Three Fingers, Three Pigs

Story: The Three Little Pigs
Puppets: none

Props: none
Presenters: one
Audience: Family Storytime

I think of Finger Stories as sort of a cross between fingerplays and puppet stories. Like fingerplays, the kids move their fingers along with you…but there’s a bit more story to them, and the motions are similar to simple puppetry. The Three Little Pigs is a great example. Lots of kids know the story already, and I’ll usually quickly summarize it first anyway just to be sure. Then I show them who the characters will be: First Little Pig is your pinky; Second Little Pig is pointer; Third Little Pig is your thumb. And we’ll use our other hand for…The Big Bad Wolf. He’s all four fingers and your thumb, making a sort of mouth.

Then I tell the story and show and tell them along the way how to move their fingers. “The First Little Pig walked along...” (and you just march your pinky from right to left and the kids do the same, more or less). “He found some straw and built a house...” (you shape a house in the air with your pinky…the kids get it and do the same). “By and by, along came the Big Bad Wolf...” (your other hand pops out, fingers “chomping”). Then you get into the whole “huffing and puffing” section. The kids, who are listening to the story and watching you and moving their own fingers, still follow along pretty well. It’s good to do this bit slowly, drawing Wolf (hand) away from Pig (pinky), then towards him again, and finally blowing down the house. Pig then zips away behind your back, Wolf goes behind on the other side, and…. “The Second Little Pig found some sticks....”

The tale works especially well as a finger story because the repeated pattern gives kids a chance to practice the same series of motions a few times. Also the characters are distinct and you never need to have more than two “on stage” at a time. By the time you reach the final scene and have Wolf climb up on the roof, many of the kids are comfortable enough with telling it this way that they will “climb” their hand up the imagined house without even needing to be told.

Kids catch on at different levels, though, and that’s one of the cool things about it. If they just don’t get the finger movements, it’s still fun for them just to watch you tell it; and maybe they do join in orally. For the kids who do get the motions, it can be a great way to learn and retell a story. It’s also a good way to introduce puppetry to kids. The motions are the same, but without the distraction of actual puppets on your hand. They get the actions and the interplay down first, along with the telling, and then it’s just one simple step to telling it with puppets.

Other folktales that work well as Finger Stories include The Little Red Hen, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and The Three Bears (which is a little trickier because you change characters more frequently and more quickly).

Little Fish, One Finger

Book: Blue Sea by Robert Kalan, illustrated by Donald Crews
Props, Puppets: nothing...just fingers
Presenters: One
Audience: Toddler Time (1 & 2 year olds)

After 25+ years of story times, I tend to get a little bored with fingerplays. I stick to my favorites mostly and feel like I’m not being creative, but really there just aren’t many that measure up to “Where is Thumbkin,” “Five Little Monkeys,” and the like. But I do love it when I can find a story that can be told with fingers. That way the kids get the physical activity they need, but at the same time, I still get to tell a story. One of my favorite finger stories is Blue Sea by Robert Kalan and Donald Crews. A perfect picture book, so I hope this version inspires kids to check it out.

You can show the kids how to move as you tell the story or introduce the pieces before as an introduction. Small Fish is your pinky. Big Fish is pointer plus thumb. Bigger Fish is four fingers plus thumb. And Biggest Fish is your whole arm, with your forearm moving up and down to make a closing mouth.

So you use the simple words directly from the story and motion out the chases with your fingers. And the kids do the same. Little Fish appears. Big Fish appears and chase them. Then you leave Big Fish there and your Little Fish hand now becomes Bigger Fish, who chases Big Fish. And so on.

Then each fish gets caught in a hole, which you (and the kids) also provide. Small Hole is a triangle made when you touch your hand to your shoulder. Each fish zips through it, but Biggest Fish can’t fit (and says: “Ouch!”). Smaller Hole is the biggest circle you can make with finger and thumb. Smallest Hole is a tiny hole with finger and thumb. In the end your left with just your pinky floating around and the words: “Little Fish. Blue sea. The end.”

It makes a great participatory story, and it also has strong early literacy elements. The patterned words exercise narrative skills. Pretty young kids catch the pattern right away, then are able to see how it reverses itself as the fish disappear. With very few words, it’s still excellent for vocabulary, introducing the comparative (er) and superlative (est) suffixes in a way that makes sense. And although adding motions seems to make it more complicated to learn, the motions of the story actually make it easier to remember, especially for kinetic learners who learn by doing. After it's over I'll sometimes encourage the parents to try retelling the story this way at home, since you really can learn it pretty completely just by doing it once.