Favorite Fingerplays for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Inside: These favorite fingerplays build multiple skills, such as language, counting, and following directions. Try some of these during circle time, or when you want some calm time at home.

Reciting favorite fingerplays is an important part of our curriculum. We not only perform them during circle time, but we use them during transitions throughout the day.

Preschool fingerplays encourage children to participate verbally, follow directions, learn number concepts, and follow directions. I keep a notebook of all our favorite fingerplays and songs that I can pull out at any given time. (This is especially helpful when we need to calm the children down.) I also have props to many of the fingerplays that I keep in a basket nearby.

While we love so many different fingerplays, I thought I’d share 5 of our favorites. I’m including various activities that you can do with each one as well. I hope you and your children enjoy these as much as we do!

Favorite Fingerplays for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Five Little Speckled Frogs

• Download the Five Little Speckled Frogs song.
• Download the PDF printable here.
• Grab the free printable for your flannel board here.
• Have the children make their own frog puppets for circle time.
• Use the free printable and invite the children to make their own frogs on a log while counting to 5.
• Make a fun craft for this finger play using egg cartons, from Rainy Day Mum.
• Print the free cards and add this counting activity to your table activities.
• Put plastic frogs in your water table.
• Set up a small world activity, from The Imagination Tree.
• Download the sheet music, from Let’s Play Music.
• Do you use pocket charts? Here’s a free pocket chart download from Pre-Kinders.
• Check out this collection for more ideas: 15 Frog Activities

Suggestions for online teaching:

Print the 5 frogs and log printable, attach velcro to the back, and secure on a flannel board. (If you have a magnetic board, put magnets on the backs instead of velcro.)  Invite your children to count the frogs with you before reciting the Fingerplay. Send home the links to your choice of free printables mentioned above. They can use the frog puppet as a color sheet.

Way Up High In the Apple Tree

• Download Way Up High in the Apple Tree song.
• Put together a flannel board activity for circle time,  from Teach Preschool.
• Get the children together and make applesauce.
• Decorate the windows with apple suncatchers.
• Use paper tubes to create 3-D apple trees.
• Have the children bring apples to school, sort them by color, and use the free printable as a graph activity.
• Make some spin art apples.
• Work on counting skills with this free apple tree printable as a table activity.
• Put together an apple sensory bin.
• Make yummy apple muffins.

Suggestions for online teaching:

Sing Way Up High in the Apple Tree with your students. Then, create felt apples for your flannel board. (Or you can use the apples from this printable, making sure you have 5 apples). Place them on the flannel board and invite the children to help you count each one. Then recite the Fingerplay, removing an apple each time until there are no apples left. Invite the children to bring their choice of apple to your online meeting and ask them what colors they are. Have snack together eating apples and talking about how they taste. Send home the apple tree counting printable.

Five Little Ducks

• Download the Five Little Ducks song.
• Download the ducks for each child to use, from Picklebums.
• Create a water table with ducks (using 5 ducks instead of the 10 in the post).
• Make this playset, from Inner Child Fun.
• Invite the children to count ducks, from It’s a Long Story.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

• Download the Itsy Bitsy Spider song.
• Make a spider snack (with free printable!).
• Make a spin art spider.
• Make a spider finger puppet to go along with the song, from Lalymom.
• Strengthen fingers by putting the legs back on the spider, from Miss Mancy’s Blog.
• Add spiders to your sensory table, from Teach Preschool.
• Make an Itsy Bitsy Spider prop, from Red Ted Art.

Five Little Monkeys

• Download the Five Little Monkeys song.
• Download this free monkey puppet printable from Let’s Play Music.
• Make a monkey face, from Learn, Create, Love.
• Create a monkey snack, from Diapers to Diplomas
• Learn how to sign it, from Cullen’s ABCs.

The Wheels on the Bus

• Download The Wheels on the Bus song.
• Put together this bus snack, by Juggling with Kids.
• Make a cool bus, by No Time for Flashcards.
• Get cooking with some sweet and savory wheels, from Rainy Day Mum.
• Try these theme ideas, from PreKinders.

What are your children’s favorite fingerplays? Pop on over to my Facebook page and let us know!