Music For Kiddos Podcast
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On this blog post and on episode 90 of the Music For Kiddos Podcast, I’m sharing three song suggestions that you might be able to use for your Spring program.
When I was a preschool music teacher (mostly pre-K, but I also taught pre-k all the way up to third grade), I was responsible for a Spring program at the end of the year for all the students.
I can't even tell you how much stress it caused me, because a performance like this was just out of my wheelhouse. Eventually and over the years, I really grew to love it and I started to figure out how to help the kids be confident and successful in these Spring programs.
Preschool and Kindergarten Spring music programs and performances are really about the kids having fun and the experience of being in front of peers, their families and becoming confident people, presenting what they had learned throughout the year.
So when I made the mind-shift in my brain from thinking about it as a “performance” to “this is a confidence booster “, it helped me wrap my head around the real purpose of a Spring program.
From the school's perspective, they want something fun that the parents could come and see. A way to showcase how kids have grown up and what they have learned during the school year.
I get a lot of questions about what songs I recommend that people use for Spring programs and I honestly have used a huge variety of songs. My first year of teaching, I was using a lot of public domain songs like Mr. Sun. We were doing gestures with these songs and utilizing lots of props. Just using very simple songs for kids to sing.
Then, over the years, I started to write and use more and more of my own songs on our Spring programs. As you may know, most of my original songs live inside our early childhood music resource library and membership, the Music For Kiddos Community but I also have a lot of songs publicly available and I’m sharing three of them with you as well as some ideas on how to incorporate them in your Spring program this year!
3 Spring Program Songs For Preschool and Elementary School:
1. Busy Like A Bee
The first song is a really simple song that fits the spring theme very, very well and it's my song Busy Like A Bee. Busy Like A Bee is a movement song and it’s great for younger elementary kids because they can partake in a lot of movement and they do not have to do a whole ton of singing— but the kids can sing along with it! It's really fun, cute and definitely a crowd pleaser.
In addition to it being a movement song, it also gives them a great opportunity to coordinate an easy costume. For example, you can use a headband with bees or antennae and they can actually make it like I show you in the video below! You could also have the kids wear black and yellow , or some dressed as bees and others as flowers, etc., there are just a lot of fun options with this song.
You can download the leadsheet and MP3 HERE.
You know your classes best, but for mine, I would probably give them standing spots to do their movements on top of. I think that the combination of movement, stopping-and-going, cuteness and singing is a good option for a Spring program.
2- KIND
The next song is one that works really well in a wide variety of ages, but especially with kids that are a little bit older. So I would say kindergarten, first, second and third grade.
You can have some kids singing the letters, some kids singing the lyrics, and you can have kids holding up letters that they decorate spelling the word KIND. You can leave out the bridge or if you have a kid that's really into the bridge, you could have a solo. If you're doing this song with older elementary kids, you could certainly have kids play the ukulele and sing along.
I used this one with my mixed-ages class and the third graders played the ukulele, the first and second graders sang. Some of them held up letters and it was absolutely adorable. The kids loved it. The parents loved it. The principal loved it. Everybody loved it!
Download the leadsheet and MP3 HERE.
3- watermelon, watermelon
The third song is perhaps the most straightforward, simple and really good song for a Spring program. And it is my song Watermelon, Watermelon. This song has a repeating pattern of “lap-lap-clap, lap-lap-clap” which kids really like to do and then they can sing on top of it.
You can ask kids to adapt some of the lyrics. They can come up with their own ideas on how they’d like to perform this song. You could have kids step forward and do various movements they choose, etcetera.
This song is loved by all ages and it’s actually one of our most loved children’s songs that you can download for free HERE.
I think the melody, the repetition, the steady beat and the simplicity of it, gives Watermelon, Watermelon little bit of a cool factor, and it's also a really good one to bring the attention in a classroom and works perfectly for a Spring program.
I hope you enjoyed these songs and ideas! Would love to know how you incorporate them in your Spring programs, graduations or school performances.
These songs are songs that went out on my email newsletter, our Song of the Month Club. over the years. If you are not a part of our free email newsletter, I would really encourage you to join!
And if you're interested in these leadsheets, MP3s and backing tracks, you can find them in our songbook, Early Childhood Songs Vol. 1.
Listen to this episode of the Music For Kiddos Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher or wherever you listen to your favorite shows!
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