[Hand Play] Popular with kids! A collection of trendy hand-play songs and nostalgic traditional children’s songs
Hand-play songs that you can sing and play are hugely popular with children, aren’t they?
As times change, lots of new hand-play songs have appeared, and through these songs you can really feel children’s interests and curiosity.
Trendy songs are fun, but we also want to cherish the traditional warabe-uta that have been sung for generations.
Their melodies are warm, the back-and-forth of the words is amusing, and the fact that you can sing them without a piano is also very appealing.
This time, we’ll introduce plenty of hand-play songs that are favorites with kids!
From trending hits popular in childcare settings to traditional warabe-uta, we’ve got a full lineup of hand-play games that will bring smiles to children’s faces.
Be sure to join in and play along!
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- Useful for childcare! Today’s recommended recreational activities, including fingerplay and games!
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[Hand Games] Popular with kids! A collection of trendy hand-clapping songs and nostalgic traditional children’s songs (41–50)
Nigiri Patchiri
It’s a hand game song using a handkerchief.
You scrunch the handkerchief up in your hand, sing the song, and at the end open it… and a chick or a lion pops out of your hand—just like that! Even the sounds of the words are fun, so small children can enjoy it too.
You can also change the animal part to various animals.
Also, it’s best to use a handkerchief made of fabric that naturally spreads open easily.
[Hand Play] Popular with kids! A collection of trendy hand play songs and nostalgic traditional nursery rhymes (51–60)
men-men suu-suu
For example, this is a song you can use to play even with a baby who can’t sit up yet.
As you sing, gently touch around their eyes, down the bridge of their nose, and their ears to match the lyrics.
That experience of being touched helps your child’s development.
Since you’ll be close, it might be good to keep your singing voice soft so you don’t startle them.
Their little reactions are so cute—you’ll be completely smitten.
Yakiimo goo-choki-pa
A game that’s often played in winter and during lunchtime recreation is “Yakiimo Goo-Choki-Paa.” It’s a hand-clapping song themed around roasted sweet potatoes.
With gestures similar to rock-paper-scissors, a fist (goo) shows being hungry, scissors (choki) shows how hot the roasted sweet potato is, and an open hand (paa) shows having finished eating it.
Once you get used to it, speeding up little by little makes it even more fun.
It can also be used as a lead-in to rock-paper-scissors.
It might be more exciting than playing regular rock-paper-scissors.
From inside the bamboo grove
A simple yet rhythmic melody, combined with hand-play and rock-paper-scissors, makes this an ideal song for nurturing children’s imagination and sense of rhythm.
In educational settings, it also helps improve communication skills, and its appeal spans all ages.
Passed down orally, the piece features subtle regional variations that reflect local character and culture—an interesting point in itself.
It is widely used in nursery schools and kindergartens and is beloved as a staple for hand-play songs and rock-paper-scissors games.
Panda, rabbit, koala
It’s a simple song about calling animals over to you.
As the title suggests, it uses hand shapes to express memorable features of a panda, a rabbit, and a koala.
For the panda, you make a circle in front of your eyes; for the rabbit, you raise your hands like ears above your head; and for the koala, you form your hands as if cradling a hug.
Since the hand placements differ for each animal, speeding up the tempo makes it more challenging—and fun—to move your arms to the right position.
You can cherish the song as is and express the three animals, but it could also be exciting to have everyone think about how to use their hands to represent other animals.
butterflied sardine(s)
Let’s play the fingerplay song “Iwashi no Hiraki,” which features lots of fish! The song starts with sardines (iwashi), using one finger.
Next comes herring with two fingers, then Pacific saury with three, salmon with four—each fish gets a little bigger, and the number of fingers increases by one.
And the final character is a whale! Its spout is extra big, and at the end everyone goes BOOM! Make it big and expressive with your whole body.
You can also add a little talk about autumn seasonal fish like sardines and saury.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Hand play with a song everyone knows! Let’s introduce “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” It’s also one of the songs often sung as a lullaby.
How about incorporating it into your activities as a hand play this time? Imagine your palms as stars and express the sparkling, shining stars.
The choreography is easy to understand and doesn’t have any complex movements, so it seems enjoyable from infant to preschool classes.
Try adding “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to eurhythmics, morning meetings, or closing circles.