i remember years ago reading about how many children don’t know the traditional nursery rhymes. believe me, some make me cringe…either for what they say or what they mean or what the are rooted in. but there is a place and a way to incorporate these “way back when” things into life now.

and “patty-cake, patty-cake” was one of them. the roots of this rhyme give me pause too, so i offer that. during b week we had babies and bears in the room. i suggested this might be a poem that some of them knew from when they were a baby.

we acted it out with a doll (while modeling basic baby safety-no strong arm pulling, no hard hand clapping, etc) and there were reports that some children went home to their infant siblings and tried it too….and it worked! (they smiled).

in preparation for our bear hunt we painted a few big pieces of paper-with our hands-and then snuck over to make a couple of handprints on a paper with the poem printed on it.

then in a moment of spontaneity i drew a “B” on children’s hands if they desired. that way when we “marked it with a B,” we could trace the B! that was my favorite. since it was a dry erase marker, it was gone during snack time handwashing. this is another time when i tell the children that this is a “special preschool thing”–not a “do it again at home thing.”

and oh, joy, when a real baby came for show and tell. yeehaw!!!