Pocket Clapping Games

Clapping games have been around for over a hundred years and may just seem like great fun, but clapping actually has a more valuable role to play in early childhood development. Clapping can be used to communicate, help improve cognitive skills and boost coordination in young children. Clapping games use physical contact and song to foster social relationships, build a sense of community, all helping to encourage cooperation and team work, as well as being a great tool in the classroom for energising, or for re-focusing a class, and as a way of restoring good humour and harmony when children become restless and quarrelsome. Clapping can also inspire creativity as children are very inventive when playing and they love to improvise and adapt games by making up new verses with new actions or just inventing whole new games. So clapping games are constantly evolving and the versions you see here may be slightly different from the ones you are used to. In our current society - where mobile phones, tablets, computer and augmented reality games seem to rule - it is refreshing to know that children still love to play clapping games in the playground and we hope this handy little pocket book will inspire and engage the children in your school or setting. The games in this Pocket Book are laid out in an easy to understand style.