Music and Singing: Creating a Song Box

Singing is a great activity to do with little ones, whether it be in the car, out on a walk, as part of a toddler group or just at home on a rainy day.  I love the way singing together can be great family teamwork.  It can calm a crying baby, amuse a bored toddler and entertain a preschooler all at the same time!  Plus it's great for building language and numeracy skills as well as teaching memory, rhythm and rhyme.

Although we do some singing pretty much every day we often get stuck in a rut and end up just singing a few songs on repeat!  So one of the things I've been thinking of doing is creating some Song Boxes for when we do singing together with prompts for lots of different songs (saves a tired Mummy having to think up what to sing and the girls love being able to choose an item from the box and thinking of a song that links to the item).  

Shoeshine beautifully decorated a shoe box a little while ago - just perfect for turning into a Song Box.  I simply added a label and then we started raiding our toy boxes and cupboards for things that linked to a song we know. 

We grouped our songs around a number of different themes, but to be honest the girls would probably have been just as happy with a random assortment box, it's probably just me that likes things more ordered! So the themes I used: Farm Animals, Water, Transport and Buildings, Space, Food, Jungle, My Body and Health.

Farm Animals Theme

Old MacDonald had a Farm

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Three Blind Mice

Incy Wincy Spider

There's a Spider on the Floor

Five Little Ducks

I'm a Dingle Dangle Scarecrow

Little Peter Rabbit's got a Fly upon his Nose

Little Rabbit Foo Foo

Water Theme

The Big Ship sails on the Ali-Ali-Oh

Row, Row, Row your Boat

Climb Aboard the Pirate Ship/ The Day I Went to Sea

5 Little Speckled Frogs, sat on a Speckled Log

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I caught a Fish Alive

5 Puddle Ducks went Swimming One Day

Transport and Buildings Theme

Bouncing Up and Down on the Big Blue Tractor

Peter Hammers with One Hammer, One Hammer, One Hammer

Wheels on the Bus/Car

The Wise Man Built His House Upon a Rock

The Big Ship sails on the Alli-Alli-Oh

Row, Row, Row your Boat

Climb Aboard the Pirate Ship/ The Day I Went to Sea

Journey Home from Grandpa's (Barefoot Book)

 Space Theme

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom We're going to the Moon

5 Little Men in a Flying Saucer 

(I need a bit smaller rocket!)

  

Food Theme

I Like Bananas, Monkey Nuts and Grapes

Oranges and Lemons

5 Currant Buns in the the Baker's Shop

Polly Put the Kettle On 

Jungle Theme

Down in the Jungle

Nellie the Elephant

5 Little Monkeys Bouncing on the Bed

Walking Through the Jungle

We're All Going to the Zoo Tomorrow

My Body and Health Theme

Miss Polly had a Dolly who was Sick. Sick, Sick

Rock-a-bye Baby on the Treetops

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Roly-Poly, Roly-Poly

If you're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands

See-Saw

Lavender's Blue (not strictly fitting with the theme but very popular with Little Chick at the moment)

 I have most of the items together in a drawer now (some have been claimed back to play with!) and have a few in the box at any one time so that it can be got down from the shelf as one of the things we can play with (great for those times when you suddenly need to get them occupied quickly!)

We've also created a travel version in a little bag for long car journeys and this has been a great hit.   I'd also like to create a faith-based box for using in family worship.  The girls absolutely LOVE the excitement of diving into the box or bag and choosing an item and it's definitely increased our repertoire of songs.

What songs do your little ones enjoy?