RING OF RHYMES AND JUKE BOX

Take one finger play each week and put it on an index card.  Keep it in your pocket and use it daily during transitions or to focus children's attention.  At the end of the week punch a hole in the rhyme and attach it to a book ring. If you’ll do this every week by the end of the year you'll have a whole RING OF RHYMES that you'll never forget!

                           

Note!  When the going gets tough, just say a finger play!

You can download the words here:

http://www.drjean.org/html/monthly_act/act_2010/07_Jul/pg00.html

Juke Box
Cut 5" circles out of heavy paper to make the CDs for your juke box.  Decorate a gift bag and write "Juke Box" on it.  As you learn new finger plays write them on the CDs and save them in the juke box.  When you have a few extra minutes, pretend to hand a child a quarter.  Tell them to "put it in the juke box and pull out a finger play."  Let that child help you lead the class in the finger play.

Take Home Finger Play Fun

Send home copies of finger plays you learn each week so parents can enjoy them with their children.

       

Flannel Board
Make flannel board objects so children can manipulate them and practice saying the finger plays.

                                         

Oral Reading
Make posters of finger plays and use for choral reading.

Class Book
Make a class book of favorite finger plays.
                                                                                    

Counting Hand
Trace around children's hands.  Cut out and glue the palm to a sheet of paper.  (Just glue the palm so the fingers can bend down.)  As children say finger plays using their five fingers they can bend down the paper ones on their hand.
 
Here's the FB Live video I did on finger plays:
 https://youtu.be/40PuLzVmFYk 
 

FINGER PLAYS FOREVER!

FACEBOOK LIVE

TODAY AT 1 (Eastern Time Zone)

WELCOME TO MY FINGER PLAY WORLD!

One of my new "missions" is to encourage AUTHENTICITY with young children.  Finger plays are REAL!  There is no screen or music or clown costumes or puppets or polka dots!  It's just YOU looking in children's eyes and connecting with them visually, auditorially, kinesthetically, and emotionally.  Oh, and they are FREE!  It doesn't get much better than that!  

I've  heard people say, "Finger plays are old fashion." Well, you might call them that, but then you'd have to call chocolate chip cookies and mashed potatoes and BINGO and swings and hugs...old fashion as well. Let me share just a few things children can learn when you do a finger play. (You might want to enlighten some administrators or supervisors or parents with this information. Sometimes they just don't "get" what we do!)

Engagement – Doing a finger play is a natural way to engage children’s attention and help them focus.

Oral language – Repetition of finger plays builds oral language skills.

Auditory memory – Children activate their short term memory as they memorize finger plays.

Comprehension – Most finger plays have a simple story plot for children to follow.

Imagination – With so much time spent in front of a screen, finger plays encourage children to make pictures in their brains.

Sequence – Remembering the sequence in finger plays can help children retell stories.

Phonological awareness – Finger plays build a foundation for rhyme, rhythm and alliteration.

Eye-hand coordination – Visual connections with finger plays are important for writing and reading.

Small motor skills – Doing finger plays is like sending the fingers to the gym to exercise.

Active Learning - Multiple senses are engaged as children watch and wiggle their fingers and repeat rhymes.

Purposeful Practice for Automaticity (aka repetition) - Children will enjoy saying these rhymes over and over.

Brain Breaks - Children will be oxygenating the brain and crossing the midline as they do finger plays. Memorizing poems and rhymes is also good for short term memory.

Executive function – Children develop self-regulation and impulse control when they participate in finger plays.

Social skills – All children can be successful with finger plays with this group experience.

State Standards – You got it! Speaking, listening, comprehension, phonological awareness all rolled into one!

Skills for the 21st Century – You’ve got those, too, with communication and cooperation.

Transitions - Finger Plays can be used to entertain children during transitions or any time you’ve got a minute or two.

Sweet memories of doing finger plays with Kalina and K.J. 

There's one chance in a lifetime to do these activities with children 

because they grow up so fast!