Moving On Seminar Three SINGING
“Research with children under three years of age shows that those who come to hear songs frequently and participate in games are more balanced emotionally, start speaking earlier and have a nicer pronunciation” – Katalin Forrai
Some practical ideas for singing and moving:
MELODIC SPEECH – exploring higher and lower sounds in playful speech
I I I I
saw Esau sitting on a seesaw saw Esau he saw me saw Esau sitting on a seesaw saw Esau one..... two......three! Knee bouncing lifting the baby in the air at the end on the number three Hand clapping game like “Pat a cake” – at the end give a big cuddle
Apples, peaches, pears and plums Tell me when your birthday comes January, February etc Bounce babies on knees. On their birth month, lift them high into the air.
Pit pat well a day Little (MARY) flew away Where can little (MARY) be Gone into the cherry tree ..... PEEKABOO!
Tap child’s knees, and then hide the child’s eyes at the end before the final PEEKABOO!
With older children – “Mary” hides under the lycra – everyone else moves the lycra from side to side lifting it at the end to say PEEKABOO to “Mary”
Shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and STOP! (repeat getting faster)
With babies children this can be knee bouncing : Bounce and bounce and bounce etc
With toddlers make up different actions: Jump and jump etc
With older children – gather round a piece of lycra – shake and stop with the rhyme. FINAL TIME – Shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and shake and POP! (let go of lycra on POP!)
Way up high in the apple tree Two little apples smiled at me I shook that tree as hard as I could Down came the apples.....Mmmh they were good Hold toddlers hands high in the air Take toddlers hands to his mouth to “smile” “Shake” gently Drop the child’s arms and gently “nibble” his hands
SONGS WITH LIMITED RANGE
RIDING IN A BUGGY
(traditional)
Knee bouncing game for the youngest child
Teddy on lycra moving side to side – words would be Riding in a buggy with teddy etc
Older children can sit on the lycra whilst others walk around – sing the child’s name in the song.
CATERPILLAR / BUTTERFLY
(traditional)
Caterpillar on the ground, Caterpillar creep around Hide away in your cocoon, Don’t forget to come back soon.
with babies, crawl up their arms for the caterpillar rhyme and rock from side to side during the butterfly song.
With scarves or ribbons, “crawl” along the ground and then flutter in the air
With lycra , use your hand to “crawl around” under the lycra then flap the lycra up and down for the butterfly.
With older children one child (or a few) can “crawl around” with hands and then fly around the outside of the circle as the butterfly before changing place with another child.
SWING ME OVER THE WATER
With babies: Simply swing the baby to and fro and give a cuddle at the end of the song With toddlers: Sit on knee in a facing position – rock from side to side. Punch-line at end – Swing me home for tea ….. WHEEEEE! Lift high in the air. With older toddlers, swing a scarf from side to side with a teddy on it: teddy is tossed in the air at the end of the song. With ALL age groups – swing a teddy on top of a piece of lycra and make him Jump in the air at the end of the song.
JACK BE NIMBLE
(traditional)
(traditional)
With the younger children this could be an ankle ride – on the final word WHEE, the child is lifted high into the air. With a partner for older children, they can clap their own hands, their partners’ hands throughout and then turn around and face a new partner on the word WHEE! With older children, everyone is seated except two children who walk around one on the inside of the circle and one on the outside of the circle – they are holding hands over the circle. On the words one, two, three – they pretend to chop the circle One, two, three times and then on the final word, the circle is “chopped” and the two new children become the ones who walk around the circle.
HI LO CHICKALO
(traditional)
With baby on the floor lift his arms high, then low and for chicka – clap them together.
Use lycra with a teddy on – lift the teddy HIGH then LOW and for chicka move him side to side – on the final HI toss the teddy high into the air
Face a partner – for HIGH tap head, for LOW tap knees and for CHICKA clap partner’s hands twice. (Miss out some of the words and sing them in a thinking voice) Turn at the end to the partner behind and play the game again
AYE AYE AYE
(L Geoghegan)
Two concentric circles – AYE AYE AYE – clap the rhythm of the words – own hands twice and partner’s hands one Clap your hands and – clap rhythm of words on own hands Wave goodbye – wave to partner and move to the right to the next partner (outside circle move to right THEN inside circle THEN both circles)
SENUA DE DENDE
Ball passing – FOR OLDER CHILDREN Everyone has their left hand palm up. Their right hand has a paper ball in it – the action will be PASS SWING PASS SWING ( PASS – the paper ball is passed into the left hand of the person on the right and SWING – the paper ball is swung over from your left hand into your right) This action continues throughout the song. Try singing in two or three circles in canon.
I HAVE A LITTLE SPIDER