Transitions: Finger Plays/Action Rhymes

It is important that children focus their attention and settle down before they are expected to listen. Songs, finger plays and action rhymes just do the right job! Here are a few of them to help you with your students' transitions.


Song - This is the Way (Tune: Mulberry Bush)


This is the way we get ready to listen,
Ready to listen, ready to listen.
This is the way we get ready to listen,
To listen to our story.


Song - Come and Listen (Tune: Are You Sleeping)


Come and listen,
Come and listen,
To my song, to my song.
Happy children singing,
Happy children singing,
Sing along, sing along.


Finger play/Action Rhyme - I Wiggle My Fingers


(Do actions with what you are singing)


I wiggle my fingers,
I wiggle my toes.
I wiggle my shoulders,
I wiggle my nose.
Now no more wiggles are left in me.
So I can sit still as I can be.


Finger play/Action Rhyme - Everybody Do This 


(Tap different parts of body as you sing)


Everybody do this, (tap your head)
Do this, do this.
Everybody do this,
Just like me.

Everybody do this, (tap your nose)

Do this, do this.

Everybody do this,

Just like me.

Everybody do this, (tap your shoulders)

Do this, do this.

Everybody do this,

Just like me.

Everybody shh, shh, (whisper)
Shh, shh.
Everybody shh, shh,
Just like me.


Finger play/Action Rhyme - Open Them, Shut Them


(Use your hands to do the actions)


Open them, (open hands)
Shut them, (close hands in a fist)
Open them,
Shut them.


Give them a little clap. (clap hands)


Open them,
Shut them,
Open them,
Shut them.


And fold them in your lap. (fold hands in lap)

The following is a list of books that help with transitions and focus on listening.


Daydreamers by Eloise Greenfield
Fancy that! by Pamela Allen
Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox
The Mystery Beast of Ostergeest by Steven Kellogg
The Other Way to Listen by Byrd Baylor
The Snail's Spell by Joanne Ryder
Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin, Jr.