Five Cheeky Monkeys

You Will Need:

Paper, pens, and paper plates
If you are not sure of the tune, you can use this link from the Literacy Trust http://www.wordsforlife.org.uk/song

The Activity:

Sing the song with your little one.
Create your own puppets using craft materials such as paper, pens, spoons, lollipop sticks or boxes.
Suggest your little one makes a home for the monkeys, perhaps even giving the home a number and 5 beds so each monkey can have their own bed.
Ask you little one where real monkeys live and talk about the different types of monkeys and their names. You can explore this online or through books together.
Talk about what monkeys might eat? You could extend thinking around healthy eating by talking about bananas and other fruit and vegetables.
Introduce some exercise with your little one, jumping up and down 5 times with a rest and freeze of 5 counts then repeat the 5 jumps and so on, keeping the number 5 in mind.

Five Cheeky Monkeys

Five cheeky monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head!

Mummy called the doctor and the doctor said, “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

Four cheeky monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head!

Mummy called the doctor and the doctor said, “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

Three cheeky monkeys jumping on the bed…

Two cheeky monkeys jumping on the bed…

One cheeky monkey jumping on the bed…

You may want to emphasise on these associated words to enhance your child language development:

Jumping
Fell
Off
Bumped
Called
Head
One
Monkey
Vine
Swing
Bounce
Five

How this supports your child's learning:

An experience and appreciation of rhythm and rhyme is essential for children’s success in mastering the fundamental skills required for speaking, reading and writing. Songs and rhymes are also a great way to introduce mathematical language and to support children’s emotional development.