All About Fingerplays

There was an interesting discussion recently on the ALSC listserv about the benefits of Fingerplays.  There were some great ideas I gleaned from a variety of excellent librarians from across the country.  Here are a few:

• They can be especially helpful for pre-verbal children
• According to Mem Fox, children who know 8 nursery rhymes by heart before Kindergarten have better success in school.
• The movement in fingerplays is
• fun and playful
• allows children to develop their muscles
• is a great pre-writing activity because it helps with fine motor skills
• An extremely helpful, thoughtful and well-researched blog post by Melissa Depper about fine motor skills and fingerplays

Other tips:

• Rachel Payne suggests letting parents know that it is normal for toddlers not to participate in the songs or rhymes the first few times they hear them.  She says that this is important to remind parents, otherwise they sometimes think their child is disinterested, when actually they are just taking it all in.

Other resources

• Washington County Fingerplay page and videos