passage that every child goes through. It seems every family has a different tradition concerning what and how much the tooth fairy leaves behind. But every child gets excited about the arrival of the tooth fairy.
There aren't many simple songs about the tooth fairy so I wrote and performed one that everyone can learn and sing.
Today, for Finger Play Fun Day we are going on a bear hunt!
Do you want to come too?
This song is a great way to enjoy music as a story. Each verse is another obstacle to get through to get to the bear. There are a lot of movements so this is a great one to sing when children need time to wiggle! This song also teaches sequencing as each verse is sung in order and at the end you have to go back through the obstacles from last to first. There are many different ways to sing this song. I put together my favorite verses and made up this version!
Carolyn, at Wise Owl Factory has done a great post with a review of the fun bookWe're Going on a Bear Huntby Michael Rosen. Check out the wonderful free PDF and free PPT she has made to go along with the song.
Children love playing songs with boomwhackers. These tube instruments are so easy to play that everyone sounds good. They don't take a lot of coordination since you just hit them on the floor or in your hand. They are always in tune so the notes sound good! Boomwhackers are great for rhythm and timing. The call and response song, Down Comes Johnny, teaches the children how to make music as a group. They need to anticipate when it is time for them to come in and play their boomwhackers and sing their part. The words to the song are: Down comes Johnny, Down comes he. He is hiding the money and the key. Who has the money? (response) I have the money. Who has the key? (response) I have the key. Watch the video to learn the song and see how to teach it to your students. Trouble seeing the video? Click here.
The finger play for today is In a Cabin in the Woods. There are many variations to this song but I shared the version I know!
The song has hand motions for each phrase. Each time you repeat the verse you stop singing the words for one phrase at a time but keep doing the motions. By the end you will "sing" the whole song silently while only using motions.
This activity teaches children listening skills, sequencing, motor skills and timing.
In a cabin in the woods,
Little old man by the window stood.
Saw a rabbit hopping by,
Knocking at his door.
"Help me! Help me! Help me!, he cried.
"Or the hunter will shoot me dead."
Come, o come and stay with me,
Safely, you will be.
Wise Owl Factory has shared a wonderful set of worksheets to go along with "In a Cabin in the Woods". Download the Free In a Cabin in the Woods PDF.
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.jpg "Learn About the Whole Note with an Easy and Fun Song")
.jpg "Finger Play Fun Day: 5 Little Snowmen")
.jpg "Easy Half Note Chant")
.jpg "Finger Play Fun Day: 5 Little Pumpkins")
.jpg "Finger Play Fun Day: The Itsy Bitsy Spider and The Great Big Hairy Spider")
.jpg "Finger Play Fun Day: Tres Colores")
.jpg "Finger Play Fun Day: The Good Day Song")
.jpg "Finger Play Fun Day: The Apple Tree")
+(2).jpg "Finger Play Fun Day: Do You Know the Tooth Fairy?")
.jpg "Finger Play Fun Day: Going on a Bear Hunt")
Carolyn, at Wise Owl Factory has done a great post with a review of the fun book We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. Check out the wonderful free PDF and free PPT she has made to go along with the song.
.jpg "Finger Play Fun Day: In a Cabin in the Woods")
