High-Five Count

Children dance around and, when the music stops, give high-fives to as many different friends as the teacher says. It practices counting people one by one with a cheerful hello for everyone.

How to play

1. We practice a gentle high-five: palm to palm, no hard slapping (1 min).
2. We dance to the music; when it stops, the teacher says "Two!" and we high-five two different friends, counting out loud (1 min).
3. We repeat with other numbers (1, 3, 4), also shown on fingers (2 min).
4. Now we bump other body parts: elbow to elbow, foot to foot, as many times as the teacher says (1 min).
5. To finish, we high-five as many friends as we can while the music plays softly (1 min).

Rules

• High-five softly, like your hand is a cotton ball.
• Each high-five is with a different friend.
• If someone is alone, I go and high-five them.

Variations

Adaptations

• Child using a wheelchair: friends come to them for high-fives, and they count out loud.
• Autistic child: anyone who doesn't want contact can wave from whatever distance they choose.
• Deaf or hard-of-hearing child: a light or a raised and lowered arm signals the music stopping, and the number is shown on fingers.

Learning goals

• Count friends one by one.
• Connect a spoken number to a number of actions.
• Greet the whole group and get moving.

Equipment for a class of 25

• música

Teacher tip

The usual mistake is high-fiving the same friend twice; say "a different one each time" and model it. Turn the music down before each stop so they can hear the number.

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