Fun fact: My husband studies bats. I used to think they were kind of creepy and/or scary (my grandma used to tell me they'd get stuck in my hair?!), but he has convinced me that they are adorable. And they're super smart -- they're even trainable!
When the time came to write a movement song for fall and halloween, I knew I had to use this creature as part of the song.
Bitty Bitty Bat, it's a MAJOR favorite song of kids, music teachers and music therapists alike. In fact, it's kind of hard for me to know for sure, but it may have been my Community's favorite song of 2020. Because of that, I decided that I HAD to get it recorded sometime this fall!
With this song, kids can pretend they're an itty bitty bat (with teeny, tiny wings) and then in the middle part ("I'm flying...") they can fly with BIG wings. As the song goes on, they go back and forth between flying (big wings) and being a bitty bitty bat (little wings).
It also plays with a little bit of alliteration and "b" action words.
Bitty Bitty Bat is one of my active movement songs for self-regulation and uses the music therapy concept of the ISO-principle by letting kids “get their wiggles out” first, and ending with stretching and breathing, like a calm-down movement song would.
The movements that you will find in this Fall/Halloween movement songs are:
Flying
Being a itty bitty little bat or a great big bat!
Being brave (kids can make movements of what being brave means to them)
Balancing
Bouncing (let’s get our wiggles out!)
Bendy (bending and touching our toes, bending our knees, stretching, etc.)
Blinking (this will grab the kids’ complete attention!)
Breathing
💡Once the classroom has slowed-down and everyone is taking their deep breaths in and out (like a “breathing bat”), you can use Breathe as a calm-down song to encourage more breathing after Bitty Bitty Bat.
When I'm doing a song like this, I always try share a little bit of science (or at least some enthusiasm for science!) to get kids excited about learning. Bats are completely fascinating (and often misunderstood), so it's a great time to share some fun facts about bats!
Or, just show them these cool bat ears, noses, and hairdos:
Bitty Bitty Bat is on YouTube and you can download the chords + lyrics below.
Find Bitty Bitty Bat on Spotify and all music streaming platforms!
