15 Preschool Counting Songs, Fingerplays & Rhymes

Inside: 15 fun counting rhymes and songs for preschool and kindergarten.

Songs and rhymes are a staple of the preschool and kindergarten classroom, and have been for generations. This list of  counting rhymes and songs includes many of my personal favourites from my preschool classroom days, that I have also loved singing at home with my own kids since becoming a mum.

I have included a fun printable set of song cards and song stick toppers that you can download and print at the bottom of this post.

Glue or tape the toppers to a craft stick and you have a fun classroom resource – the children will love taking turns to choose a counting song to sing!

Preschool Counting Songs and Finger Plays

15 Counting Rhymes and Songs for Preschool & Kindergarten

Here is the Beehive
Here is the beehive (make a fist)
Where are the bees?
Hiding inside where nobody sees
Watch them come creeping out of the hive
One, two, three, four, five (release one finger at a time from the fist/hive)
…BUZZ-ZZZ (wiggle fingers)

Five Currant Buns
Five currant buns in a baker’s shop (hold up five fingers)
Big and round with a cherry on the top (draw a circle in the air
Along came a girl/boy (or child’s name) with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away (tuck one finger down into fist).

Four currant buns in a baker’s shop…
(Continue until no currant buns are left in the baker’s shop).

Five Green, Speckled Frogs
Five green and speckled frogs (hold up five fingers)
Sat on a speckled log,
Eating the most delicious bugs,
Yum, yum! (rub tummy with other hand)
One jumped into the pool (tuck one finger down)
Where it was nice and cool,
Then there were four green speckled frogs,
Glub, glub!

Four green and speckled frogs…
(Continue until there are no speckled frogs on the log).

Five Little Ducks
Five little ducks went swimming one day (hold up five fingers)
Over the hills and far away (hold arm across body and tuck fingers behind shoulder on the opposite side of the body)
Mother duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack” (use other hand to make a mother duck beak and open and close hand to quack)
But only four little ducks came back (bring first hand back to the front with four fingers showing

Continue until no little ducks came back, then;

Old Mother Duck went out one day,
Over the hills and far away,
Mother Duck said “Quack, quack, quack, quack”
And all of those five little ducks came back.

RELATED: 30 Picture Books You Can Count On

Five Jellyfish
Five jellyfish,
 five jellyfish (hold up five fingers)
Five jellyfish sitting on a rock.
One jumped off! 
Splash! (tuck one finger down into a fist)

Four jellyfish…

No jellyfish,
 no jellyfish,
No jellyfish sitting on a rock.
One jumped up! Hooray!

One jellyfish…

The Ants Go Marching
The ants go marching one by one (hold up one finger)
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching one by one,
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching one by one,
The little one stops to suck his thumb (pretend to suck thumb)
And they all go marching down to the ground to get out of the rain.

The ants go marching two by two (hold up two fingers)
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching two by two,
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching two by two,
The little one stops to tie his shoe (pretend to tie shoe)
And they all go marching down to the ground to get out of the rain.

The ants go marching three by three (hold up three fingers)
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching three by three,
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching three by three,
The little one stops to climb a tree (pretend to climb a tree)
And they all go marching down to the ground to get out of the rain.

The ants go marching four by four (hold up four fingers)
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching four by four,
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching four by four,
The little one stops to shut the door (pretend to shut a door)
And they all go marching down to the ground to get out of the rain.

The ants go marching five by five (hold up five fingers)
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching five by five,
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching five by five,
The little one stops to take a dive (pretend to dive)
And they all go marching down to the ground to get out of the rain.

The ants go marching six by six (hold up six fingers)
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching six by six,
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching six by six,
The little one stops to pick up sticks (pretend to pick up sticks)
And they all go marching down to the ground to get out of the rain.

The ants go marching seven by seven (hold up seven fingers)
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching seven by seven,
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching seven by seven,
The little one stops to pray to heaven (pretend to pray)
And they all go marching down to the ground to get out of the rain.

