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Preschool Songs with Actions Boost Brain-Body Connection

Fingerplays, Freebies, Parenting Ideas, Printable, Songs, Toddler / By Cherie / September 10, 2021 September 10, 2021 / preschool songs with actions

Preschool songs with actions have the ability to boost kids’ brain-body connection. And this is an important part of child development! Let’s explore what it is, why it is important and then get to the action songs you can use to boost the brain-body connection with your toddler or preschooler.

What is the mind-body connection?

songs with actions boost brain-body connection

John Hopkins Medicine has a wonderful article on the connection of the mind and body. You can read more details about that here.
For the sake of this article, I want to quote these ideas from the article, “Mind-Body Connection is the belief that the causes, development and outcomes of a physical illness are determined from the interaction of psychological, social factors and biological factors.

Your emotional health includes:
– your overall psychological well-being;
– your feelings about yourself;
– the quality of your relationships, at work and at home;
– your ability to create and use positive coping skills;
– your ability to manage your feelings.

Emotional health can be affected by the stress from both good and bad… It also can be affected by daily routines…”

Family life is very significant for young children. Making music together as a family can really have a positive impact on the emotional well-being of children. In fact, you’d be surprised how much making music together as a family impacts the emotional well-being of adults, too!

Why is mind-body connection important for young children?

Music and movement are both things that directly relate to children’s overall well-being. They both provide creative ways to relieve excess energy, as well as express and manage feelings. While music alone can help soothe or uplift children, the ability to move with music gives kids a positive way to express themselves. When kids sing movement songs they feel good about themselves and for a while they may escape things in their life that negatively impact them.

Here is an article that lists 12 benefits action songs have for kids.

The last four benefits all have to do with emotional wellness: foster self esteem and confidence, encourage creativity, adaptability, and imagination, promote social skills and cooperation, engage children and adults in bonding activities.

Here is another article that lists 15 Benefits of Music on Kids Health.

Action songs that encourage mind-body wellness

I recommend these action songs because they are kids’ favorite songs. They love to sing them over and over and over and that is okay! That is how kids learn. In fact, preschoolers love these songs so much that teachers and parents rarely look further for new material. While I also love the tried and true familiar tunes of childhood, I also like to find more imaginative and creative activities for preschoolers (but that is another post!)

These songs help kids with awareness of body parts, learning right and left, clapping hands, stomping feet, moving arms, dancing, hopping, and so much more. Kids will be having a blast with these movements they won’t even know they are learning!

To help you teach this music, I am offering you a free pdf download of these songs. I am also including printable song cards that you can use with your preschooler. As you learn a new song, you can reward your child with a card that they can display or collect. Children are very proud of themselves as they earn these cards. If you are a classroom teacher or daycare provider, you can post each card on the wall as a new song is learned.

I love to make the most of every teaching experience, so whether you are a parent at home or a preschool teacher, I hope you will find the information in the rest of this blog post, links, enrichment ideas, and videos helpful. I am sure your toddler or preschooler will love this music!

Movement Songs Lyrics for Preschoolers

20 Songs that ENCOURAGE movement and help toddlers and preschoolers develop Brain-Body Connection

Get this Freebie TODAY!

PLUS! You will get the printable,
Baby Animal
collector song cards!

20 Songs with Actions Kids Love!

Help your child with the motions by asking them to do them before you sing the song, and take time as you sing to show them how to do the motions. Kids love to move. They may have trouble at first holding up one finger or one thumb, but they will eventually figure it out. Get out the musical instruments, too! Kids will have so much fun!

If You’re Happy and You Know It

IF YOU’RE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT LYRICS
if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. (clap, clap)
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. (clap, clap)
If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it.
(point to your smile)
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. (clap, clap)

with each additional verse add one new motion to the front of all the actions
If you’re happy and you know it, stomp your feet. (stomp, stomp)
If you’re happy and you know it, turn around. (turn around)
If you’re happy and you know it, shout “HOORAY”

Head Shoulders Knees and Toes

HEAD SHOULDERS KNEES AND TOES LYRICS

Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes,
Eyes and ears and mouth and nose,
Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

THE ITSY BITSY SPIDER LYRICS
The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain.
And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again.

The Hokey-Pokey

HOKEY-POKEY LYRICS

You put your right foot in
You take your right foot out
You put your right foot in
And you shake it all about
You do the hokey pokey
And you turn yourself around
That’s what it’s all about

Sing the song again hanging “right foot” to left foot, and then right hand, left hand, head, and whole self respectively.

