ABSTRACT
Did you realise that the finger rhymes, action songs and ring games that you use with young children have their origins in Froebel’s ‘mother songs’ and movement games? Froebel devised a series of some fifty finger rhymes, action songs and games for mothers and other family members to share with babies and young children at home. These were published as ‘Mother Songs’ although the original title referred to a ‘Family Book’. Each song was carefully illustrated with a series of pictures showing a story or series of events linked to the song, which mother and child could look at and talk about together. The illustrations also included sketches to show the appropriate finger and hand movements for the song.
