One Finger, One Thumb Keep Moving

For those of you teaching little ones, I found a really fun lesson, that makes the kids laugh, gets them moving and singing and goes through some body parts other than the regular "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes".

Back in my own country of Australia there is a great kids band called "The Wiggles"...interestingly enough they used to be a "rock band" and with a couple of number one hits behind them, they chucked it in and made an absolute fortune by making the transition to becoming a singing and dancing children's group. This is going back many years now, but they are still performing and pleasing kids worldwide. Whilst their best songs are the ones written by them, this is a pretty nifty version of the nursery rhyme "One Finger, One Thumb Keep Moving".Here's the video.

How I run this lesson

• First do a warm up. If they know "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"...that is perfect, as it is also dealing with body parts. If they don't... well there you go, that's another lesson that you could do prior to doing this one :-)


• After their warm up and before I show the kids the video, I slowly go through the vocabulary with them. Finger, Thumb, Arm, Leg, Head, Stand Up, Sit Down, Turn Around.


• Keep in mind that the few extra words that are in the song, are not so important. Actually, if you remember back, as kids we often sung nursery rhymes without knowing what the real words were...we just said them, but didn't always really know what they meant. The kids can get a pretty good idea with this song anyway 1) because of the associated actions and 2) the extra dialogue is minimal. "Keep moving"( whilst moving the different parts of your body) and "we'll all be merry and bright" (acting like a big smiley sunny face), Is not difficult.


• Because the song is at a reasonably fast pace...I do it first, verse by verse, very very slowly, making sure the kids all sing along and follow my actions.


• Then I still do it slowly but putting all the verses together...exactly the same as the video...but much slower.


• Then I speed it up a notch, just to get them ready for the video.


• You will find the kids will be kind of mesmerized by The Wiggles...especially Jeff when he keeps laughing (Kids always love Jeff), so let them watch once or twice before trying to perform along with the video.


• Then play it one more time and get them to join in.

EXTRA ACTIVITIES                     

Once they get the idea, you'll find this is actually quite useful as you can now take them through some other body parts...for example - one hand, one foot keep moving or one eye, one ear keep moving. This really works well.

• Get them to lead the group in moving different parts of the body, whilst singing the words and performing the actions.

• Get them to draw and colour : I find draw around their fingers and thumb pretty good or a big "happy and bright" face.

EXTRA NOTES

• Make sure that you finish the class with the song before leaving.


• You will feel like you've had enough exercise for a week after finishing this lesson, it's a great workout.