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Hand, Hand, Fingers Thumb

Lapbook Templates

Praise the Lord!
Psalms 47:1 proclaims,  "O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph!"  Sing some favorite Bible songs while clapping and praising God.  I love Miss Patty Cake's song, "I Praise You Lord With the Hands You Made."  The next line says, "I could clap for you all day."   This is a great song to talk about hands (that God made them) and praise (that we can praise him with our hands!).  For an art connection,  get out an ink pad and make fingerprints.  Show your child how God made each fingerprint different.  No one has the same!  Isn't God amazing?  For extra fun, let the entire family join in and put all the prints on a large piece of paper so you can see ALL the different prints God gave your family.

For another craft connection, you can trace your child's hand and let him decorate it (glitter, glue, crayons, markers, paint, etc.).  You can also dip it into paint and let him stamp it on paper.  You can make different things by doing this.  For instance, the Usborne Big Book of Playtime Activities shows how to make a fish from your hand print. 

Monkeys!
Check out some monkey books at the library.  If your child isn't ready to sit for a non-fiction book, just peruse the pictures together.  You can discuss what monkeys eat with your child.  In the book, a monkey picks an apple, another picks a plum.   Well, monkeys do eat fruit!  Different monkeys in different areas of the world eat whatever fruit grows in that area.  They also consume nuts, eggs, seeds, leaves, bamboo, insects and corn. 
More About Monkeys

Some other monkey picture books
Caps For Sale (of course!)
Curious George
Five Little Monkeys
Goodnight Gorilla (I know, I know...not exactly a monkey, but a beloved book)

Manners
"Hello Jack.  Hello Jake.  Shake hands. Shake hands-shake, shake, shake!"
When we meet new people or old friends, it is appropriate to shake their hand.  I worked in a small Before Five in A Row co-op with a few friends and their preschoolers.  We let them say hello and shake hands.  They LOVED it.   Encourage your child to shake hands with people when they greet them.

Health
"Hands with handkerchiefs blow, blow, blow..."
When we sneeze, we need to cover our mouths and noses to keep the germs at a minimum.  Discuss this with your child.  You can also talk about the proper way to use a tissue and that we should wash our hands after we sneeze.

Music
This book introduces the word "hum"-- hum a favorite song with your child so he can understand what the word means.   This book also mentions banjos and fiddles.  Pretend play each of these instruments noting that fiddles have a bow and are played up high while banjos are plunked a little lower. 

You can also take a large coffee can and add a few beans inside.  Glue the lid on.  Voila!  Instant noise maker!  You can demonstrate the difference between LOUD music and quiet music.  For LOUD, whack your drum with two hands.  For quiet, just use one thumb to drum on your drum.  It's fun if you both have a drum.  Re-read the story and play appropriately with your drums.  Have fun going dum-ditty-dum-ditty-dum-dum-dum!    If you have other musical instruments, you can make a praise parade (refer to Praise the Lord! section) and march around the house singing praises to our Lord.
Make Musical Instruments

Fruit
"Hand picks an apple, hand picks a plum"  You can discuss FRUIT with your child.  What makes fruit, fruit?  Two characteristics that your child can understand-- usually sweet, usually has seeds (sometimes inside, sometimes out--like berries).  The next time you are at the grocery store, browse the produce department and find a plum.  Let your child choose a few other fruits to take home and sample.

Monkey Snacks
Banana Roll-up
Ingredients:
1 banana
1 tortilla
1 tablespoon peanut butter

Instructions:
Spread peanut butter over the tortilla.  Peel banana and place on the far side of the tortilla.  Roll it up!  Enjoy.

Banana Dips
Ingredients:
Bananas (1 per student)
Various sugars (white, powder, cinnamon)
Peanut butter
Chopped nuts
Coconut
Jelly
Chocolate chips

Instructions:
Peel bananas and slice into 1 inch pieces.  Melt chocolate chips for a few minutes in a microwave, stir until smooth.  Dip banana slices into chocolate, then roll into other ingredients as desired