Fingerplay

A finger or fingers game theater is a game with children or for children, in which a small plot is presented in such a way that the fingers of the hand similar and puppets in a puppet theater the role of persons, animals or things. It is linguistically telling the presenter at the same time, descriptive or by Browsing the dialogues, clear, often in the form of a nursery rhyme or sung children's song. The game may have other body parts, including those of the onlooking children include, or be ever carried out only under the tapping of the fingers of the child.

Simple shapes

Hand Games

A simple form of the finger game, even without role assignment to individual fingers, takes place through gestures with his hand. In the German -speaking world spreading the song as the pennon at the tower, in which envisioned by turning the raised hand or hands turning the weather vane, but also in conjunction with the text variant "is intended to drehn my baby " the child be turned himself in dance can:

The transition to the finger theater suggests a French song of this kind from the Franche -Comté by comparing the finger puppets on, with marionette in French also means " little girl, little Marion" has

This is the thumb

A simple, common in many countries form the finger game with role assignment allows the fingers of the series run by a part of a narrated story, although the substance often focused on the topic of food. Is the best known in the German speaking finger song of this kind This is the thumb:

In France, the fingers on the other hand go on the hunt, so to a variant of the Franche -Comté on the Rabbit Hunt:

In a Venetian variant, however, an egg is cooked:

And in a Sardinian finger rhyme is about a pig whose role falls to the traditionally considered to be obscene or impure middle finger:

In order to break into a barn, it goes in the English finger song This broke the barn, in the grain and usually in a Scottish variant instead a cow is stolen:

As far as theft, the Germans because of the initial rhyme thumb / plums especially fruit theft, or banned snacking is the theme, the plot is sometimes so continued in more detailed versions that the " smallest", which would collect nothing, the other betrays and then their punishment receive.

Anthologies

• Marga Arndt / Waltraud Singer: This is the thumb Knudeldick ... finger games and puzzles. Ravensburger publishing house, 12th edition, 1995. ISBN 3-473-55056-6
• Raimund Pousset: finger plays and other trinkets. Game - like with small children. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1983 ( revised 24th edition, 2006), ISBN 978-3-499-60641-0
• Petra Probst: This is the thumb. Popular finger plays. Arsed. , Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-7607-7862-4