[Children’s Day Hand-Play Songs] A Collection of Nursery Rhymes & Traditional Children’s Songs for Parents and Kids to Enjoy Together
May 5th is Tango no Sekku, known as Children’s Day, a time to celebrate kids’ healthy growth!
Many families display carp streamers and samurai dolls and enjoy special meals.
In this article, we’ve gathered recommended fingerplay songs perfect for Children’s Day.
Why not try them together with your family after the celebration?
These fingerplays are ideal for children in daycare or kindergarten, so have fun adding Children’s Day–themed twists as you play!
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[Hand Play Songs for Children’s Day] A Collection of Nursery Rhymes & Traditional Children’s Songs for Parents and Kids to Enjoy (31–40)
It fell, it fell.
Nostalgic and old-fashioned “Ochita Ochita,” a hand-clapping song that many adults probably played with when they were children.
It’s a simple, game-like hand play where you decide how to catch what “falls,” and that’s the fun of it.
If it’s an apple, you can catch it with your hands; if it’s a doll, cradle it gently.
And when lightning falls—yes—make the gesture of hiding your belly button.
It’s fun to throw in the lightning right when everyone’s forgotten about it!
the head monk at a temple
It’s a hand-clapping song played in pairs.
While doing rock-paper-scissors, the pace gradually speeds up.
The faster it gets, the funnier it somehow becomes, and even mistakes add to the excitement.
It’s a traditional Japanese playground song that has been passed down and remains popular with children.
Parents likely know it too, making it a hand-play song they can enjoy together.
Ogre’s Pants
To begin with, the image of “Oni no Pants” seems to be strongly associated with being the strongest, and the lyrics emphasize just how strong they are.
Oni are seen as powerful, and since these are the pants that an oni wears, they must be strong too—something like that, I suppose.
It’s a song about putting on those unbeatable “oni pants” and becoming strong, but the lack of realism might actually make it more amusing.
Oni are scary, yet somehow fun; it’s a children’s song that makes kids laugh.
Story Finger
When you were a child, were you ever taught nicknames for each finger, like calling the thumb the “father finger” and the index finger the “mother finger”? This fingerplay song, Ohana-shi Yubisan (The Story Finger Family), uses those nicknames.
It goes through all five fingers from the thumb to the pinky, singing about each one in turn.
It’s a fun and reliable fingerplay song that also serves as an educational tune to help children learn the shapes and characteristics of each finger.
It might be fun to paint little faces on the fingers or dress them up and sing while you play!
gluttonous gorilla
Here’s a lively hand-play song with a sense of excitement that the title “The Gluttonous Gorilla” alone makes you look forward to.
The song is set up like a little story: a hungry gorilla finds lots of foods, peels them, and eats them.
Starting with the familiar banana and even a sour lemon, the gorilla’s reactions are a highlight.
In the end, that vegetable makes an appearance too, leading to a surprising turn—sure to grab the kids’ attention and get them thoroughly engaged!
[Children’s Day Hand-Play Songs] A Collection of Nursery Rhymes & Traditional Children’s Songs for Parents and Kids (41–50)
hair play
This hand game song has the curious title “Keno Asobi,” which literally means “hair play.” Here, “ke” refers to hair, like the hair on your head.
Using your fingers to show the numbers from 1 to 5, you use them to represent different kinds of hair.
For example, holding up one finger on each hand to make “1” becomes eyebrows, and using “4” turns into false eyelashes.
The lyrics even feature a routine by that famous comedian and a visit from that jolly man who comes at Christmas! It’s a very unique hand game song that focuses on “hair.”
carp streamer
This is the most famous song among the ones about koinobori.
Children might already be very used to singing it.
For kids who have it down perfectly, let’s add some hand motions while they sing! Try using your hands to show the size of the father koinobori being big and the child koinobori being small.
You can also express the koinobori leisurely swimming in the sky by gently waving your hands.
Even a familiar song can be enjoyed in a new way when you add hand play!