Clapping Games and Hand-Clapping Rhymes for Kids
18 rhymes with full lyrics
A clapping game is a rhyme you say or sing while your hands keep the beat, alone, with a baby on your lap, or facing a partner. The 18 rhymes here all have a clap in them, either as the whole game or as part of the actions, and each page lays the claps out line by line.
Partner games are the heart of the group. In Pat-a-Cake, two people alternate a clap of their own hands with a clap against each other's hands, and the claps get faster and faster on the line about doing it as fast as you can. Pease Porridge Hot works the same way, and its page says the clapping pattern speeds up until someone laughs and misses. Miss Mary Mack adds a step: facing a partner, clap your own hands, then both of your partner's, then cross your arms and pat your shoulders before clapping again. Bingo (There Was a Farmer Had a Dog) suits a whole group: sing it through, then swap one more letter for a clap in each round, until the whole name is clapped.
For the youngest, an adult does the clapping. In Clap Hands, Clap Hands the page says to clap the baby's hands together in time. Other rhymes fold a clap into the words, such as Hot Cross Buns, with three claps for the three words, and Handy Pandy, where hands clap in time with the words.
To teach a pattern, say the words first, then add the claps slowly and speed up once everyone can do it.