Using “Finger Play” to Tell Stories

Due to COVID-19, many of our little friends from our preschool are staying home. We still have a small number of children to care for however, as their parents are essential workers and are still needed at work.

We thought it would be a good idea to connect with the children who are stuck at home by telling weekly stories and sharing them on Facebook and on our blog.

Each week, we will have one of our teachers sit down with a small number of our children and share a story for those watching at home.

This week we are joined by Miss Kate and she’s prepared a very fun and silly finger play story for the children. You can follow along with your children at home. The story goes like:

1. Start with your hands in your lap.

2. Say “two little birdies sitting on a wall” and raise up your index fingers on both hands.

3. Say “One called Peter and one called Paul.”

4. Say “Fly away Peter!” and quickly hide one finger behind your back. Then say “fly away Paul!” and place your other finger behind your back.

5. Next, say “Come back Peter!” and bring one finger back and then say “Come back Paul!” and bring the other finger back.

6. Now it’s time to get silly. Say “Two little birdies sitting on a gate, one called Early” (bring one finger up quickly) “and one called Late” (delay bringing this finger up…he’s late! Even call for Late a few times).

7. Now say “Fly away Early!” and quickly hide one finger behind your back. Then say “Fly away Late!” and leave your finger out. Say this a few times until finally the late finger becomes hidden.

8. Call the early and late birds back again with the late finger taking a few calls until he shows up!

9. Our final part of this story goes like this: “Two little birdies sitting on a cloud, one called Soft (said with a whisper) and one called LOUD” (Say Loud with lots of commotion and excitement!)

10. When it’s time for the birdies to fly away, have Soft exit quietly and gracefully and have Loud become hidden with lots of noise!

It’s important to have your children participate with you when you’re telling these stories. Have them mirror your actions and ask them what they think will happen next. We have included the video of Miss Kate sharing this story with our children in this blog post for your reference.

We miss our friends who are at home terribly, are wishing everyone well and can’t wait until we can all be back together in our classrooms again!