Fingerplays with a variety of concepts and movement encourage children to improve fine motor skills. Some improve memory and language skills as they aid in developing hand-eye coordination. They encourage hand, feet and body movement. A fingerplay that uses the fingers to improve fine motor skills and helps with counting is "Five Little Chickadees." Children use all five fingers, bend them down one at a time and count as they repeat the verse. "Balls" is a fingerplay for counting and size discrimination. They use their fingers to show a big ball, a great big ball and a little ball, then count how many they made.
Little songs, chants and rhymes that are coordinated with fine motor movements are important to all cognitive connections. Teachers use fingerplays to introduce new concepts about any subject to help children practice improving fine motor skills. Animals, trains, trucks or food concepts can be used in fingerplays to help enhance vocabulary skills. "Little Turtle" by Vachel Lindsay is an example of a fingerplay that utilizes hand motions and introduces new vocabulary. New vocabulary words such as "puddle" and "swam" are introduced as the children use hand and finger motions in the fingerplay.
Fingerplays increase a child's attention span while assisting with manual dexterity. Children learn and practice many language skills when they repeat fingerplays and rhymes. Some fingerplays help develop muscle coordination and listening skills at the same time. Fingerplays that use hand movements, such as cupping the hand to the ear to listen to the wind while making a "whoosh" sound for the wind, help develop fine motor skills and listening skills. New vocabulary skills, beginning counting and number skills, self-expression and language development skills also benefit from fingerplays.
Some activities associated with fingerplays have long-term significance for children. Development and refinement of fine motor skills in early childhood plays a major role in acquiring writing skills. Before children can attempt to manipulate a pencil in writing, they need strength in their hands and fingers. Fingerplays can help provide that much-needed strength and dexterity. Well-developed fine motor skills are important for self-confidence, motivation and self-esteem, making fingerplays an important tool in early childhood development.