Toddler Fall 2014 Fingerplays, Rhymes, & Songs

To read more about how I plan and prepare my Toddler Storytimes, please visit this post.

Each session, I pick some extension activities to repeat from week to week. Most of the time these have nothing to do with my theme of the day and just allow me to add more movement or songs if that’s what the toddlers need that week. Of course, I don’t use every activity every week. I’ll note in the individual theme summaries which activities I used. These are the activities that I had planned for Fall 2014.

Action Rhyme: “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear”
Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground
Teddy bear, teddy bear, reach up high
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the sky
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your knees
Teddy bear, teddy bear, sit down please
Credit: Childhood

Action Rhyme: “This Is Big”
This is big, big, big (stretch hands far to sides)
This is small, small, small (cup hands together)
This is short, short, short (hold palms close vertically)
This is tall, tall, tall (hold palms far apart vertically)
This is fast, fast, fast (roll hands quickly)
This is slow, slow, slow (roll hands slowly)
This is yes, yes, yes (nod head)
This is no, no, no (shake head)
Credit: Mel’s Desk

Action Song: “My Thumbs Are Going to Wiggle”
Tune: The Bear Went Over the Mountain
My thumbs are starting to wiggle,
My thumbs are starting to wiggle,
My thumbs are starting to wiggle,
And now so are my hands/arms/toes/feet…
Body is starting to wiggle: around and around and around!
(Sing about other body parts as wiggles spread!)
Credit: Jbrary

Action Song: “Put Your Hands Up High”
Tune: Do Your Ears Hang Low
Put your hands up high, put your hands down low,
Put your hands in the middle and wiggle just so.
Put your elbows in front, put your elbows in back
Put your elbows to the side and quack, quack, quack!
Credit: Jbrary

Action Song: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” (three ways)
Row, row, row your boat
gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.
Extensions:
quickly down the stream (row faster, sing faster)
slowly down the stream (row slower, sing slower)
Credit: Childhood; Jbrary for the extensions

Action Song: “Wake Up Toes”
Wake up toes, wake up toes
Wake up toes and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle
Wake up toes, wake up toes
Wake up and wiggle in the morning.
Also: hands, ears, knees, fingers, hips, etc.
Credit: Jbrary

Fingerplay: “Dance Your Fingers Up”**
Dance your fingers up, dance your fingers down
Dance your fingers to the side, dance them all around
Dance them on your shoulders, dance them on you head
Dance them on your tummy, and put them all to bed
Credit: Best Kids Book Site (Site appears to be completely reorganized…)

Lift/Song: “The Elevator Song”
Oh the city is great and the city is grand
There’s a whole lot of people
on a little piece of land
And we live way up on the 57th floor
and this is what we do when we open the door.
We take the elevator up and the elevator down,
take the elevator up, take the elevator down
Take the elevator up and the elevator down
And we turn around.
Credit: Jbrary

Song: “Open, Shut Them”
Open, shut them, open, shut them
Give a little clap, clap, clap
Open, shut them, open, shut them
Lay them in your lap, lap, lap
Creep them, crawl them, creep them, crawl them
Right up to your chin, chin, chin
Open up your little mouth
But do not let them in, in, in!
Credit: My co-worker Sarah