Itsy Bitsy Spider

Posted: Monday, November 12, 2007, 9:44 am

Use the rhyming words in this song (about a very resilient spider) to help your child develop early literacy skills.

As you sing this song with your child, incorporate the following hand gestures.

The itsy bitsy spider
Crawled up the water spout
Crawl fingers up baby's body
Down came the rain
Tickle your fingers on baby's head
And washed the spider out
Run your fingers down baby's body
Out came the sun
Hold your hand in a circle over baby's head
And dried up all the rain
And the itsy bitsy spider
Crawled up the spout again.
Crawl fingers up baby's body

Help your child be ready to read by practicing early literacy skills. Rhymes help children hear the different parts of words.

You can help by:

• Saying nursery rhymes
• Reading books that rhyme
• Saying nonsense rhymes

Babies: After singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider a couple of times, sing it again but replace the word "water" with the name of your baby. Also, ask a librarian to help you find a book of rhymes.

More like this: early literacy songs Audio and video for Babies