Open Shut Them

OPEN SHUT THEM LYRICS
Open, shut them. Open, shut them. (open, close hands)
Give a little clap. (clap, clap)
Open, shut them. Open, shut them.
Lay them in your lap. (fold hands in your lap)
Creep them, crawl them, creep them, crawl them,
(crawl fingers up your arm to your mouth)
Right up to your chin.
Open wide your little mouth, (open mouth)
But do not put them in. (quickly run fingers back down arm)

I’m a Little Teapot

I’M A LITTLE TEAPOT LYRICS

I’m a little teapot, short and stout.
Here is my handle, here is my spout .
When I get all steamed up hear me shout
“Tip me over and pour me out!”

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

TEDDY BEAR, TEDDY BEAR LYRICS

Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Turn around!
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Touch the ground!
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Jump up high!
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Touch the sky!
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Bend down low!
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Touch you toes!
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Turn out the light!
Teddy bear, teddy bear,
Say good night!

Wheels on the Bus

WHEELS ON THE BUS LYRICS

The wheels on the bus go round and round,
Round and round, round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
All through the town.
The horn on the bus goes beep, beep, beep…
The doors on the bus go open and shut…
The windows on the bus go up and down…
The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish…
The babies on the bus go wah, wah, wah…
The parents on the bus go “Shhhh, shhhh, shhhh”…

Looby-Loo

LOOBY-LOO LYRICS

Here we go looby loo.
Here we go looby light.
Here we go looby loo.
All on a Saturday night.
You put your right hand in.
You take your right hand out.
You give your hand a shake, shake, shake.
And turn yourself about.

Each verse changes the body part you put in: right hand, left hand, right foot, left foot, head, whole body.

Where is Thumbkin

WHERE IS THUMBKIN LYRICS

Where is thumbkin?
Where is thumbkin?
Here I am (bring out one thumb)
Here I am (bring out the other thumb)
How are you today sir?
(make thumb talk to other thumb when singing that line)
Very well, I thank you (and vice versa with this thumb)
Run away (put one thumb back behind your back)
Run away (put the other thumb back behind your back)
Additional verses:
Where is pointer…
Where is tall man…
Where is ring man…
Where is pinky

Bell Horses

BELL HORSES LYRICS

Bell horses, bell horses
what’s the time of day?
One o’clock, two o’clock
time to go away. (repeat)

One, two, three, four
Jingle; jingle, jingle more
Five, six, seven, eight
Jingle, jingle don’t be late. (repeat)

Bell horses, bell horses
what’s the time of day?
One o’clock, two o’clock
time to go away. (repeat)

Mulberry Bush

MULBERRY BUSH LYRICS

Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush.
Here we go round the mulberry bush
On a cold and frosty morning.

The is the Way

THIS IS THE WAY LYRICS

sung to the same tune as The Mulberry Bush

This is the way we clap our hands,
clap our hands, clap our hands,
This is the way we clap our hands,
All day long.

repeat with other motions like stomp our feet, touch our nose, etc.

Ring Around the Rosie

RING AROUND THE ROSIE LYRICS

Ring around the rosie,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down

Pop! Goes the Weasel

POP! GOES THE WEASEL LYRICS

All around the mulberry bush
The monkey chased the weasel
The monkey thought it was all in good fun
Pop! goes the weasel.

A penny for a spool of thread
A penny for a needle
That’s the way the money goes
Pop! goes the weasel.

Do Your Ears Hang Low?

DO YOUR EARS HANG LOW LYRICS

Do your ears hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie ’em in a knot?
Can you tie ’em in a bow?
Can you throw ’em o’er your shoulder
Like a Continental soldier
Do your ears hang low?

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT LYRICS

(have child sit facing you and gently pull their hands towards you and away from you like you’re rowing)

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream.

Five Green and Speckled Frogs

FIVE GREEN AND SPECKLED FROGS LYRICS

Five Green and Speckled Frogs
Five green and speckled frogs, sitting on a speckled log
(hold up five fingers)
Eating some most delicious bugs… yum, yum!
(rub stomach)
One jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool
(make one finger jump and move down)
Now there are four speckled frogs…..
(hold up four fingers)
Four green and speckled frogs…
Three green and speckled frogs…
Two green and speckled frogs…
One green and speckled frog, sitting on a speckled log
Eating some most delicious bugs… yum, yum!
One jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool
Now there are no g

B-I-N-G-O

BINGO LYRICS
(Clap when you see *)

There was a farmer had a dog
And Bingo was his name-oh.
B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O,
And Bingo was his name-oh.

