Singing is good for your mind, body and spirit. It helps to nurture language skills: the patterns of traditional nursery rhymes follow the rhythm of the spoken language, and songs let you practice new vocabulary and introduce the concept of rhyme. You are also exercising your memory by recalling lyrics. Group singing lifts your spirits and develops a sense of community and team work. It’s physically good for you too: it releases endorphins, and can improve your posture and breathing. It’s even working on your maths skills as you deal with concepts related to rhythm such as ratios and fractions.
So with all these benefits we should be singing with our children every day!
To get you started why not make a song bag? Choose your bag and fill it with props that link to your favourite songs. (You’re bound to have some around the house already, but keep an eye out for them in charity shops too). Then take it in turns to pick something out – and sing about it!
can you sing a song about a.......?
This is what we’ve got in ours:
a sun hat – I’m a Dingle Dangle Scarecrow
a star shaped cookie cutter – Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
a spider – Incy Wincy Spider
a doll – Miss Polly had a Dolly
a cow – Hey Diddle Diddle or Old MacDonald Had a Farm
a rubber duck – Three Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day
a fish – 12345 Once I Caught a Fish Alive or Thou Shall Have a Fishy
a dolphin – Slippery Dolphins
a dog – How Much is that Doggy in the Window
a horse – This is the Way The Ladies Ride or Horsey Horsey Don’t You Stop
a monkey – Three Cheeky Monkeys Swinging Through the Trees / Bouncing on the Bed
a pig – This Little Piggy Went to Market
We’re currently on the look out for a (the wheels on the ) bus to add to our collection.
My children love using our song bag – it’s one of their most frequent requests. They also love subverting the lyrics of the songs – to see how silly they can be. You might also like to have a look at the Sing Up website which is packed full of information about singing, including a song bank full of songs to listen to, learn and sing along to.
What a fun idea – I think it would be perfect for the car!
Maryanne, that’s a great idea. We use ours at home but you’re right it would work really well in the car.
I’m so gonna do this! I forget songs and this will remind me.
Cathy – you have great ideas – we use puppets for songs but I think this could be a great alternative.
Thanks Ibet!