The tune is charming, and it is a great way to expose young learners to early concepts of subtraction and division.
To introduce the song, I explain that to share the bananas with a friend, if we can't have the same number of bananas, you should always give your friend the bigger number (so it's a manners lesson too).
Five bananas on banana tree,
Three for you and two for me. (Three fingers on one hand, Two on the other)
Five bananas on banana tree,
OH! I love those bananas.
One banana fell to the floor.....
And now there are only four.
Four bananas on banana tree,
Two for you and two for me.
Four bananas on banana tree,
OH! I love those bananas.
One banana fell from the tree .....
And now there are only three .
Three bananas on banana tree,
Two for you and one for me.
Three bananas on banana tree,
OH! I love those bananas.
One banana went to the zoo ... (make monkey sounds)
And now there are only two .
Two bananas on banana tree,
One for you and one for me.
Two bananas on banana tree,
OH! I love those bananas.
One banana came undone ....
And now there is only one.
(At this point I stop to ask them what to do.
They already had the concept of "half" and were happy to tell me to cut it in half.)
One bananas on banana tree,
Half for you and half for me. (bend your index fingers in half to show two halves)
One bananas on banana tree,
OH! I love those bananas.
Sometimes I'll ask the kids if there were other ways they could have shared the last banana. They loved problem solving on this question.
