Sweet J (my youngest niece) and I love, love, love each other. She comes running when she sees me and I just can’t wait to scoop her up. (Of course I adore all of my nieces, but today we’re talking about toddlers and she is my only toddler. 😉 )
One of her favorite things to do is swing. When she swings we sing, and sing, and sing. Can you tell she loves it?
Does singing pull you out of your comfort zone? I love to sing and sing a lot (my poor family 😉 ). Here is why you should sing… even if you feel like you don’t do it well.
1. Singing is a creative outlet. When kids are exposed to a great deal of singing they SING! When they sing they will often play around with lyrics, tune and rhythm. Create, create, create… in many different forms! (That’s what I say.)
2. Many songs for toddlers are full of patterns, movement, and language… all skills that seep into other areas of development.
3. Songs are easy to memorize… add a few important ideas into a song and kids can quickly remember the days of the week, be inspired to clean up, or even count to five.
4. It’s fun… isn’t that reason enough?
Sweet J’s favorite song to sing with me right now is Doodle Bug.
Doodle Bug
Doodle, doodle, doodle.
Bug, bug, bug.
Doodle, doodle, doodle,
Bug, bug, bug.
Doodle bug come out
and look all around.
Then doodle back in the ground.
4 More Toddler Songs
Five Green and Speckled Frogs
Little Green Frog
Little Penguin
Herman the Worm
Add your favorite toddler songs in the comment section!
This post originally appeared February 14, 2012.
Hello! I’ve been perusing your blog a bit this afternoon, and I read that you like comments, so I thought I’d comment instead of contacting you via e-mail!
By the way, I’m guessing you’ve heard of the book “Jillian Jiggs” since your name is Jillian? It was one of my favorites as a kid! Jillian in the book was very creative and imaginative, just like you!
I’ve finally decided to start writing my own blog although it seems like I won’t have much to add to the millions of creative blog sites that are already out there. You mentioned in one of your posts, though, to contact you for your insight and things you’ve learned along the way. Teach me!
And, I love singing! My husband and I make up silly little ditties all the time for our 3 month old son. Sometimes, it seems like he’s trying to “sing” along — I can’t wait until he actually can!
You are right… I love comments! I have never heard of Jillian Jiggs, but I will be looking for her asap.
I love blogging and would love to help you get started. There is so much to learn and my best advice is to jump in with both feet! You can learn along the way.
I would bet your son is singing right along! Lucky kid. 😉
Jillian Jigg’s was my FAVORITE book growing up! My family still calls me, “Jiggs” as a nickname at 28 years old 🙂
I have a favorite song I learned from a coworker, but I’ve never found it online.
This is the closest version I can find, and it’s very good too.
http://teachyourtot.blogspot.com/2011/07/balloons.html
Colorful Balloons:
(sung to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb)
I had a red balloon,
red balloon, red balloon,
I had a red balloon
Until it went POP!
I had a blue balloon,
blue balloon, blue balloon.
I had a blue balloon,
Until it went pop.
~~~
Clap your hands on the POP! They go CRAZY for it.
I love it! What a fun song. I think we’ll have to blow up some balloons tomorrow morning. 😉
Here are my two year old daughter’s favorites:
“Five Little Ducks”.
Five little ducks that I once knew,
four, and three, and then there were but two,
but the one little duck with his feathers on his back,
he ruled the others with his “quack, quack, quack.”
Down through the river they would go,
wibble-wobble, wibble-wobble, to and fro,
but the one little duck with his feathers on his back,
he ruled the others with his “quack, quack, quack.”
“Roll Over”
There were five in the bed,
and the little one said, “roll over, roll over,
so they all rolled over and one fell out.
There were four in the bed,
and the little one said, “roll over, roll over,”
so they all rolled over and one fell out.
There were three in the bed,
and the little one said, “roll over, roll over,”
so they all rolled over and one fell out.
There were two in the bed,
and the little one said, “roll over, roll over,”
so they all rolled over and one fell out.
There was one in the bed,
and the little one said, “Goodnight!”
(My daughter just laughs and laughs at the end of this one, and she says, “again, again!”)
Of course she also loves “Itsy, Bitsy Spider” and several other common toddler songs. Hope you are able to enjoy these as much as we do! 🙂
Amber
For me I will do the “itsy wincy spider” but with a twist…
I will do three different version.
the first one will be with my normal voice tone.. with normal actions…
the second will be the squeaky tiny tone with tiny actions..
and the last one will be in a loud tone with big actions…
my students really love imitating and singing them out 🙂
This is great!!!!!! if you go to my facbook page BRENDA FITHIAN GEIGER MY grandaughter is 2 yrs old and know every song under the sun . please feel free to check it out. Love to sing with her and i do it everytime i have her on her swing. To funny
I am in pre school and the kids love these song…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4OgPHpUjh4
Also here pig on the head one with noises.
There is also a dinosaur stomp or roar.
Bear hunt
Goldfish song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCF3vBuxXS8
I still remember the songs which I used to hear when I was a kid.
http://callingallkidstoo.com/
“ABC’s”
“Jesus Loves Me”
i happened to read somewhere that you love comments and i thought i would take some time and commend you on your nice work great material you got together and humorous as well. there is this website you should check with related content on singing
singing . its actually a good read through.