Mother's Knives and Forks

1st Graders just finished a fingerplay called Mother's Knives and Forks.  A fingerplay is a song or rhyme performed with hand motions.  Fingerplays help students to understand the form of a song or rhyme and also help them to sing and speak with expression.

In addition to the musical benefits of performing fingerplays,  this song in particular helped with students' fine motor skills.  We had to practice the hand motions on their own before we could be successful performing them with the song.

See students performing these difficult hand motions and read the lyrics:

These are mother's knives and forks,


And this is father's table.


This is sister's looking glass,


And this is a baby's cradle.


Hear Mrs. Gallant's class sing the song in the following video.