Tag Archive for: preschool

Bumpity, Bumpity

Bumpity, Bumpity is a fun song that works very well as a bouncing song for babies. I wrote this song with the original intent to use with preschoolers to show slow and fast, and they love it!  I discovered when I started singing it for my babies that moms were enjoying bouncing their little ones to the slow to gradually speeding up tempos. It starts with my old brown dog who doesn’t walk too “fast” and gradually moves to my speckled grey horse, my little white rabbit and that pesky black flea who all move more quickly. Moms, babies and preschoolers are totally loving this song. The recording is really fun thanks to drummer, Eric Rollnick, who added really fun sounds.

You can listen to this fun song at iTunes. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bumpity-bumpity/1434357860?i=1434357870

I do have to add the fact that I wrote this in my sleep. It is the second song that happened this way. I woke up singing bumpity, bumpity, bumpity, bumpity, bumpity, bumpity, bump and hippity, hippity, hippity, hippity, hippity, hippity, hop. So as is the best way to remember the content of a dream I began writing while I was still under the spell of what I had written in my sleep and of course it fell out of my thoughts very quickly and easily. And here is the totally awesome product!

There’s a Gorilla in My Alphabet Soup

I am going to write about a song I have just recently written but have not yet recorded. I realized about a month ago that I had not written a song for the classroom about the alphabet. Now that’s a tough one for me because everyone knows and loves the traditional alphabet song. How can a children’s songwriter improve on that.

Well, I don’t know if the song I finally came up with is an improvement, but it is definitely a song that can be used for a teaching activity in my preschool and kindergarten classes that I visit or for my shows that I do for young children. This song was so fun because the moment I finished writing it I was amazed how perfect it is. It tells the children that there is a certain letter in my alphabet soup and then proceeds to tell them that there is an animal that starts with that same letter in my alphabet soup. I was so excited about how perfect this song is that I immediately invested in purchasing some letters to paint and some stickers to put on the letters that showed the children the animal that is in the alphabet soup. And the animal being there is so perfect as that reinforces to the children who may be unsure about what letter they have in their hand is that indeed they have that letter. If I say there’s an A in my alphabet soup that may not be enough to tell them what letter it is that they have in their hand. But once I sing that there is an alligator in my alphabet soup, they know that is the letter they are holding and they will put that letter in the alphabet soup.  I think this is a fantastic learning activity.

I can’t wait to record and release this song. I’m already seeing more than one kindergarten age child laughing when I sing it

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Cooper Caterpillar

Here is my friend, Cooper Caterpillar. I wrote this song this year (2018) and have been developing the activity that goes with this song. You will find this song on my sixth CD, Clap Your Hands. As you can see this is a very easy easy activity for you to create. Simply go on Amazon and find the caterpillar you like best. This one pictured is Mr. Tree. I also have purchased two Melissa and Doug Caterpillars that I may combine to make one large caterpillar for my more populated shows. I must always keep my music interactive.

This song teaches colors and also listening for the color that works for Cooper. If you look at this picture you will see that Cooper has felt shoes that this little girl has velcroed onto his feet as she heard the color in the song.  Young children totally love being involved in the song and look how much she loves that caterpillar. I use this song for larger preschool classes also and each child gets a different color felt shoe to velcro on his feet and when he or she hears the color in the song, he will put them on one of Cooper’s feet. As always if you listen to this song you will  hear that there is plenty of time for the children to go to Cooper to put the correct color shoe on his feet.

All you have to do is buy different colored pieces of felt, create a shoe pattern out of cardboard and and trace how many you desire on each color of felt that you have chosen to purchase.  I use a sharpie to draw laces onto my shoes to make them appear more realistic. This is such a fun way to teach colors.

If you listen to my CDs you will see that I have other songs that teach colors. You will soon find blogs about those. Look in my albums section to find my songs and download or purchase them whichever way is easiest for you. Here is a link to the song at iTunes. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cooper-caterpillar/1434357860?i=1434357866