Incorporating music into your curriculum is an important part of working with little ones. Selecting interesting and engaging songs to sing together will captivate the children’s attention. This creates a deep, rich learning experience. The songs we choose can have a direct effect on the classroom and on the children’s moods.
Songs that allow children to move and dance are always a hit. Children enjoy and benefit from songs that have repetition and coordinated movements. A literature review and self-study conducted by State University of New York Masters Candidate Rachel T. Orenberg describes the ways that music promotes literacy growth and development in emergent literacy learners. Through observations of her own pre-k class in New York, she found just how beneficial “repetition, visual cues, and movement are for deepening the understanding of literacy skills in emergent learners.” She noted that “incorporating music promotes growth in phonological awareness, letter sounds, and rhyming.” She added that “songs and movement activities are most impactful in the phonological and letter-sound relationships.”
Some songs also have books that can be followed along as you sing the songs together. Children will enjoy the imagery as they sing the songs and look at the corresponding pictures. Books will also allow children the opportunity to request certain songs, by grabbing a book and bringing it a teacher or caregiver when they’d like to hear it.
While there are lots of great options, we’ve gathered up some of our favorites into a list below. Do you have other go-to songs? Join our Facebook group, and share them with us!
