Diez Perritos (Ten Puppies) is a traditional song from Mexico, and I found no less than four different versions of it. I chose to eliminate any reference to puppies suffering, so some of these lyrics are my own invention.
This song can be done as a finger play. I have gotten in the habit of beginning finger counting on the little finger of my right hand for 1, with my hand facing the children. When I get to 6, I turn my left hand facing me and use that little finger for 6. I keep my left hand facing my through 9. Then I turn both hands and all fingers toward the students for ten. Obviously, the process is reversed for this song. It feels comfortable and reveals the numbers from left to right as the children see it. They are able to approximate this finger counting with varying degrees of success depending upon age and other variables.
It also works well using children standing in a line using number cards, masks, paintings or no props at all! They sit down as each puppy is eliminated. They all jump up again at the end of the song when the ten puppies return. -- Jim Rule
Long ago I had ten puppies.
Long ago I had ten puppies.
One of them would always whine.
After that I just had nine.
Then I only had nine puppies.
One ran off with her new mate...eight...
Then at last I had no puppies.
But they all came back again!
After that I just had ten.
THE END!!!
The following Bilingual Spanish-English lyrics can be sung to the bonus instrumental track on
Too Much Fun All In One!
Yo tenía diez perritos. I had ten puppies.
Uno se cayó en la nieve. One fell in the snow...
Regresaron otra vez, They returned again,
y otra vez yo tengo diez. ¡Son diez!
And again I have ten.
There are ten!
