I Have a Little Snowman

This is a song that the youngest kids love! It allows them to act out the building of a snowman and is silly at the end, so it creates a lot of giggles, which I love! You could do this with older kids and teach them Solfege (Do-Re-Mi) in the process. It starts on Do and ascends the scale slowly. At the end, it quickly goes back down the scale and it's fabulous practice for getting their Solfege hands signs straight. Here is a youtube video that shows the hands signs for the Solfege scale if you would like to learn them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_pq9s9USmI . Here are the lyrics to this song along with the solfege symbols that correlate:


I have a little snowman. He is so fat and round.
Do                                            Re
I made him from a snowball I rolled upon the ground.
  Mi                                               Fa
I gave him eyes, a nose, a mouth, a nice warm scarf of red.
  Sol                                                         La
I put some buttons on his coat and a hat upon his head.
  Ti                                                             Do
Slowly, slowly melts the snowman!
Do Ti  La Sol Fa    Mi Re   Do

Play this audio file to hear how the song goes:


For the younger kids, here are the actions for the song: Start kneeling on the ground and form into a little ball. For each step up the scale get a little taller until finally at the end you are standing up straight with your arms in the sky for greater height. On the last line, melt from your highest height back down into the tiny ball you started with. Do this several times and experiment with tempos (fast and slow). I hope you have fun with this song!

Hear Those Jingle Bells

This simple Christmas song gives kids a chance to learn about musical dynamics. Music can be fast or slow, loud or soft, and they will explore these option in this song. For older kids, use the real words: andante, allegro, forte, piano. Give them each a jingle bell and let them move around while they sing. You'll need to call out the next dynamic before you start singing each verse, because the only words that change from verse to verse is the 2nd line. Here are the words:

Hear those jingle, jingle, jangle
Hear those jingle bells.
Ringing loudly, Ringing loudly, (change to ringing softly, quickly, slowly)
Hear those jingle bells!

Here's the piano audio file (let me know if you need a vocal audio file):

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!