Old MacDonald Had a Farm

An oldie, but goodie! This is a great one to start with when a group of kids is just getting comfortable with you. They all know the song, and want to participate with the familiar. But let's face it...this song gets a little boring, right?  Here are a few ideas to make the song more interesting for all:

1. Bring a bag full of Little People farm animals. The kids can take turns pulling animals out of the bag. If kids are too shy to come up to take an animal out I usually bring it around to them. It gets them warmed up to the idea of interacting with me.

2. Change the wording a little to say "Old MacDonald had a band. E-I-E-I-O! And in that band he had a horse. E-I-E-I-O! With a clop-clop here..." Pull out the musical instruments and let the kids accompany the song. Here are ideas for farm animal noises:
Horse...with a clop, clop (Use a wooden block with a stick, or two sticks together)
Cow...with a cling, clang (Use a cow bell or a triangle)
Cat...with a scritch, scratch (Use wooden blocks covered with sand paper)
Snake...with a shake, shake (Use an egg shaker or maraca)
Bird...with a tweet, tweet (Use a recorder or other high pitched instrument)
End with "and in that band EVERYONE played, E-I-E-I-O" and then go through all the noises you've played thus far (with a clop, clop here and a clop, clop there; a cling, clang here and a cling, clang there, a scritch, scratch here...)

3. Gather as many farm animal hand puppets as you can and let the kids BE the animals.

There are lots of fun things you can do with this song. It lends itself well to after-song-time crafts, too.  Be creative and let me know what YOU do with this song!

Pat-a-Pan

Kids love to hear their own names! This is a song that lends itself to name customization and allows you to teach kids the basics of rhythm while marching around the room. You can march like soldiers in a quicker quarter-note march, or like wooden nutcrackers (straight-legged) in a slower half-note march. I'll indicate the quarter note rhythm with an q and the half-note rhythm with a h. You can also have them sit and play the rhythm with drums or wooden sticks that they can tap together. It's best not to march and tap the rhythm at first because their feet and hands rarely want to be in sync at this stage in their lives. If you do this enough times, you can get them used to one and then add the other. I hope your kids have fun with this song!

 

Here's the piano audio file of this song:

Jingle Bells

This song comes alive by the addition of a simple musical instrument: a bell! Use the little bells you hang as ornaments, or any type of bell you can find and equip each child. The bells on the wristband are what we use at the library. After singing the first verse traditionally, you can start teaching musical concepts by having them shake quickly, slowly, loudly, softly, etc. If they are older, teach them the musical terms for each concept (quickly: allegretto; slowly: andante; loudly: forte; softly: piano). You can do this using the traditional verse, or teach them the additional verse I wrote. Here are the lyrics:

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.

Jingle Bell, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to play my jingle bells today!
Shake them fast, shake them slow, shake them loud and clear.
Oh what fun it is to play when Christmas time is near!