There was a farmer had a dog
And Bingo was his name-oh.
*-I-N-G-O, *-I-N-G-O, *-I-N-G-O,
and Bingo was his name-oh.

Continue removing one letter
*-*-N-G-O
*-*-*-G-O
*-*-*-*-O
*-*-*-*-
*–8

Did You Ever See a Lassie?

DID YOU EVER SEE A LASSIE LYRICS

Did you ever see a lassie,
A lassie, a lassie?
Did you ever see a lassie,
Go this way and that?
Go this way and that way,
Go this way and that way.
Did you ever see a lassie,
Go this way and that?
Did you ever see a laddie,
A laddie, a laddie?
Did you ever see a laddie,
Go this way and that?
Go this way and that way,
Go this way and that way.
Did you ever see a laddie,
Go this way and that?

Kids Activities You Can Use with an Action Song

Whenever possible I like to “extend the lesson” with kids activities and get the most mileage out of teaching each and every song. So I want to share more ideas on how you can teach more learning concepts at the same time.

Musical Instruments

Whenever possible use some musical instruments! Kids love to dance and ring bells, shake maracas or tambourines, or play a drum.

Puppets

Finger puppets and larger hand size puppets encourage the imagination and make play time even more fun. You will find many illustrated story-song books in the public library that a puppet can sing to a toddler or preschooler. (hint: even bigger kids love puppets!)

Stuffed Animals

I love using stuffed animals while singing with kids. It’s hard for them to sit still. So holding an animal gives their fingers something to do. I often bounce a stuffed animal to the beat of the song. While they watch me, of course, kids will copy what I am doing and this helps them learn to feel a steady beat.

Props

Build a prop box that can accompany a short music time. Kids love to play pretend. Hats, costumes, jackets, coats, boots, scarves, etc. all make music time more interesting. Toddler songs are filled with easy repetitive words and acting those words out with props is definitely fun child play.

Story Books

Like I mentioned, there are numerous illustrators who have created beautiful picture books using these familiar children’s melodies. You can not only sing as you turn the pages, but go back and really look at the pictures. Increase your child’s vocabulary by talking about the pictures. Is that monkey hopping? jumping? dancing? singing? wiggling? Use descriptive words as you look at the pages.

More Songs with Actions that I Love!

There is so much great action music available for kids these days. Here are more wonderful action songs that are less familiar. For these movement songs I will provide Youtube links so you can add them to your playlist. These are fun songs that I regularly include in early childhood music classes or preschool classes I teach at a daycare. I often use musical instruments along with motions so go ahead and add a few. Kids love them!

Everybody clap your hands

Tap it on your head

Shake my sillies out

Bunny hop

Roly poly

One little finger

Egg shakin’ blues

Peekaboo by super simple songs

Wake up toes

Free PDF

Action Songs for Preschoolers

20 Songs that ENCOURAGE movement and help toddlers and preschoolers develop Brain-Body Connection

Get this Freebie TODAY!

PLUS! You will get the printable,
Baby Animals
collector song cards!

15 Singable Autumn Songs for Preschoolers

Fingerplays, Freebies, Music Class, Printable, Songs, Teaching, Toddler / By Cherie / August 31, 2021 December 11, 2021

15 singable autumn songs for preschoolers and toddlers! Autumn is my favorite season and I have collected a nice repertoire of singable fall songs for preschoolers. In fact, I wrote a few of them and added familiar tunes to others. So this list may be different than many of the lists you will find online because some are original ideas. But I guarantee all are loved by parents and kid from my early childhood music classes. (And here is another list of imaginative fall songs for preschoolers if you are looking for more fall songs activities!)

What kind of autumn song should I teach preschoolers?

This blog post contains a list of text lyrics, song sheets, and videos to help you create music with toddlers and preschoolers. You will learn how to teach these autumn songs and rhymes for early years and preschool children. Included are musical fingerplays and songs about leaves, apples, spiders, scarecrows, pumpkins, squirrels and bunnies. These songs reinforce concepts preschoolers need to learn when they begin school like counting, colors, and developing large movement and fine motor skills.

