"I Have a Family Tree" - Words by Mary Ellen Jex Jolley, Music by Darwin Wolford
"I Have a Family Tree" by Mary Ellen Jolley and Darwin Wolford can be found on page 199 of the Children's Songbook or at lds.org/music.
When I have taught this song, I have usually done it simply as a finger-play. I improvise movements using my arms and fingers to illustrate the words. However, when I have taught this song in the Nursery, I have found that the children also love holding a finger puppet of their very own while we do the finger play. I just gave one finger puppet to each child and told them that they had a member of the extended family - grandpa, grandma, uncle, aunt or cousin (boy or girl or baby). We could trade puppets around thus repeating the song several times. "Family" finger puppets made from felt or the fingers of a glove are more durable, but these little paper finger puppets are simple to color and cut out, and tape to fit little fingers. Printed copies could even be sent home as an activity for the families to use for Family Home Evening.
When I have taught this song, I have usually done it simply as a finger-play. I improvise movements using my arms and fingers to illustrate the words. However, when I have taught this song in the Nursery, I have found that the children also love holding a finger puppet of their very own while we do the finger play. I just gave one finger puppet to each child and told them that they had a member of the extended family - grandpa, grandma, uncle, aunt or cousin (boy or girl or baby). We could trade puppets around thus repeating the song several times. "Family" finger puppets made from felt or the fingers of a glove are more durable, but these little paper finger puppets are simple to color and cut out, and tape to fit little fingers. Printed copies could even be sent home as an activity for the families to use for Family Home Evening.
| paper_finger_puppets.pdf |
