Collection Information: Little Bunny Foo Foo was collected on April 29th, 2014 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It belongs to a sub-genre of nursery rhymes called fingerplay.
Informant: The informant was Abbie Gardner, a 36 year old female. She was born in San Francisco, CA, but now she lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has worked as a nanny and florist.
Text:
Little Bunny Foo Foo went hopping through the forest, (make a hand with two fingers extended symbolizing bunny ears, and raise hand up and down simulating bouncing) scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head (make scooping motion with hand and bop the child’s hand softly with a fist). Down came the Good Fairy and she said, “Little Bunny Foo Foo, I don’t want to see you scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head (wag finger at child with a disapproving look). I’ll give you three chances, and if you don’t behave, I’ll turn you into a loon!”
And the next day, Little Bunny Foo Foo went hopping through the forest, (make a hand with two fingers extended symbolizing bunny ears, and raise hand up and down simulating bouncing) scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head (make scooping motion with hand and bop the child’s hand softly with a fist). Down came the Good Fairy and she said, “Little Bunny Foo Foo, I don’t want to see you scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head (wag finger at child with a disapproving look). I’ll give you two more chances, and if you don’t behave, I’ll turn you into a loon!”
And the next day, Little Bunny Foo Foo went hopping through the forest, (make a hand with two fingers extended symbolizing bunny ears, and raise hand up and down simulating bouncing) scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head (make scooping motion with hand and bop the child’s hand softly with a fist).Down came the Good Fairy and she said, “Little Bunny Foo Foo, I don’t want to see you scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head (wag finger at child with a disapproving look). I’ll give you one more chance, and if you don’t behave, I’ll turn you into a loon!”
And the next day, Little Bunny Foo Foo went hopping through the forest, (make a hand with two fingers extended symbolizing bunny ears, and raise hand up and down simulating bouncing) scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head (make scooping motion with hand and bop the child’s hand softly with a fist). Down came the Good Fairy and she said, “Little Bunny Foo Foo, I don’t want to see you scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head. I gave you three chances, and you didn’t behave, so...” POOF she turned him into a loon (pretend to wave a wand).
Context: This fingerplay can be performed at any time of the day and it can be performed for a single child or a group of children. It usually involves a parent, caretaker, or teacher singing the song with the children as the audience or it can be sung together by both the adult and the child/children. Even though it is somewhat longer than other finger play games, it utilizes repetition and is sung with a catchy melody, so kids usually have a relatively easy time learning it. Because of its length, the informant especially liked to use it to entertain children when they got restless, particularly on long car rides. Sometimes “bopping” and “loon” can be replaced with “bashing” and “goon,” but because the informant performed is most frequently for smaller children, she preferred the milder, happier words to the more violent words.
Meaning and Interpretation: As the context implied, this fingerplay song is very effective for entertaining and distracting kids. It can be a very useful tool in calming them down. Aside from its direct function of helping manage children’s immediate behavior, its message of punishment that follows repeated disobedience helps children understand the importance of good behavior and the consequences that may follow if they misbehave.
Collector’s Information: Chris Faulkner, Dartmouth ’14, Russian 13, Professor Mikhail Gronas, Spring 2014