I also wrote another blog post, “Imaginative Fall Songs for Preschoolers” that focuses on creativity, pretend play, and use of imagination. And a blog post, “Preschool Songs with Actions Boost Brain-Body Connection”. The songs in those posts are a great addition to this list!

What if I don’t know the songs?

Often the words repeat so they are easy to sing. Most melodies are familiar, but the ones you may not know I am including videos so you can learn them! You’ll enjoy singing these seasonal songs in September and October, and I will provide links that you can save on your playlist. Let’s make music together!

Autumn Songs for Preschoolers PDF Preview

Autumn songs for kids with printable resources.

Fall music is a great springboard for fall craft activities. Learning about the different shapes and colors of autumn leaves lends itself to many many toddler and preschool activities. Going outdoors and actually collecting falling leaves is so much fun for kids. Below I will share the songs I love sing during autumn. Teachers and parents love teaching these songs about the seasons.

Fall Songs about Leaves

Falling Leaves

Falling leaves

This version of Falling Leaves is sung to the tune of Jingle Bells. I like to sing this song with scarves so kids can move the scarf and imagine and the leaves are twirling in the air. If you can find an orange, yellow or red scarf all the better! When you sing “way up high” move the scarf up over your head. You can even stand on your tippy toes. When you sing “way down low” your scarf can touch the ground. Move your scarf fast and then slow (over exaggerate this!) when you get to “fast and slow”. At the very end blow a loud wind sound and you can even toss the scarf in the air, blow it and let it drift to the ground. Kids love this!

Leaves are Falling Down

This is a song that I use as a little fingerplay song. “Leaves are falling down” I wiggle my fingers and hands, and make my arms go from high to low (just like when it rains in Itsy Bitsy Spider song). “Swoosh!” my arms swipe out and in. “Rake them” I hold both fists together like I am hold a rake. You can make this song fun by changing the tempo (speed). Start slow and each time you repeat the song, make it a little faster. Kids love to get silly with this!

Autumn Leaves are Falling Down

Autumn Leaves are Falling

“Autumn Leaves are Falling Down” is sung to the tune “London Bridges.” Again like the song “Leaves are Falling Down,” I will wiggle my fingers and hands, and make my arms go from high to low while I am singing the lyrics, “Autumn leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down.” We imagine we are raking leaves by putting our fists together and pretend we are holding a rake for the second verse.

I love to engage kids with their imagination. “What else can we do with the leaves?” I will ask. They may want to make a pile, jump in them, or bag them up. Creativity is so much fun. Let the kids create more verses to act out to this song!

Crunchy Leaves

I love the song Crunchy Leaves. It is sung to the tune “Hot Cross Buns”. This is a song I sing in every season because the words are so fun to change! On the download page I give you ideas for other words you can sing like, “pumpkin patch,” “falling leaves,” “coat and hat,” and “apple pie.” I have kids think of other autumn things that fit these three syllables. When they offer me suggestions, we check to see if it is three syllables. Sometimes they can hear that it is, or it isn’t. Really there are no bad suggestions, so longer syllable ideas we sing extra silly.

Because this song has a repeating short, short, long pattern I love to have kids bounce a stuffed animal on their lap while singing. It gives them the opportunity to move while singing, and you may have noticed… kids love to move!

The Leaves are Falling Down

The Leaves are Falling Down song is sung to the the tune, “The Farmer in the Dell.” There is a focus on color names: orange yellow red and brown. And also an add-on to this song with counting. We sing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 going higher each time up the music scale. Then as we sing, “8 leaves falling, falling to the ground.” we are going back down the scale. I love to have kids visually see the music going higher and then lower using props. So having a cut out leaf or a scarf while singing this song is great!

A Scarecrow Song

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Well, this isn’t actually about a scarecrow. But we can imagine we are a big scarecrow in the garden frightening away the birds who want to eat the vegetables in the garden. You can even dress up like a scarecrow if you put on a plaid shirt and hat. Kids love moving to this song. Make sure they know where all the body parts are before you begin. And make sure to repeat this song many times, getting faster and faster and faster. Did I already mention (yes!) kids love to get silly with how fast they can sing and move.

