Five Little Apples Chant and Finger-Play

Fall is *almost* here, so we're starting to get excited about all things apple (although most of the excitement is geared towards those things involving food).

This chant is about getting apples off a tree and involves a counting pattern from 5 down.

Why are chants or fingerplays worth my time, you may ask?

Well, my two top reasons are: they are rhythmic and rhyming, so they develop innate rhythm, which is uber important to instill at a young age since it is very hard to rectify a deficiency in natural rhythm as a child grows up.

Second, it strengthens their imagination and story-following ability. The rhyme and the actions help them to learn a story or routine; and they can mentally follow along with what's happening that much better.

So, this is one of my favorite chants/finger-plays, and it is easy-peasy to learn.


5 Little Apples - A Counting Chant

5 little apples in the apple tree,
The juiciest apples that you ever did see.
I shook that tree as hard as I could,
and down fell an apple and 'mmmm' was it good!

4 little apples in the apple tree....
3 little apples in the apple tree.....
etc...

The motions we used are as follows:

First, we had to make sure our hand had five fingers.

 Then we began the chant (by the time mommy started taking pics, little J was about done!)

"5 little apples...

...in the apple tree

 

the juiciest apples that you ever did...

 ...see!

 I shook that tree as hard as I could...  (this was the boys' favorite part... surprised?)

and down came the apple...

And mmmm, was it good!

 On the last apple that came down, we changed the words to "it was sooooooooooooooooooooo good!"- where they had to try and see who could hold "soooooo" for the longest. It was silly. :-)

Here's a quick video clip at the end of the fun, so it's not the best, but you get the idea!

Don't forget the Boynton (click:) Philadelphia Chickens CD Giveaway!