Parents have been interacting with their young children through finger plays and bounces for centuries. Many of them have been handed down throughout the generations, and the pig seems to take center stage in quite a few!
Finger play is important at many different stages of child development. In addition to the rhyming sounds that help develop both language and pre-reading skills as well as counting and math skills as you count off the piggies, they offer tactile connections to the fingers and toes, body and vocal awareness, and fine motor skills. More importantly, they offer an opportunity for building positive connections between young children and their caregivers. To add a visual and literary element to your playtime, check out the silly book, “Piggies” by Don Wood.
Alongside the fun of finger play, piggy bounces add an opportunity to develop the vestibular system, which is connected to the developing sense of balance. The bouncing to rhyming words also works with the rhythmic awareness needed for not only music, but speech cadence and patterns. All of that from just a little bit of fun play! (For more on vestibular development for young children, check out “What’s Going On In There” by Lise Eliot.)
Here are some traditional piggy songs and games you won’t want to miss!
Five Little Pigs – toe or finger play
Let us go to the woods, said this little pig
To look for my mother, said this little pig
What to do with her? Says that little pig
Give her a kiss, says this little pig
(Hold up a finger for each pig, starting with the thumb.
Alternative uses each wrist, ankles, and ends in a big kiss!)
Five Little Pigs – toe or finger play
The first little pig danced a merry, merry jig.
The second little pig ate candy.
The third little pig wore a blue and yellow wig.
The fourth little pig was dandy.
The fifth little pig never grew very big.
So they called him Tiny Little Andy.
(Hold up a finger for each pig, starting with the thumb.)
Dickery Dickery Dare – exploring high and low voices
Dickery, dickery dare,
The pig flew up in the air. (voice goes up on the word “up”)
The man in brown
Soon brought him down! (voice dips lower through phrase)
Dickery, dickery, dare
This Little Piggy – toe or finger play
This little pig went to the market.
This little pig stayed home.
This little pig had roast beef.
This little pig had none.
And this little pig went
Wee, wee, wee, wee, all the way home.
This Little Pig – toe or finger play
This little pig said, “I want some corn.”
This little pig said, “Where are you going to get it?”
This little pig said, “Out of Master’s barn.”
This little pig said, “I’ll go and tell!”
And this little big said, “Queeky, queeky, I can’t get over the barn door sill.”
To Market, To Market – bouncing game
To market, to market to buy a fat pig,
Home again, home again, jiggety jig.
To market, to market to buy a fat hog,
Home again, home again, jiggety jog.
To market, to market, to buy a plum bun
Home again, home again, market is done.
I Had a Little Pig – bouncing game
I had a little pig,
I fed him in a trough,
He got so fat his tail dropped off.
So I got me a hammer,
And I got me a nail,
And I made my little pig
A brand-new tail.
Whose Little Pigs – bouncing or clapping game
Whose little pigs are these, these, these?
Whose little pigs are these?
They are Roger the cook’s;
I know by their looks.
I found them among my peas.