Autumn Spider Songs

10 Little Spiders

“Ten Little Indians” is another one of my favorite melodies to re-use every season. We can have 10 little friend, 10 little cookies, 10 little apples, etc. What can your children come up with for autumn? Pumpkins, apples, costumes, black cats, and more. Getting kids input and encouraging their creativity makes singing and moving even more fun!

This song “10 Little Spiders” has a creative ending. You can change the last line of the song to have the spiders crawl on a body part: a leg, arm, head, chin, etc. This makes the song very fun. If your child is old enough you can use a spider stuffed animal, finger puppet, or even cut out a spider and see if they can find and touch it to the body parts you sing.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

This classic song is probably one of the most popular children’s songs. Whenever I, as a teacher, decide I am tired of this song and take it out of my early childhood music class, I get those disappointed kids that mention at the very end of class that that was the one song they wanted to sing! So, while I may get tired of singing this song, kids don’t!

It’s also a favorite first piano song. Kids love to play songs they already know when they are learning to play an instrument. If you want to know 10 ways to get your child ready for piano lessons check out a few more of my blog posts for more information!

Fall Songs About Apples

Apple Tree Song

Apple Tree Song is sung to the tune, “Hush Little Baby.” Apple Tree can be sung over and over and each time you can change the number of apples on the tree. You can start from the number one and count going up. Or you can start at the number 10 and count going down. Older kids may also count by twos, fives, or tens.

Apple Pie Song

Apple Pie Song

This song is similar to the “10 Little Spiders” song in that it uses the tune, “10 Little Indians.” Apple picking and apple orchard visits are a classic part of autumn, so it makes sense to have an apple pie counting song! You can think about other foods apples can be put into: cobbler, oatmeal, muffins, cereal, etc. Kids love to be a part of the creative process and think of some of the most amazing things!

Fall Songs About Pumpkins

When I think of autumn, I think of apples, sunflower, and PUMPKINS! There are lots of great songs about pumpkins. Many of the apple songs can also become pumpkin songs with a little twist of lyrics.

Five Little Pumpkins

Five Little Pumpkins is a more difficult song for preschoolers to learn, because it has a lot of words! But wonderful education happens in this song, so it is worth singing!

First of all this song teaches ordinal numbers. Ordinal numbers are first, second, third, fourth, fifth. I like to do a little piano teaching prep here, so I teach the kids to put up their thumb on first, pointer finger on second, middle finger for third, ring finger for fourth and pinky for fifth.

These are the finger numbers for teaching piano lessons so it is great prep to get kids used to identifying these ordinal numbers with the correct finger. Just by demonstrating it, kids catch on.

I like to sing “Five Little Pumpkins” to the tune, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”

Pumpkin Patch Song

I sing this song to the tune of “Shortenin’ Bread.” You can sing this song many times and each time you can change the word “loves” to something else. Some suggestions include: picks, eats, carves, bakes, etc. Again, getting kids thinking about what other ideas they can come up with is fun!

A Little Pumpkin with a Frown

This is an original song. I wrote this song because kids don’t always feel happy. So it’s a great segue into talking about emotions and what we can do when we are not happy. How might you feel when you have a frown on your face? Why might you feel that way? What can you do about it? Equipping children with how to handle their emotions is very important. I look for opportunities to validate emotions and feelings, and let kids know that it is okay to feel those ways. The video below demonstrates how to sing this song,

Fall Animal Songs

Animals are busy busy busy in the fall. They are preparing for a long winter. Talking about what animals are doing to prepare for winter is a great springboard to thinking about animal activities and how animals might move. These ideas are great to incorporate into music and movement.

Grey Squirrel

Kids love the Grey Squirrel song because they love to swoosh the big bushy tail! I love to sing this song with a scarf and move the scarf like the squirrel’s tail. Identifying your nose and fingers that hold little acorns adds to the movement of this song.

My version is adapted from Leanne Guenther’s fall nursery rhyme. You can add more verses to this song by changing the lyrics “grey squirrel” to other family members, like papa squirrel, mama squirrel, baby squirrel, etc. You can also talk about other animals that have tails and make this an animal tail song.

Or you can make this a color song and make your squirrel brown, yellow, orange, red, etc.

Five Little Bunnies

There are several melodies you can sing Five Little Bunnies to: Twinkle Twinkle, Paw-Paw-Patch tune, Row Row Row your Boat. This song lends itself to making up any kind of simple tune. The end of the song is fun. You can have children hop as long as you want and you can count how many hops they hop!

