Our Songs Collection

A meditative and relaxing African-American cloth-folding song and game. The minor tonality uses just four notes of the scale. A reliable favorite for grades PreK-2 with optional piano accompaniment!

Picture-drawing songs are songs that describe how to draw a picture! They are very popular in Japan. Perhaps the best-known picture drawing song in the U.S. is the pig-drawing song “Little Circle". It has swept the country in recent years! Children in Pre K-6th all love this one. It’s also great for teaching sixteenth notes!

An upbeat and cheerful greeting song! Use the poster to teach the song to grades K-6. Grades K-2 can sing the song in unison, and older grades can sing the song as a two or three-part round. The song is excellent for teaching the solfege syllable fa, and a simple two-note accompaniment helps teach low so.

This handclap game is a popular one among girls all over the country. Recommended for Grades K-4.

This song was popular at a Brooklyn, NY church in 2003, but unfortunately, we don't know anything else about its origins. Kwanzaa is very recently-created holiday in American history, so we don't have many traditional songs to celebrate it. This particular Kwanzaa song is captivating to kids! The easy-to sing melody is a military cadence with a blues-y feel. The body percussion stems from the African-American stepping tradition. Recommended for Grades 2-6.

Versions of “Jump In Jump Out” can be found throughout the U.S., often in a camp, club, or cheerleading context. This version is an adaptation for the classroom, and keeps the action moving along quickly. It’s a highly physical activity, so the kids are really ready to sit down and rest afterwards! Good for grades 2-6. Also good for getting your cardio in during the work day.

Johnny Boker is a sea chantey used for reefing the sail (shortening it so there is less area for wind to hit it) and furling a sail (rolling it up). Both actions require pulling on a rope with force. The sailors would sway back and forth with the song until the last “do!” and then pull on the rope together. Recommended for grades 1-6.

Arguably the most popular and well-known Christmas song around, "Jingle Bells" was actually written for Thanksgiving! In 1857, James Lord Pierpont wrote the song to be sung at his church on Thanksgiving. It was so popular, they brought it back at Christmas time. The fact that the song is non-religious makes it a good choice for schools where you need to avoid religious reference in the classroom. Recommended for grades PreK-6.

This lively song is featured in the Library of Congress’ John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip. The singer, Ed Jones, sings the chorus two different ways, and both are great! Both versions are offered in the scores here. You may decide you like them both and use them interchangeably, the way he does! Recommended for Grades K-4.

Using a large and small duck (or any other puppets you choose that contrast in size,), teach the concepts of forte and piano to grades PreK-3. The chant is also great for teaching eighth notes and quarter notes as well as 4/4 meter.

Since the kids end up in a line, this song can be a good way to transition into another activity where they all need to be in a line. Or, they can walk to the door because class is over! Recommended for Grades K-3.

Another snow-themed song popular with grades K-3. Teach the song with the poster, and then have kids skip or gallop around the room with each phrase. Older children also enjoy learning the instrumental accompaniment.

This song works well as a greeting right at the beginning of class. You can greet a large number of kids in a fairly short time without their losing interest. It's also a great way for you to test yourself at the beginning of the year after you think you have learned everyone's names! With PreK kids, sing it a little softer, and with K-2, a little louder and more energetically.

This is a wonderful song to use after the children have been concentrating during a previous part of your lesson. It's silly and fun, and can be a great relief when used at the right time. Recommended for Grades 3-6.

A multi-verse chant with one version for PreK-1, and another for 2-4. Little ones think the words are hilarious, and older ones have fun adding rhythmic ostinati ranging from simple to complex. Also great for teaching 6/8 meter. Revisit at Halloween with special Halloween verses!

“I Have a Little Dreidel” is a classic Hannukah song for younger children (grades PreK-3.) However when performed as a xylophone calypso tune, it’s great fun for grades 4-6! Includes a video showing how to play Dreidel in case you’d like to brush up on the details.

Hush Little Minnie is a beautiful lullaby that is a variant of “Hush Little Baby, Don’t Say a Word,” which many children already know. The kids enjoy putting one motion at a time “inside their heads” until they can sing the entire song that way. The song is great for teaching internal hearing, the solfege syllabe “re”, and the quarter note rest. Works well with grades K-3.

This is an American Shaker song, created by the Shirley, Massachusetts Society around 1847. It can be a sweet song to do around Valentine's Day! Recommended for Grades K-4.

A lovely melody with a simple circle game for grades PreK-3. Kids love using cute mittens as a prop! Can be used to practice solo singing as well as walking to a steady beat.

While this song works for many grade levels, grades 4-6 will enjoy this beautiful choral arrangement.

Go to Sleepy is a wonderful song to use during transitions with grades PreK-3. You can sing the song to “put the instruments to sleep” as you collect them or the children put them away. The melody is pentatonic, so you can easily have children improvise softly on barred instruments with the song. It is excellent for teaching the solfege syllable low sol.