The ants go marching eight by eight (hold up eight fingers)
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching eight by eight,
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching eight by eight,
The little one stops to shut the gate (pretend to shut a gate)
And they all go marching down to the ground to get out of the rain.

The ants go marching nine by nine (hold up nine fingers)
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching nine by nine,
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching nine by nine,
The little one stops to check the time (pretend to check wristwatch)
And they all go marching down to the ground to get out of the rain.

The ants go marching ten by ten (hold up ten fingers)
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching ten by ten,
Hoorah! Hoorah!
The ants go marching ten by ten,
The little one stops to shout
“THE END!!”
15 Counting Songs and Fingerplays for Preschool and Kindergarten. Includes all of the words and actions, plus a printable song poster.

One Grey Elephant Balancing
One grey elephant balancing (with all children sitting in a circle, choose one child to be the first elephant pretending to balance on a string going around and around the inside of the circle)
Step-by-step on a piece of string.
Thought it was such a wonderful stunt.
That he called for another elephant (first elephant chooses another child to join him)

Two grey elephants balancing.
Step-by-step on a piece of string.
Thought it was such a wonderful stunt.
That they called for another elephant.

Continue until all of the children are balancing on the string

(Number) grey elephants balancing.
Step-by-step on a piece of string.
All of a sudden the piece of string broke.
And down came all the ‘ele-folk’.

RELATED: 20 Rhymes, Finger Plays & Songs About Shapes

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
One, two buckle my shoe (pretend to tie shoe)
Three, four knock on the door (pretend to knock on door)
Five, six pick up sticks (pretend to pick up sticks)
Seven, eight lay them straight (pretend to lay sticks down)
Nine, ten a big fat hen!

5 Cheeky Monkeys Jumping On The Bed
Five cheeky monkeys jumping on the bed (hold up five fingers and make them jump up and down)
One fell off and bumped his head (rub head)
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said (pretend to call on phone)
“No more monkeys jumping on the bed” (wag pointer finger like scolding someone)

Four cheeky monkeys jumping on the bed….

There Were Ten In The Bed
There were ten in the bed,
And the little one said, ‘Roll over, roll over’,
So they all rolled over and one fell out.

There were nine in the bed…

Ten Cheeky Monkeys Swinging in the Tree
Ten cheeky monkeys swinging in the tree (hold up ten fingers and swing hands from side to side)
Teasing Mr Crocodile, “You can’t catch me!”
Along came Mr Crocodile as quiet as can be,
And SNAP! (snap hands together)

Nine cheeky monkeys swinging in the tree…

One Potato, Two Potato
One potato, two potato
Three potato, four,
Five potato, six potato,
Seven potato, more!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Once I Caught a Fish Alive
1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
Once I caught a fish alive,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
Then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on my right.

Johnny Works With One Hammer
Johnny works with one hammer (children hammer with one hand)
One hammer one hammer
Johnny works with one hammer,
Johnny works with two.

Johnny works with two hammers (children hammer with two hands)…

Johnny works with three hammers (children hammer with two hands and one leg)…

Johnny works with four hammers (children hammer with both hands and both legs)

Johnny works with five hammers (children hammer with both hands, both legs, and head)
Five hammers five hammers
Johnny works with five hammers
Johnny’s work is DONE!

Ten Fat Sausages
Ten fat sausages sizzling in a pan (hold up ten fingers)
All of a sudden one went BANG! (clap hands on loud bang!)

Nine fat sausages sizzling in a pan,
All of a sudden one went BANG! …

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    Find more fun songs and rhymes for Pre + K: Best Rhymes, Finger Plays & Action Songs for Kids

    3 Comments

    1. Pixelhazard says:

      I just remembered 1,2,3,4,5, Once I caught a fish alive yesterday and my son loved it so much. Had to sing it another 10 times before bed

      Pixelhazard | Bright Green Laces

    2. Great list it will be a handy reminder for those days when I am in the little classrooms…just not today in the Italian lessons !
      Hope you are well. X

    3. FARINA naz says:

      Very nice ideas

    Comments are closed.