Printable Resource: Autumn Songs for Preschoolers

I love to have all my seasonal materials in one place. So I made up this song collection, printed it, and put a comb-binding on it. If you are interested in this pdf collection you can get it by subscribing to Music Time Kid Music Community below. I’d love to have you join us. I am constantly putting together more musical resources to help you have fun with your toddlers and preschoolers. Both parents and teachers find these games, songs, musical activities and other printables helpful! Join us today!

Learning About Patterns is Easy with Music!

1 Comment / Freebies, Piano, Piano Lessons for Beginners, Piano Printable, Teaching / By Cherie / August 26, 2021 September 13, 2021

As a piano teacher, I have discovered the secret to helping kids memorize music is in learning about the patterns in the music. Have you ever noticed kids who are not confident? Many times they approach learning bit by bit, one by one, random notes. But when kids begin to notice patterns in music, they take off at lightening speed and never slow down.

What are the Early Math Skills?

This article from the preschool plan it website states, “Children use math all day long!

During every activity from counting the steps they climb, to sorting blocks and stating “there are more red ones”, to separating the carnivores from the herbivores (for the dinosaurs’ own safety of course!), children are using math.

Knowing the math skills your preschoolers are developing and should be developing will help you plan math across your curriculum and throughout your classroom.

16 Basic Preschool Math Concepts

16 of the basic preschool math concepts are:

Observation
Problem Solving
Language
One-to-One Correspondence
Number Sense
Shapes
Spatial Sense
Sets and Classifying
Ordering/Seriation
Comparing
Patterning
Counting
Measurement
Parts and Wholes
Numbers and Symbols
Graphing

Preschool math concepts overlap and are interrelated with preschool science concepts. In the field of Mathematics, the skills of classifying, comparing and measuring are referred to as Math Concepts. In the field of science, these skills are referred to as Process Skills.”

How Music Relates to Preschool Math Skills

Music relates to early math skills in multiple ways. Children can find patterns in rhythms, patterns in melodies, patterns with finger numbers at the piano, and more. Music is full of patterns. Patterns can be visual (see), aural (hear), or kinesthetic (move) and thus musical patterns help every student learn in their preferred learning style. Because discovering patterns is something that kids develop as they prepare for the the classroom, learning patterns in music helps reinforce this concept for preschoolers.

Young children do not usually have the background to associate the meaning of a music note to the note itself, so in teaching patterns, I find it is helpful for teachers and parents to use images to teach patterns. For instance, children love animals. Learning how to identify a pattern using animals is a great teaching tool. These animal cards make a great piano game!

Animal Patterns for Preschool Piano Lessons Download

For example, you can teach basic rhythm and patterns with a fun, hands-on pattern activity like the Animal Lovers Short & Long Rhythm Activity. This resource has pictures of animals. Each picture represents a short sound or a long sound. Kids learn how to see, hear and feel patterns by looking at pictures they are familiar with in their daily lives.

Notice, I mentioned music can teach in three learning styles… visually, aurally, and kinesthetically. Below you will find more teaching ideas that provide more information on the benefits of teaching kids in multiple learning styles.

Learning About Patterns

Many products on the market that help children learn about simple patterns focus on visual patterns. They may ask children to identify shape patterns, number patterns, color patterns and the like. They ask children to practice and understand patterns by finding patterns, completing patterns, and making patterns. Identifying patterns is very important before kids move into more advanced math concepts.

However, music has a huge advantage over regular math education because music can meet different learning styles of young children. Not all children learn visually. Patterning skills can be taught kinesthetically with music as children move, clap, or play musical instruments to rhythmic patterns. Repeating, echoing, or clapping back a pattern allows children who are great aural learners to hear a pattern and demonstrate understanding. Because music can help teach patterning skills in fun ways, young children enjoy these math lessons.

Teach Patterns Visually

I personally prefer to stay away from pre k pages while teaching patterns. This is because I know kids love to create patterns themselves. Having tangible objects, like blocks (which may have different shapes or colors), legos (ditto), or other small toys that kids can move around, allows them to not only identify or complete patterns, but allows them to create patterns which ultimately demonstrates their mastery of the concept. Tangible objects also involves some movement which is kinesthetic in nature.

I love turning the tables on the young child and ask them to be the teacher. I have them create patterns that I will complete and they will check to see if I did it correctly. Kids love this!