A lilting pentatonic melody that sounds beautiful with open fifths played on barred instruments. Great for teaching the solfege syllable “low sol” along with the dotted-eighth-sixteenth rhythm pattern in the context of 6/8 meter. The song also works well with grades 3-6.

This activity provides an excellent way to introduce grades PreK-2 to playing barred instruments for the first time. Also includes suggestions for how to prepare the children for success before beginning this activity!

A popular game great for practicing holding a steady tempo, as well as honing listening and ensemble skills. Great for a day when you feel under the weather or for a substitute teacher, since the kids can play this for a long time with little input from you! Works well with Grades 3-5.

This game is a fantastic game way for you to learn the kids' names. The kids actually shout their own names out for you! Recommended for Grades 4-6.

Tons of fun for grades 4-6! A great activity for the end of the year to sum up any topic. Works especially well for rhythmic dictation.

This game, great for grades 3-6, challenges the kids’ ability to hold a steady beat and a variety of ostinati. Teams compete to get to Level 3 by successfully holding their part of 15 seconds while you have fun improvising.

This version of "Name That Tune" is fast-paced and really fun! It's a great activity to do when you're finishing up a unit or about to leave for winter or summer break and want to review all the songs the children have learned. Recommended for Grades K-6.

Almost any group of children who can keep a steady beat can succeed at this activity. Its purpose is to make the children completely clear about the number of the beat they are currently on in any meter you choose. Recommended for Grades 1-6.

Four White Horses is a handclap and song from the Virgin Islands. There are a few variants of this song, which include the phrases "four white horses on a rainbow," "come on and join our shadow play" or sometimes, our "shallow bay." In addition, sometimes the melody is sung with a lowered seventh. Recommended for Grades 4-6.

A beautiful melody written by American composer Jonathan E. Spilman using the poem “Sweet Afton” by the Scottish poet Robert Burns. It’s great for grades 4-6, and when sung with the piano accompaniment, it makes a lovely unison performance piece. Help teach the concept of fluid singing by having the kids transport glasses of water around the room! Recommended for Grades 4-6.

An easy and lovely way to use this song with children is simply to sing it as you show one of the picture books listed. It's lovely at the end of class, and has the feel of a lullaby. Recommended for PreK-1.

This song is a lovely way to end class, and can be sung as a lullaby. Children love anticipating the next verse, both because they love to count backwards and because the rhyme reinforces the number they are thinking. Recommended for PreK-2.

A sweet song about a wedding between a fly and a bumble bee. Illustrate the song as you go! Great for PreK-1.

A wonderful song for practicing the ascending and descending major scale. Kids love the silly picture of upside-down Ebeneezer, as well as playing instruments with piano accompaniment. Works well with Grades K-2. Also useful for teaching the quarter rest!

There are many, many versions of this song, although the game is essentially the same. This upbeat version is a perennial favorite with the kids, and the "unwind" section at the end really helps keep the groups from falling apart. Recommended for grades PreK-3.

"Double Double This This” is a hand clap that can be easily adapted to work with grades Pre K-4. Great for teaching “titi” and “ta” (eighth notes and quarter notes), form, and 4/4 meter. Expand the activity by having the kids create now words and motions to use in the chant!

Grades PreK and K may enjoy learning the song without the activity teaching dynamic markings. Grades 1-4: This song is easily broken up into four short phrases, each of which can be sung as a different dynamic marking. You can use four sticky notes that read f, p, mf, mp and affix them to the poster on on each pictures that indicates a phrase (see video). Even very young students can grasp the concepts easily this way! You'll be amazed to hear them sing each dynamic differently.

This chant was very popular among third graders in New York City in 2010. They also sometimes chanted it as "diggy diggy diamond," which is easier to say quickly. It's an interesting example of a counting out chant that does not rhyme.

Grades PreK-K: This song is wonderful to show to PreK and K on the board. Grades 1-3: Have the children learn to draw the picture along with the chant. Grades 4-6: Present this chant along with a series of other picture drawing songs, since they'll learn each one very quickly.

Deck the Halls is an extremely popular Christmas Carol, but most students do not know all the verses! Because it’s such a familiar and upbeat song, they are usually quite interested in learning them. The poster works well with grades K-4. Grades 5 and 6 can take on the challenging three-part barred instrument arrangement with additional lyrics to help them remember which notes to play.

-A variant of the usual “Concentration” game involving movement, signing, and quickly thinking of things that fit a certain category. Great for teaching the solfege syllable “fa” to grades 4-6.

Before playing either of the games, introduce the song with this story as you draw on the board (see video). Perfect for PreK-1.

This is a wonderful stick passing game which even kindergarteners can master, simply because the words tell you what to do! Recommended for Grades K-4.

A song that works beautifully during the first few weeks of school for grades PreK-2. It’s a great ice breaker–just pick a position, then another, and switch between the two!

This chant is a traditional jump rope rhyme, but works well in class with the game explained in the description. Recommended for Grades K-4.