Singing is Fun! (and educational)

Remember that song from your childhood? 

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray....

Okay maybe that wasn't yours but it's pretty easy to recall the memory of "your" song and you may have even found yourself singing it from time to time.

Music and lyrics go beyond the tune and the words and give us positive emotions- cementing themselves in our memories.

What songs do you know?

What children's songs, chants, nursery rhymes do you know by heart? When you really start to think about it it's probably ten times what you think. You may have tucked them away somewhere but if you saw a list of children's song your mind would begin singing them again.

Because singing brings such innate feelings of joy and other positive emotions, the brain increases it's secretions of the chemical serotonin which improves memory. Singing also requires us to take in more oxygen- increasing our state of alertness

Singing is also a great group activity and builds a sense of community Do you remember the crowd singing Edelweiss at the end of the music festival in the Sound of Music? Unifying indeed.

Singing is also great for learning language, increasing vocabulary and breaking words into syllables (phonemic awareness).

Sing with your children
Sure you may not make American Idol- but your child doesn't care. Join in and model that singing is something everyone can do. Keep in mind- singing should always be joyful so be sure to focus most on the pleasure and the increased learning is just a bonus.

Here's a quick list of songs to refresh your memory:

The Wheels on the Bus
Dinah
B-I-N-G-O
The Farmer in the Dell
London Bridges
All Around the Mulberry Bush
Three Blind Mice
Georgie Porgie
Hickory Dickory Dock
Row Row Row Your Boat
Icky Sticky Bubble Gum
The Alphabet Song
The Rainbow Song
The Ants Go Marching
Apples and Bananas
Baa Baa Black Sheep
A Bear Went Over the Mountain
On Top of Spagetti
The Birthday Song
Baby Bumble Bee
Clementine
Down By the Bay
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Little Red Caboose
Five Little Fishies
Five Little Pumpkins
Head and Shoulders
Hey Diddle Diddle
Skidamarink
Hot Cross Buns
Humpty Dumpty
I'm A Little Teapot
Jack and Jill
It's a Small World
Jack Be Nimble
Jack Spratt
Kookaburra
Little Bo Peep
Little Boy Blue
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Rock A Bye Baby
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Miss Mary Mack
Oh Susanna
Old Man Tucker
This Old Man
Pop Goes the Weasel
Rain, Rain, Go Away
Ring Around the Rosy
She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain
Shoo Fly!
Shortnin' Bread
Skip to My Lou
There's a Hole in My Bucket
Three Little Kittens
Three Little Piggies
Where is Thumbkin?
You're a Grand Ol' Flag
Yankee Doodle

Check out Kiddidles long list of children's song along with audio.
Add a new song to your list and start singing!

In our Resource Libraries:
"And the Cow Jumped Over the Moon! " by Pam Schiller and Thomas Moore
"Curriculum: Art, Music, Movement, Drama" by Child Care Exchange
"The Laughing Baby: Songs and Rhymes From Around the World" by Anne Scott

We also have a number of children's music CD's from Katherine Dines, Raffi, Greg & Steve, Bev Bos & Tom Hunter, among others.