Finger Plays and Preschool Songs

The toddler and preschool years are such a precious time. Our children are learning and developing at such a rapid rate. It also tends to be a very, very busy season for us as mothers. That’s why I pulled this resource together. My littlest wanted to be a part of our homeschool days and I needed to spend some special time with her, especially since she was struggling with some speech delays. Knowing how powerful finger-plays and rhyming can be with children, I collected our favorites so I’d have an easy, go-to resource for creating special memories together with my little one while packing in some powerful preschool development without further prep work or the distraction of the internet. Our whole family enjoyed these grab-and-go cards for several years and I’m thrilled to make them available to your family as well!

baby shower gift for a mama with a toddler in the house

parents of toddlers and preschoolers

homeschool family morning time

Here is just a glimpse at what they accomplish:

Develops Fine Motor Skills – The ability to make small, exact movements with your fingers is a fundamental pre-writing skill that is developed when engaging in some of the finger plays included in this packet.

Develops Gross Motor Skills – Gross Motor skills enable the body to make large, coordinated movement such as running, skipping, rolling ,etc. These gross motor movements are essential in wiring the brain for learning and strengthens our bodies. Finger plays and preschool songs that incorporate whole body movement are a fun and effortless way to stimulate our senses and prime the brain for learning. Many of these gross motor movements cross the mid-line which foster bilateral integration – a fancy term meaning that one half of the brain communicates well with the other half.

Develops Listening Skills – Singing songs and learning appropriate motions requires the honing of listening skills which is another essential life skill that is learned in the toddler and preschool years. Learning to follow directions and listen to the cadence of a song in order to repeat it help with audio discrimination and developing attention spans.

Develops Self-Regulation – Self regulation in critical for a child’s emotional development. Physically it is the ability to utilize self-control and think long-term instead of merely satisfying an immediate want. Emotionally it is the ability to calm one’s self down when you are upset or to cheer yourself up when you are sad. This takes practice. Singing a song like “Head and Shoulders” and steadily singing faster and then slower is a practical way for a child to exert control over his actions. Singing in unison with their family enables children to strengthen their ability to self-regulate.

Develops Numeracy Skills – Counting up or down is a common feature in many of the finger plays and preschool songs in this packet. This, coupled with holding up fingers helps children learn quantity, ordinality, basic addition and subtraction skills.

Develops Vocabulary – Vocabulary is the single greatest predictor of school success or failure. The repetition and context that songs with accompanying motions provides gives a wonderful boost to a child’s working vocabulary.

Develops Phonemic Awareness – Phonemic awareness is simply the understanding of how sounds come together to form words. During finger plays and singing, sounds tend to be emphasized which helps a child learn that words are made up of parts. Once this is solidified it is much easier for a child to break a word up into separate sounds (decoding) and then put those sounds back together (encoding).

Develops Syllabication Awareness – Syllabication is the ability to break a word up into sections and another essential pre-reading skill. The clapping and singing leads to naturally breaking apart words into syllables.

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