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MusicallyMontessori100 Songs, The Last 20: Fun Favorites for The Developmental Stages of Childhood!


IT ONLY TAKES SEEING THE BIG SMILES ON THOSE LITTLE FACES TO REMIND US OF HOW MUCH CHILDREN OF ALL AGES LOVE SINGING, DANCING, AND PLAYING MUSIC!


Musically Montessori 100 Preschool Songs
Last 20 of "100 Favorite Songs for Preschoolers" (Design by Shabby Blogs.com)

This post presents the final 20 songs of my series, Musically Montessori A Hundred Songs Children Love from the Montessori Music Room. 
You can read about the other 80 songs in my past posts by clicking on this link: Musically Montessori 100 Songs . Each post contains links to hear each song, or a video demonstrating the song.

Musical Development in Childhood

Little children often sing to themselves and they also make up all kinds of lovely songs for just about everything in their lives. It's such a joy to see this musical development happening in a young child!

You may notice that children go through stages with singing that are fairly typical. The very youngest children start out singing songs in their speaking voice (as compared to their singing voice) and the melody of the song may not be entirely recognizable. Many times, the child will only sing the last word of each line, especially if the words rhyme.

Toddlers seem to love songs that have hand motions, and many times they will do the motions even if they don't sing the song.

With toddlers, I find that playing the autoharp while singing really mesmerizes them! All groups do love hearing a live instrument and if you play the guitar, ukulele, or autoharp, it often makes music time very engaging for the children.


Carolyn from Magical Movement Company singing with preschoolers
Montessori children singing at Circle (Photo by Carolyn at Magical Movement Company)

Even Preschoolers enjoy songs with hand motions and these motions often help them remember the words to the songs. In the above photo, we are singing Woody Guthrie's song, "Take Me Riding in the Car, Car!" and the children are making the motions of turning the key and stepping on the gas!

Older preschoolers begin to develop more of a singing voice and the melody of a song starts to emerge consistently in their singing.

Five, six, and seven year olds really begin to develop a repertoire of songs and can even sing while playing instruments. These older children like songs with several verses and enjoy songs that are silly, funny, sad, or in another language! This age group can begin to sing rounds, like "Row, row, row your boat", and they can also keep a rhythm going along without interruption. (Ex: "Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar")

You'll find some fun songs below that engage children of varying ages...hope you enjoy!



100 Favorite Songs Categorized

THE FINAL TWENTY


ESPECIALLY FOR TODDLERS
  1. Where Is Thumbkin Long-time favorite and really great for small muscle development. I like to use different voices for each finger and especially a high squeaky voice for "pinkie" and a loud voice for "all of them". I use drama with this song and "hide" the hands behind the back until time to show each one.
  2. I'm a Little Teapot Great for large motor movement as the child pretends to be a tea pot and tips over at the end of the song. Too cute! 
  3. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear This song is great for adding motions of your own or even suggestions from the children. With the youngest children I keep the motions in the realm of everyday life, like: "brush your teeth", or   "put on your jacket..." and, of course, I am modeling the action myself.
  4. Two Little Black Birds This song lends itself well to a simple felt board presentation to go with the song. Visuals help the young children understand the song.
  5. Hickety-Pickety, Bumble Bee Great song to sing while wearing a bee hand puppet and encouraging each child to say his/her name (like in the video)


Toddler stage of music development: Magical Movement Company Blog
Stages of Musical Development: Toddler singing (Photo from Dollar Photo Club)

MONTESSORI-STYLE SONGS
  1. Snail Song/ Planet Song I use this song when we are studying about invertebrates (snails!) and I also use the same melody with the words: "Planet, Planet, Planet, Planet, go around and round and round," for our Solar System unit. The video shows the movement for the snail version. For the Planet Song, I tape an ellipse on the floor and give the children models of the sun and planets to hold while moving along the ellipse. The child holding the "sun" stands in the middle. 
  2. The Planets Song Names to planets sung in their order moving out from the sun: Mercury all the way to Neptune.
  3. The Earth is Covered with Air, Land, & Water Great for the "Air, Land & Water" units in the traditional Montessori Curriculum.
  4. Farmer in the Dell/ The Sun Takes the Earth Another fun song to play as a circle game. Instead of the words: "The Farmer takes a wife...etc" I substitute the words: "The Sun takes Mercury..." and then "Mercury takes Venus...etc" and children join one by one through the eight planets, like the game for Farmer in the Dell. 
  5. Head, Shoulders.../ "Cranium, Clavicle..." Many Montessori teachers change the words to: 
           "Cranium, Clavicle, Patella and Phalanges"...
          especially to go with the study unit for the Human Body!


    Stages of Musical Development: Preschooler singing (Photo from Dollar Photo Club)

    SIMPLE, CONTEMPORARY FAVORITES

    1. A Little Squirrel This song is perfect for acting out as a large movement activity. Later you can have children play various instruments for each of the movements of the squirrel.
    2. What's That Sound?' Just a catchy melody and fun for the children to make up their own verses with various animals or other sounds, too.
    3. Ladybug, Ladybug Just a BIG favorite of young and old! Check out the video that Frank Leto created for this song by clicking here: You tube Lady Bug Song with Frank Leto.
    4. All the Animals in the Zoo I highly recommend purchasing the actual cd with this song on it, since the insert has the sign language signs for the animals which are very fun for the children to learn. You can also find signs demonstrated at this site: ASL Signing videos
    5. Going on a Picnic This is a fun song to use with props. I have a picnic basket full of the items in the song. Then various children in the group have certain items and bring them to the picnic blanket during the song. I also play this singing game with special picnic baskets filled with ethnic foods from the various countries when we study the Continents of the world. 
    6. Woodpecker A beautiful and simple melody that works well with rhythm sticks to accompany the song.
    7. Walk Around the Circle Another great song from Frank Leto, who is a Montessori trained teacher. This one is great for singing and moving to the actions of the song. I set up two ellipses on the floor with masking tape. The boys walk along on one ellipse and the girls walk along on the other ellipse. I have also seen a Montessori teacher have the children walk around hoops on the floor while singing this song.
    8. I Can Sing A Rainbow I like this version of the song because the colors are sung in the correct order that you would see them in the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo & violet.
    9. Pitter Patter, I Can Hear the Rain This is a very fun song for sound effects and during rainy weather when the children have to be inside. Also a great song for units about weather.
    10. Under the Sun Another of my favorites from Frank Leto. If you purchase the actual cd, then you can read the insert and find the hula motions for the song. This makes a lovely performance piece...parents love it!

    When in doubt.....

    100 favorite preschool songs Magical Movement Company
    When in doubt, sing! (Photo from Dollar Photo Club)

    Thank you for visiting my Blog today. I hope you got some fun musical ideas for your little ones!




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    Want to learn how to teach a new song to your child/ren? Or, how to allow children to "move" in a large group without too much chaos? And, what about playing rhythm instruments in a way that doesn't give you a headache! 

                  I invite you to check out my Musically Montessori eCourses HERE
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    Musically Montessori eCourses with Carolyn from Magical Movement Company









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