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Lesson plan: «Cinco lobitos tiene la loba»

Children play «Cinco lobitos tiene la loba» (“The Mother Wolf Has Five Little Cubs”) with their hands (the hand is the mother wolf and the fingers are the cubs), count from one to five raising one finger per number and do the actions the song names: jump, turn around and dance.

Ages
Ages 1–5
Time
20 minutes
Areas
Numbers and counting · Movement and the body · Language and communication

Opening

  1. Show your open hand and say: «Esta es la loba, y estos son sus cinco lobitos» (“This is the mother wolf, and these are her five little cubs”). Wiggle each finger and give each one a made-up name together.
  2. Ask: «¿Cuántos lobitos tiene la loba?» (“How many cubs does the mother wolf have?”). Count the fingers together, from one to five.
  3. Watch the video once, together, and notice what each cub does. Then turn the screen off.

Main activity

  1. Sing the first verse slowly, without the video: turn your hand on «cinco lobitos tiene la loba» (“the mother wolf has five little cubs”) and hide it behind the broom or the scarf on «detrás de una escoba» (“behind a broom”).
  2. On «Uno da un salto, dos vienen detrás…» (“One gives a jump, two come behind…”), raise one finger for each number. Then stand up and do each action: a jump, walking behind, turning around and dancing to the beat.
  3. Hand out the five cards: each time the song names a number, the child holding it raises it and the group says it out loud.
  4. On the walk through the forest, flap your arms like butterflies and hop like the cubs.
  5. At the end, when the cubs go back home, bring your hands together as if in a hug.

Closing

  1. To wind down, sing the last verse very softly, with the hand asleep on the lap.
  2. Talk about it: “Which cub did you like best: the one who jumps, the one who turns or the one who dances?” Each child shows it with one finger.
  3. Trace each child’s hand on paper and turn the five fingers into five little wolf cubs.

Materials

  • Everyone’s hands
  • A toy broom or a scarf to hide the hand behind
  • Five cards with the numbers 1 to 5
  • Paper and crayons

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What to observe

  • Raises one finger for each number while singing «Uno da un salto, dos vienen detrás…» (“One gives a jump, two come behind…”).
  • Counts from one to five, with or without help.
  • Does the action the song names: jumping, turning around or dancing.
  • Hides the hand and brings it back out on «detrás de una escoba» (“behind a broom”).

Adaptations

  • With 1-year-olds, the adult makes the mother wolf with their own hand and touches the child’s fingers one by one while counting; on «detrás de una escoba» (“behind a broom”), play peek-a-boo.
  • For children who don’t speak yet or who use AAC, the number cards are their support: they can point to the number that comes next.
  • For children who need to move less, everything works sitting down and with the hands: the fingers jump, turn and dance on the table.
  • For children who already count to five, count backwards too when the cubs go back home: five, four, three, two, one.

For families

Ask families to play «Cinco lobitos» at home with their child’s hand, counting the fingers at bedtime or bath time.

If you teach Spanish as a new language

  • Teach the numbers with fingers: «uno» (one), «dos» (two), «tres» (three), «cuatro» (four), «cinco» (five).
  • Use the hand as a puppet: the open hand is «la loba» (the mother wolf) and each finger is «un lobito» (a little wolf cub).
  • The action words come with gestures (TPR): «un salto» (a jump), «la vuelta» (a turn), «bailar» (to dance).

ACTFL World-Readiness Standards: Communication (interpretive and interpersonal), Cultures (a traditional game is a cultural practice; the song, a cultural product) and Comparisons (Spanish sounds and words next to your students’ languages).

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