Ways to Teach Visual Patterns

Art Activities can be a fun way to teach visual patterns. For example, this Rainbow Art Activity allows children to color patterns or glue objects onto paper in order to create visual color patterns. This is learning through play! Children learn to instantly see patterns in this fun activity.

Colorful blocks are another great visual used for teaching patterns. Red, blue, and yellow are the basic colors preschoolers are learning and using color which preschoolers are already familiar with is helpful in teaching patterns.

Little Pom-Poms from the dollar store can be used in a muffin tin or egg carton to create patterns. Picking up the little pom-poms also helps develop fine motor skills which helps kids get ready for piano lessons.

Duplo blocks are a learning toy that children just love. When my own kids were preschoolers they loved learning how to sort, count and create patterns with them from the time they were 18 months old. I see this again with my grandkids!

Teach Patterns Aurally

Teaching patterns using sound is teaching patterns aurally. Some kids learn best when they can hear things, so when we teach kids with sound patterns, some children have a better understanding than they would if only visuals were used.

Ways to Teach Aural Patterns

Some learning activities that teach patterns through sound are:
– Drums and other percussion instruments (when beating out the rhythms kids can be learning how to count each pattern)
– Movement learning activities using music (walking, skipping, hopping, clapping, and so on)
– Clapping learning games (Songs like “If You’re Happy and You Know It” teach a two clap pattern at the end of each musical phrase. You have to listen to hear this, but then the movement also adds another learning style!)
– Repetitive Songs like Baby Shark have a repetitive rhythm that kids love to sing. This song is easy to teach to toddlers. For more ideas on favorite songs I use in early childhood music classes you can click here and here.

Teach Patterns Kinesthetically

Moving to music, clapping, playing instruments is learning kinesthetically. Kids can learn to move their bodies with the music and experience different patterns. Many teachers do not encourage kids to move while they learn. Most education happens by sitting still. But I firmly believe that preschoolers learn by moving. So teaching math using music gives kids a better hands-on approach and reinforces basic math in fun ways.

Ways to Teach Kinesthetic Patterns

Moving or marching to the rhythm of a song. The classic rock song “We Will Rock You” is an example of a song that has a repeating short-short-long pattern to it. Jingle Bells has the same pattern! Guess what!?! If you listen to your playlist I bet you will find more patterns. What songs do you already listen to with your child that have patterns that repeat? Sometimes there are even two patterns in a song. That’s a fun discovery!

I also love to play a fun echo game. I will clap or move to a rhythm and kids will repeat what I do. Make sure they don’t change the tempo (the basic beat) on you! Some kids love to speed things up. Make sure their echo is a match!

Teach Kids in Ways that Motivate Them

Kids love music! Let’s face it… when you add music to any kind of task, it is more fun. This is no exception in child development and patterning skills. What young child… baby, toddler, preschooler, or kindergarten kid isn’t excited to beat the drum or march around the room? When I have taught early childhood classes for the preschool classroom every child is delighted to make music! They eagerly echo patterns, clap to “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” and practice ringing bells to the well known rhythm of Jingle Bells (short, short, long) without educational purposes. They just naturally do it! So help them discover the patterns in that! Because, kids love hands-on everything when it comes to music!

Piano Keys Letters for Beginners

Freebies, Piano Lessons for Beginners, Piano Printable / By Cherie / May 26, 2021 May 26, 2021 / piano letter keys

Beginners always need help figuring out the piano keys letters. Often in piano lessons I will print out some piano keys letters on cardstock, cut them into cards, and send them home with students. This helps parents and students when practicing at home.

I designed these piano keys letters for my students because:

They fit over the groups of two and three black keys nicely. By grouping the letters in the two and three black key groups, students are able to identify and memorize the piano keys letters more easily. Memorizing the alphabet letters is important when note reading begins.
The cards are removeable. When the pandemic began, I shifted to online piano lessons. During our online lessons I got to look inside my students’ home piano set up. I was shocked! Many students didn’t have adequate practice set ups. I was even more surprised at how many students had letters written on their actual piano keys in permanent marker.
Perfect size for not impeding the student’s ability to play the white notes. The cards can be placed on the piano and left there as they learn their songs.
Useful for playing beginning games with students at the keyboard.
Useful for playing beginning piano games away from the piano For example, if you download my Piano Race Game, you can use the piano keys letters to create a long piano keyboard on the floor. You can play the race game away from the actual piano keyboard. Piano Match Game is another game that can be played away from the piano with these cards.
Songs that are written with music alphabet letters help teach kids music right away. Students are familiar with alphabet letters and can learn dozens of songs on the piano before they begin reading music notation on the staff.

