The beat baby has a tail which is magnetic. Just pull it apart and s/he unrolls. We have several in different colours: our Beat Baby is wrapped in a chiffon scarf, and lives in a gold Ikea box, and each time the children guess what colour it will be. We sit in a close circle, and beat baby travels around the circle from child to child as we chant our rhymes. Beat baby always starts off with me and I begin the rhyme and at the end of the first verse I pass beat baby to the first child and ask them to supply a suitable word for the 'blank'. Then when that verse is done, the child passes beat baby on to the next child and so it goes on until everyone has had a turn. We have a limited repertoire because that way even the youngest children can supply their 'answer' to fit in the rhyme: our favourites are:-

Hat on your head, shoes on your feet, lets go jumping out in the street. I had a bag of money, I took it to the shop, I bought 200 lollipops and then I had to stop! Madeleine Lindley provides early childhood practitioners with all the EYFS books and toys they need, no matter what budget or setting they work in. Whether that is a nursery, foundation unit, preschool or playgroup, we have something to help inspire the children in your care. This initial period of learning is crucial for the rest of each child’s development; therefore, we supply educators with only the best EYFS resources.So in the first instance the children have to think of an animal go be up the tree, in the second a place to go by train and in the third, something to buy 200 of in the shops! Our opening song is "Beat baby, beat baby where are you? Beat baby, beat baby we love you!". The children know that once the beat is going round successfully (ie children are clapping in time to the syllables of the rhyme), beat baby will come out of his/her box to play.