Bookbug Session Plans: Maths Week Scotland

The Hello Song

Benefits

Familiar start – lets everyone know a Bookbug session has started.

Tips

Smile and use names if you know them. Clap or tap along to the beat and use signs if you know them.

One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four

Benefits

This rhyme is great for counting with children in a playful way. It’s also very good for hand-eye co-ordination.

Tips

Encourage toddlers to copy the actions you do while sharing this rhyme. If sharing with babies, you can help them to move their hands, or why not try gently cross their feet on top of each other as a variation. Older children might enjoy placing their fist on top of yours while you share this rhyme, supporting turn taking.

Five Fat Peas

Benefits

Using hands and fingers helps children understand what is involved in counting. This rhyme is also great for fine motor skills and moving fingers in isolation.

Tips

Build anticipation and excitement with a pause before the pod goes pop at the end of the rhyme.

Hickory Dickory Dock

Benefits

This song has lots of opportunities for positive touch and tickling and is a gentle introduction to time.

Tips

Encourage the children to come up with their own verses and actions to the song. Use this song as a way of beginning to count up, i.e. ‘the clock struck two,’ then count up to two: ‘one, two, the mouse said boo! ... The clock struck three…one, two, three, the mouse said weee!’

When I Was One

Benefits

This song is lots of fun, it helps develop counting skills but the actions also help children understand directional language such as forwards and backwards.

Tips

For the older children you can offer variations in the speed of the song, going faster and slower.

I wonder what’s in my bag today?

Benefits

Builds anticipation and captures the attention of the children.

Tips

Use Bookbug to help engage the children in singing the ‘I wonder what’s in my bag today?’ song. Use Makaton to support different communication needs. Sing the song to the tune of ‘Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush’:

‘I wonder what’s in my bag today, bag today, bag today, I wonder what’s in my bag today, come and take a look… At Bookbug’s favourite book.’

Ten Little Pirates by Mike Brownlow and Simon Rickerty

Benefits

This is a lovely rhyming book and gives children opportunities to join in and predict. The bright and colourful illustrations encourage the children to count as each pirate disappears from the story, before they all return in the end.

Tips

Give space at the end of each sentence for the children to predict the word that’s coming next. Draw their attention to the illustrations and encourage them to count the pirates on each page. Look out for the bold numeral on the page, to support number recognition.

Forwards and Backwards

Benefits

This song is another great one for directional language, an extension of the previous action song, focusing on up and down and side to side as well as forwards and backwards.

Tips

Sing this song faster and slower or louder and quieter to add excitement. For babies you can make the song energetic or soothing depending on the baby’s mood. Older children and toddlers will enjoy joining in with all the actions. This is a good song to do with the lycra.

Three Craws

Benefits

This fun Scots song gives children the opportunity to count up, but also uses other mathematical language such as first, second, third and fourth.

Tips

Use your fingers to support the counting element of the song and help children’s understanding. Draw attention to the Scots words in the song, these may be less familiar to the children, so by doing this you can help them with their understanding and grow their vocabulary: ‘craw, waw, maw, couldnae flee at aw.’

Ae Finger, Twa Fingers, Three Fingers, Fower

Benefits

We love sharing Scots rhymes at Scottish Book Trust and this rhyme gives us lots of opportunities to count up from one, using our fingers to support understanding.

Tips

When sharing this rhyme with babies, let them see your fingers wiggle as you count, or encourage grown ups to gently wiggle their fingers as you say the rhyme. For older children and toddlers, encourage them to move their own fingers and join in with the words.

The Goodbye Song

Benefits

Tells everyone the session is coming to an end.

Tips

Wave, smile and use names if you know them. If you know Makaton, you can support this song with signs.