Zip Zip Bam by Mark Weltner
Self-regulation, fine motor, literacy, math
I do the whole fingerplay at the very beginning of the video so you can see what I’m building up to; then I show you how would present it in each class.
It’s important to do this slowly when you’re teaching it – the time I take on the video really does reflect how I do it in class.
There are so many opportunities that this song offers, some of which I have tried and some I haven’t:
Ask: What other words/sounds might we turn into movements? Zip Zip Bam could provide a segue into introducing the game of each child turning their name into a movement, especially in the beginning of the year. (I have not tried this)
Call and response: teacher does a pattern silently and when children respond, they imitate the movement but add the words, too. Once they understand, children do this in pairs. (I have not tried this)
Mathematics (multiplication/addition): if I do Zip Zip Bam Bam Bam two times, how many Zips have I done? How many Bams? Use the circle and bar cutouts to support understanding. (I have not tried this)
FYI, I made my “zips” and “bams” out of oak tag.
I was teaching a class (not my own) who had been working on saying hello and shaking hands around the circle as their greeting of the day, and saying goodbye going the other way around the circle. Hearing this, I asked them to try doing “Zip” (with the motion) around the circle, and “Bam” back the other way around the circle.
Follow up the above suggestion in a future class with a variation of the “Zip Zap Zop” game (Michael Kemeh, 2019). In the original game, one establishes eye contact with any other player in the circle, saying “Zip!”, and that person “passes it on” to whoever they choose, saying “Zap!”, then “Zop!” This repeats: “Zip!” “Zap!” “Zop!” until everyone has had at least one turn. In this version, we would simply go in order around the circle, doing the pattern: the first person saying “Zip,” the second, “Zap,” the third, “Zop,” and so on, until it’s gone around the circle. (I have not tried this)
Consider doing the “Zip Zap Zop” game in small groups, especially with younger children. (I have not tried this)
