Tag: nursery rhyme

Walking Through the Jungle

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Walking Through the Jungle (4)

Stuffed animals lend themselves so perfectly to imaginative play. Here are a few ways that Veronika and I turned our home into a jungle with them today!

We started out with a fun nursery rhyme. For each verse, swap in the name of a stuffed animal and the noise it makes. So, for example:

Walking through the jungle,

What did I see?

A baby monkey laughing

At me, me me.

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We repeated for a bear growling and an owl hooting.

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In between verses, we stomped like were on a jungle mission. Here was a slippery snake hissing! Encourage lots of animal noises or motions to mimic each particular animal.

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To continue the fun, stage a classic animal “safari” afterwards. Hide a few stuffed animals and have fun finding them with a flashlight just before bedtime.

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Big brother Travis loved being the animal hider, and guiding Veronika and her flashlight to the right spots in the room.

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Again, make lots of animal noises as you spot each one! We finished with a read of Way Far Away on a Wild Safari and used a flashlight on each page to “find” the animals.

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Today it was definitely a jungle out there.

Here’s a Ball for Baby

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Here's a Ball for Baby (9)

Here’s another ditty for toddlers that’s just right for both gestures and props. It might just lead to lots of solo play!

The lyrics are cute because they include many of a toddler’s favorite things:

Here’s a ball for baby, (cup hands like you’re holding a ball)

Big and soft and round. 

Here is baby’s hammer (pretend to hammer)

See how she can pound.

Here is baby’s music, (clap hands!)

Clapping, clapping, so.

Here are baby’s soldiers, (wiggle all ten fingers)

Standing in a row.

Here is her umbrella, (shape arms into an umbrella)

To keep our baby dry.

Here is baby’s cradle, (pretend to rock a baby)

To rock-a-baby bye.

First, I encouraged Veronika to do all the movements and copy my motions. I was so proud of her clapping along.

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This was her “umbrella”

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And she loved forming a cradle.

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Then it was time for the props! We trotted out balls to bounce, hammers to pound, and baby dolls to rock of course.

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I caught her singing this to herself all afternoon, especially the clapping line and “rock-a-baby bye”.

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This one is sure to stay a favorite.

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Grandmother’s Glasses

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Grandmother's Glasses (3)

I love nursery rhymes that lend themselves intuitively to hands-on play, and this one definitely fits the bill. If you don’t know this rhyme, here are the words:

These are grandmother’s glasses,

This is grandmother’s hat.

See the way she claps her hands

and folds them in her lap.

These are grandfather’s glasses,

This is grandfather’s hat.

See the way he folds his arms

and takes a little nap.

For grandmother, use a high, soft voice, and for grandfather, use a low, loud voice. You can also mime all the gestures. Circle your fingers over your eyes for glasses, pat your head for the hat, and copy the arm movements of each grandparent.

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But for extra fun, today we turned the rhyme into a prompt for dress-up! I put on a different pair of sunglasses and silly hats for grandmother and grandfather, first on me, and then on Veronika.

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She loved modeling all the accessories! And she got the giggles when dolls dressed up, too, to get in on the action. Long after the nursery rhyme fun was done, she was busy playing dress up.

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Bouncing Monkey

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Bouncing Monkey (4)

What’s not to love about the Five Little Monkeys rhyme? It’s educational (counting), involves a cautionary tale (don’t jump on the bed!), has fun rhythm and words, and… there’s bouncing!

Today, Veronika and I did exactly what the rhyme cautions not to: bouncing on the bed! I supported her firmly and bounced her up and down as I recited the words, enlisting big brother’s help to capture the huge grin on her face.

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For extra fun, we added props! Our book of the rhyme has touch-and-feel elements on the monkey’s faces, and I added a phone so we could “call” the doctor whenever we reached that line.

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Even more fun was bouncing along a stuffed monkey friend, to make the verse come alive for her.

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In case you need a refresher, here are the words:

Five little monkeys bouncing on the bed.

One fell of and bumped his head.