Piano Keys Letters for Parents and Teachers

The Music Time Kid resources are not only helpful for music teachers, but also for parents. One of the biggest questions I see over and over is that parents are unsure what their beginning piano students should be doing for practice at home. Youngest beginners are much more successful when parents are involved in their music making and there is plenty of play-based and rote learning.

Piano based games teach so much without the required note reading skills. Piano alphabet letter songs help new students learn songs quickly so they feel success! These can be incorporated into practice at home with parental help.

Get this piano keys letters pdf and more free resources when you sign up to be on my email list. I am creating more content each month!

Piano Keys Letters Instructional Video

Mothers Day Gift Ideas for Young Kids!

Freebies, Piano, Piano Printable / By Cherie / April 17, 2021 September 13, 2021 / mother day gift ideas DIY, mothers day card, mothers day gift ideas, preschool piano, preschool piano activity, preschool piano printable, preschool sheet music

I have raised five children and when they were little I was always looking for homemade or DIY Mothers Day gift ideas. They loved having something special to give me that they created. As a music teacher, I always encourage my students to play songs for parents. I know their parents appreciate practice and thoughtfulness. This is especially so when kids learn a song just for them.

It’s a fact… young children love to create. My almost 2 year old grandson is always saying, “Watch me!” as he dances, plays an instrument, or is riding his little scooter. It’s only natural for a young child’s creative expression to explore musical instruments… examining, experimenting, and often playing them in ways unintended 🙂 So when I created this Mothers Day gift idea, it is with the intention that a preschool age child can experiment and play any key on the piano to play the Mother’s Day Song, because this is how they learn!

A Mothers Day Song

This unique Mothers Day gift idea includes a song sheet that has a flower for each syllable of each word. It’s fun to see if the child hears that some syllables might be longer than others. Some young children may not notice and that is okay too!

To help the child with the words, I like to point to the flowers as I speak the words. A child can repeat each row like an echo. They even have fun moving a small toy (like a lego, mini eraser, etc.) from flower to flower.

Some Ideas How to Introduce this Activity to Kids

I am a huge fan of play-based learning, so allowing a child to experiment playing notes at the piano without rules is really important… there are no right or wrong notes when it is their own creation. There are so many developmental benefits of making music, so when children are encouraged to make music it catapults their brain into higher levels of cognitive development.

I always encourage parents to create a joyful home using children’s music. However, in this instance, I encourage parents resist the temptation to give a young child creative ideas. While these suggestions are usually not intended to impede the creating process, I find children become limited by these suggestions… thinking they must copy an example demonstrated by an adult.

Upon hearing their creation, it is fun to ask the child to tell you what thoughts they had about playing their song the way they did. Did they have any other ideas? Does the song move higher? Or lower? Are there some notes that are long? or short? Will their song sound better if it is played soft? medium? loud? a combination of some of those ideas? Talking about these kinds of musical thoughts may give them some more good ideas!

Some children may be absolutely brand new to the piano keyboard and anything they play is wonderful. Other children may already know a little bit about the piano and might like to write the music alphabet letters on their flowers. This helps them remember to play the song the same way each time. And of course, you can print the song sheet again if they change their mind!

A Mothers Day Card

Another part of this Mother’s Day gift idea is a greeting card.

Often young children want to get things for the people they love, and having a beautiful greeting card is special for them. On Mother’s Day, they will be able to play their song on the piano and also give a beautiful card that they can sign. Light gray words reading “I LOVE YOU” are inside the card. A child can choose to trace the letters, and they can also trace or color the butterflies on the back of the card.

Writing, tracing, coloring all encourage the development of fine motor skills which are super important to any young piano student. So I always encourage toys, games, and ideas to help young musicians get a head start.

I am offering this Mothers Day gift idea for free! By signing up on my mailing list, you will receive the digital files for the Mothers Day Song and the greeting card (envelope not included). You will also be notified of all the freebies, preschool music products, and videos I create to help you teach music to your child. I am sure your budding musician will love creating a one of a kind song and greeting card! Make this Mother’s Day a memorable day for your preschool child! And… the special mother in their life!

Hi, Music Time Kids!

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