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Snowman Finger Family: a Christmas finger play for preschool
Our two Snowman Finger Family videos, the finger actions that go with them, and which one to use when you have two minutes and which when you have six.
Finger Family is a call-and-response rhyme. "Where's Daddy snowman?" "Here I am, here I am, how do you do." Five family members, five fingers, one hand. It is one of the first songs a child can do the actions for, because the action is holding up a finger.
We have two versions with snowmen in. They share the same words for the family; one of them keeps going after that.
The two-minute one
Five Finger Snowman runs just under two and a half minutes. Daddy, Mummy, brother, sister and baby snowman, in that order, then goodbye. Use this one when you want the rhyme and nothing else, as a circle-time opener or the last thing before coats.
The six-minute one
Santa's Coming runs about six and a half minutes and has three parts. It opens with Santa dancing and the line "so be good, be good, be good." Then the same snowman family. Then an elf with presents, counted from one to ten, one question at a time: "How many presents does this elf have?" It closes with "Merry Christmas" and goodbye.
Use this one when you have the time and want the counting too. By the elf section, children who know their numbers will be answering before the song does.
The finger actions
- Daddy snowman: thumb.
- Mummy snowman: index finger.
- Brother snowman: middle finger.
- Sister snowman: ring finger.
- Baby snowman: little finger.
On "where are you?" hide the finger behind your back. On "here I am" bring it out and wiggle it. On "how do you do" bow it. That is the entire choreography, and a two-year-old can do all of it.
The words to both are on the lyrics page: Five Finger Snowman and Santa's Coming.
When to start
Earlier than you think. A rhyme a child already knows by December is a rhyme they can perform, and a rhyme they are still learning is one they watch. Start in November with the short one, and bring in the long one once the numbers are in.