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,

“No more monkey business bouncing on the bed!”.

Repeat with four monkeys, then three, then two, then one. Then no more monkeys!

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Fee Fi Fo Fum

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Grown-ups are likely all familiar with the common syllables “fee fi fo fum” from the giant in Jack in the Beanstalk. But there’s no need to include the scary giant as you introduce this word play to your baby! The syllables echo a baby’s babble at about 10 months old, so today, I recited this classic for Veronika… with a twist.

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Sitting in front of her, I said:

Fee fi fo fum,

Here’s my fingers, here’s my thumb (open your fingers and then your thumb).

Fee fi fo fum,

Fingers gone, so is thumb (tuck fingers and then thumb away).

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To add a little learning in, I then repeated the rhyme with a different first consonant. For each letter, I handed her the accompanying foam letter to play with – a little extra learning to absorb! So she played with a big foam B for “bee bi bo bum” and giggled over T for “tee ti to tum”,

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We also did the rhyme on “dee di do dum” and then finally on “mee mi mo mum.”

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A big hit, for little effort!

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Mr. Moon

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Mr. Moon (4)

This cute and dramatic game helps teach your baby about the sun and the moon. There’s a reason this pair is a staple of nursery rhymes; sun/moon and day/night are one of the first concepts your baby will notice and learn in life!

To bring the sun and moon to life, you’ll need two paper plates and craft sticks.

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On the first plate, I drew a sun with a nice smiling face. Use markers, watercolor markers, or any other preferred medium to color in. On the second plate, I drew a crescent moon and added a nose, mouth, and smile.

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Attach a craft stick to each with tape. Now have these cross the “sky” in front of your baby, alternating day and night. This was fun for Veronika just for the visual!

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Then I recited this cute poem as I traveled the plates in front of her:

Mr. Moon, Mr. Moon

You’re up too soon.

The Sun’s still high in the sky.

So go back to your bed, 

and cover up your head,

and wait for the day to go by.

Veronika loved reaching for the plates. She continued to play with them long after the rhyme-time was done.

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A great first sun and moon game!

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Jack and Jill Go Up the Hill

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On the heels of The Grand Old Duke, here’s another fun rhyme with movement play for your baby. Oh the giggles this one got, when Jack and Jill reached the top of the hill!

I sat down with Veronika on my lap, my legs straight.

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As a refresher, here are the words:

Jack and Jill went up the hill.

To fetch a pail of water.

Jack feel down,

And broke his crown.

And Jill came tumbling after!

On the first line, I brought my knees up, up, up and up. You can just prop up your baby, but Veronika particularly loved being lifted to the top of my knees. What a gummy grin!

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On “Jack fell down”, lower your legs quickly (but be sure to support your little one!) Finally, on the last line, give a little tip to one side – whee.

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Here’s a quick clip!

Spider Time

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The Itsy Bitsy (or Eensy Weensy) Spider is such a quintessential baby fingerplay, so today was the day to introduce Veronika to this classic. If somehow you don’t know the words, here they are:

The Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the waterspout.

Down came the rain and washed the spider out.

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain.

And the Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the spout again.

Persistent little fellow! You can just say the rhyme to your child, but it’s so much more fun with the hand gestures; start your fingers as a creepy crawly spider, then make the fingertips patter down as raindrops:

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Then a cupped hand for the sunshine:

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For the littlest babies, I like to make the game tactile too. I rubbed Veronika’s tummy as the rain washed the spider out…

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…and had the spider creep right up to her chin for a playful tickle at the end!

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Big brother Travis adored this game as a baby, but it’s been so long he barely remembered it. He loved re-learning the gestures and making his own spider.

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To finish off the activity, I also added a black-and-white spider to Veronika’s collection of images taped around the bassinet.

What’s your favorite fingerplay for babies? Please share in the comments!

Update: If your very young infant seems alarmed by the big hand motions (raindrops coming down always startle Veronika, for example!), then here’s a simpler version: walk your fingers up and down the arm as you say the words, then end with a tickle under the chin.