1 : 1 correspondence counting songs / rhymes/finger plays
5 Current Buns
5 currant buns in the bakers shop.
Round and fat with sugar on the top.
Along came ..... (child’s name) with a dollar one day.
Bought a currant bun and took it right away.
Continue until all gone.
You can substitute Hot Cross Buns at Easter or Meat pies in the pie shop for variety.
For older chn you can take more than one away at a time to challenge their counting skills.
One Grey Elephant
One grey elephant balancing. Step by step on a piece of string.
Thought it was such a wonderful stunt, that he called for another elephant.
(Two, Three, Four onwards till)
Five grey elephants balancing, Step by step on a piece of string,
All of a sudden the piece of string broke, And down came all the elephant folk.
Three Little Speckled Frogs
Three little speckled frogs, sat on a speckled log,
Eating some most delicious bugs (Yum Yum),
One jumped into the pond, Where it was nice and cool
Then there were two green speckled frogs (glub!glub!)
Two little speckled frogs……..
One little speckled……
Then there were no green speckled frogs (glub, glub!)
Five Little Ducks
Hold up five fingers and move to look like walking.
Five little ducks went out one day Over the hills and far away Open and close hand to look like a beak quacking.
Mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack Hold up four fingers. But only four little ducks came back.
Four little ducks…
Three little ducks…
Two little ducks.. .
One little duck went out one day Over the hills and far away Mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack
But none of those five little ducks came back.....
Sad mother duck went out one day Over the hills and far away Mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack And all of the five little ducks came back
Five Little Monkeys
Five little monkeys swinging from a tree,
Teasing Mr crocodile, "You can't catch me"
Along came the crocodile,
as quietly as can be and
SNAP!
Went the crocodile, and then there were:
Four little monkeys swinging from a tree? Continue until there are no little monkeys.
(Instead of a crocodile a tiger can be used who goes GRRRR instead of snap.)
One, two, three, four, five,
One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive,
six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on the right.
One potato, two potato
One potato, two potato
Three potato, four,
Five potato, six potato,
Seven potato, more,
One big bad spud.
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep,
Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full!
One for the master,
One for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane
(One finger up represents one person)
5 Current Buns
5 currant buns in the bakers shop.
Round and fat with sugar on the top.
Along came ..... (child’s name) with a dollar one day.
Bought a currant bun and took it right away.
Continue until all gone.
You can substitute Hot Cross Buns at Easter or Meat pies in the pie shop for variety.
For older chn you can take more than one away at a time to challenge their counting skills.
One Grey Elephant
One grey elephant balancing. Step by step on a piece of string.
Thought it was such a wonderful stunt, that he called for another elephant.
(Two, Three, Four onwards till)
Five grey elephants balancing, Step by step on a piece of string,
All of a sudden the piece of string broke, And down came all the elephant folk.
Three Little Speckled Frogs
Three little speckled frogs, sat on a speckled log,
Eating some most delicious bugs (Yum Yum),
One jumped into the pond, Where it was nice and cool
Then there were two green speckled frogs (glub!glub!)
Two little speckled frogs……..
One little speckled……
Then there were no green speckled frogs (glub, glub!)
Five Little Ducks
Hold up five fingers and move to look like walking.
Five little ducks went out one day Over the hills and far away Open and close hand to look like a beak quacking.
Mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack Hold up four fingers. But only four little ducks came back.
Four little ducks…
Three little ducks…
Two little ducks.. .
One little duck went out one day Over the hills and far away Mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack
But none of those five little ducks came back.....
Sad mother duck went out one day Over the hills and far away Mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack And all of the five little ducks came back
Five Little Monkeys
Five little monkeys swinging from a tree,
Teasing Mr crocodile, "You can't catch me"
Along came the crocodile,
as quietly as can be and
SNAP!
Went the crocodile, and then there were:
Four little monkeys swinging from a tree? Continue until there are no little monkeys.
(Instead of a crocodile a tiger can be used who goes GRRRR instead of snap.)
One, two, three, four, five,
One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive,
six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on the right.
One potato, two potato
One potato, two potato
Three potato, four,
Five potato, six potato,
Seven potato, more,
One big bad spud.
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep,
Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full!
One for the master,
One for the dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane
(One finger up represents one person)