LET'S SING ALL YEAR LONG!
Hi again! It’s Miss Carole of Macaroni Soup! and I’ve
got a question for you:
What’s
red, blue, yellow
and green, sings, and is fun to use all year
long?
NOT that old electronic question and answer
game “Simon!” It’s my new recording:
Season Sings!
It’s not ready for purchase yet – it’ll be
November before you can buy it. And no,
my blog this month isn’t about creating buzz for my product. I’m going to give you a SNEAK PREVIEW to a few fun songs and fingerplays that you
can use right now, without the cd, AND without having heard them before!
A brief reminder about WHY singing with young children is important:
- it’s good for their brains and bodies,
- promotes appropriate social interaction and
- works on early literacy skills such as pattern, sequence, rhythm, rhyme, vocabulary and memory.
Now let’s get singing!
Here are three songs for Fall, all to familiar tunes and easy to sing
with children 1-6 years old!
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Leaves Are Falling
Tune: Jingle Bells
Leaves are falling, leaves are
falling
Falling on my nose!
Leaves are falling, leaves are
falling
Falling on my toes!
On my head! On my ears!
Even my el-bows!
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling
When the brisk wind blows –
WHOOSH!
What to do: Shake hands from
high to low when singing “leaves are falling”.
Touch the body part named.
Depending upon the age of the child, you can repeat the song, going a
little faster with each repetition!
For another great leaf song, check out my
November 2011 blog for "When It's Autumn".
Bats Are Sleeping!
Tune: Frere Jaques
Bats are sleeping, bats are
sleeping
Upside down! Upside down!
Waiting for the night-time. Waiting for the night-time….
Then they fly around. Then they fly around.
Now you’re ready to sing and move. I ask:
“Is it daytime or night-time now?”
It’s usually daytime, so “What would bats be doing now?” Sleeping!
“OK – you are all bats – go to sleep!”
Demonstrate how to stand, folded over at the waist, with your hands
dangling toward the floor. Start singing. After the “waiting for the night-time” line,
turn the lights OFF and finish the song!
I let the children fly around, catching mosquitoes with their tongues
for about 15 – 20 seconds, then ON come the lights. They automatically fold over and go “back to
sleep” – and we repeat the song….several times!
It’s a favorite!
For another great song to couple with this one, try "Black Bat Farm" on my "HUM: Highly Usable Music " cd. You can hear it and learn more on the Song of the Month page on my website.
Pumpkin,
Pumpkin!
Tune:
10 Little Indians
Pumpkin, pumpkin, orange pumpkin
Pumpkin, pumpkin, orange pumpkin
Pumpkin, pumpkin, orange pumpkin
Hi Ho! Autumn is here!
Verse 2: Give him eyes like 2 triangles
Verse 3: Give him a nose that’s round like a circle
Verse 4: Give him a mouth to make him smile!
Verse 5: Repeat verse one.
What to do: I do this song
with a flannelboard, a felt pumpkin and felt pieces for the facial
features! That way I can change them as
we’re learning our shapes – the mouth can be oval, the eyes can be rectangles,
the nose can be a square (“give him a nose that’s shaped like a square) … have
fun changing it up!
Invite the children to make a triangle
with their fingers, make a circle ON their nose with their finger, and make a
big smile! You can clap the rhythm
during the first and last verses.
You
can draw a pumpkin on paper if you don’t have a flannelboard – or make
a flannelboard – see my Pre-K
and K blog “Sing a Song of the Sea” from June 2012 for easy instructions!
For patterns for the pumpkin and face, go
to the October ’06 Song of the Month page on my website.
If you’d like to know when Season Sings! is ready for
purchase, either check my website or LIKE me on Facebook at Macaroni Soup with MissCarole. Check out the pictures of the
cd-making process there, too! The kids
on this cd are waaay cute!
Season Sings! includes 30 songs:
7 for each season, plus welcome and goodbye songs.
By the way - some of my favorite songs come from people I work with: I learned "Bats are Sleeping" at a Children's Music Network gathering, and "Leaves Are Falling" was shared by a librarian! I'd love to hear about YOUR favorite season-themed songs, too!
By the way - some of my favorite songs come from people I work with: I learned "Bats are Sleeping" at a Children's Music Network gathering, and "Leaves Are Falling" was shared by a librarian! I'd love to hear about YOUR favorite season-themed songs, too!
Yours
for a Song!
“Miss Carole” Stephens
Awesome songs, Miss Carole! I LOVE singing seasonal songs with young children ... their enthusiasm for the seasons is so much fun! I pinned your post to my Kids' Fall Activities Board at http://pinterest.com/debchitwood/kids-fall-activities/
ReplyDeleteThanks, Deb! I started doing a lot of Fall/Winter/Spring/Summer songs in my mix when I realized that many children confuse "seasons" with "Weather". I'd ask - "What's the weather today?" Inevitably a child would say "Cold!" So we'd talk about the difference. I also like introducing the word "AUTUMN" - a better descriptor for the upcoming season, as it doesn't have lots of other meanings as Fall does. Hence my other song, "When It's Autumn".
ReplyDeleteYour new CD sounds so wonderful, thank you for the explanation and information. Fun and happy! Carolyn
ReplyDeleteMy kids and I have really enjoyed these songs. Thanks for sharing! Our favorite this week is Bats Are Sleeping. I posted about how we danced to it with some of our other Halloween songs at http://www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/halloween-songs-and-activities-for-calendar-time.html
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking my post to your blog. Keep flying!
ReplyDeleteHi Carole! I just used both of your autumn leaves songs the other day, loved them! All of your songs are so easy to use with the kids, they actually participate instead of watching the teachers do all the singing and dancing.
ReplyDelete