Nursery World - Nursery rhymes by Judith Stevens, early years advisor, London

Tommy Thumb Tommy Thumb, Tommy Thumb, Where are you?

Tommy Thumb, Tommy Thumb, Where are you?

Here I am, here I am,

How do you do?

Peter Pointer...

Timmy Tall...

Ruby Ring...

Baby Small...

Fingers all...

It's important to introduce or revisit traditional rhymes with young children. Those that encourage them to manipulate individual fingers have the added advantage of supporting fine motor skill development that underpins early writing skills.

Rhyme time

Introduce the rhyme to the children and encourage them to join in, to observe the actions accompanying the words and to try them out themselves:

* Both hands start 'hidden' behind children's backs and the individual digits 'appear' as they are called. In the first verse the two thumbs are wiggled and the rest of the fingers are clasped together. As the rhyme says 'How do you do?' the thumbs are moved to 'nod' towards each other.

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