Grandma's Feather Bed

This is a GREAT book! It is a silly song to sing and the illustrations are so fun! The book easily lends itself to discussions about families, how neat it is to get together, and the wonderful memories we can make. We may not have grandmas with huge feather beds, but we have traditions and moments that make our families unique. You could even make up a song about your child's memories of family times. This book is great all year-round, but especially fun to sing around Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Here We Come On Our Ponies

This is a fun one for getting up and getting the wiggles out, and connecting song with movement. Here are the lyrics:

Here we come on our ponies,
Our ponies, our ponies.
Here we come on our ponies.
Now, whoa, whoa, whoa!

And of course, you move around the room like you're riding a horse while singing the song. After singing it a few times and letting them get used to it, have them change the lyrics and consequently the actions of the song. Sing something like "Here we come in our cars, our cars, our cars. Here we come in our cars, now vroom, vroom, vroom!" and have them pretend like they are driving cars. Other ideas: here we come in an airplane, here we come on a train, here we come on a bus.  The possibilities are many, and the kids love to dance around the room while varying the actions. In light of Thanksgiving we talk about the many ways we can get to our family's homes or how they can get to ours. This can lead to talk about families or Thanksgiving and is a good lead-in to other Thanksgiving songs.

Here's the piano audio file of the song. Very easy to pick up!

Great Big House in New Orleans

This song is another that I use for Thanksgiving. I sing it as written and then have the kids come up with all sorts of different pies. If you are adventurous you could make this a sensory experience by letting them try a few different kinds of pie.

Great big house in New Orleans
Forty stories high.
Every room that I've been in
Filled with pumpkin pie (key lime pie, apple pie, etc.)

Here is a vocal audio file:

Grateful

Grateful is my all-time favorite Thanksgiving book. The song is by John Bucchino, illustrations by Anna-Liisa Hakkarainen. This book includes a CD of the song sung by Art Garfunkel. The illustrations are mostly evening-related, perfect for snuggling in and singing this to your loved one, and helping them realized just how much they have been blessed with. In larger groups we have discussions about what things the kids are grateful for, and we discuss that even though there are things that do go wrong, there is so much good in all of our lives, so much to be the thankful for that if we focus on what we're thankful for our lives will be happier.

Tommy Turkey!

This song is so fun to do! It is full of movement and is more fun to sing than your typical song! Here are the lyrics and movements:

Tommy Turkey loves to dance.
(put the back of your hand against your chin and wiggle your fingers under chin)
He shakes his tail feathers when he gets the chance.
(while still sitting, move elbows like a chicken and shake your hips)
Tommy Turkey wants to dance with you
(wiggle fingers under chin and then point to the kids, have them point to you)
So get up on your feet you can do it, too!
(Stand up)

Shake your tail feathers, shake 'em down
(Elbows in chicken position, but not moving; shake hips, bend knees to go 'down')
Flap your wings and turn around
(flap elbows and spin in place)
Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Strut your stuff
(strut around like a turkey)
Sit back down, Tommy says, "Enough!"
(Sit down and on the word "enough" I do the sign language for "enough"--left hand in fist, vertical, right hand palm hits left fist, and goes out away from the body). 

Here is the piano audio file for the song so you can hear what it sounds like!


Here is the vocal audio file:

Going Up to Grandma's

One of the important parts of teaching kids music is helping them invent their own. In Music and Movement we do a lot of songs that allow kids to alter the words so they can feel more involved in the song and begin to explore the fun of creating their own music. "Going Up to Grandma's" is an easy song to start with! We use it every year around Thanksgiving Time and encourage kids to think of all the food they normally have at Thanksgiving. Here are the lyrics:

Going up to Grandma's, Grandma's, Grandma's
Going up to Grandma's, Grandma's house.
Gonna eat some turkey, turkey, turkey,
Gonna eat some turkey at Grandma's house!

And of course, the kids can take turns substituting the word "Turkey" for whatever food they can think of: "Gonna eat potatoes", "Gonna eat some pie", "Gonna eat some beans", etc.  Here's the audio file so you can hear what the song sounds like:

What a Wonderful World

One of my favorite Books to Sing is "What a Wonderful World", Lyrics by George David Weiss and Bob Thiele, Illustrations by Ashley Bryan. Its colorful illustrations are fascinating to look at, and its simple melody leaves the kids singing long after you have sung to them. I love the message in this book. The lyrics promote unity amongst all colors and tongues, and the pictures show peace in many settings, set to a puppet show. It's one of my trusty stand-by's!