Author: Marie Mills

The Sun Has Got His Hat On

Verses 1 and 3 form a simple song, which a lot of people are likely to know. But verse 2 shows how it can be used as a naming song; sandwiching all the children’s names within the other two verses.

The sun has got his hat on.
Hip, hip, hip hooray!
The sun has got his hat on and he’s coming out to play.

Isobel’s got her hat on.
Hip, hip, hip hooray!
Isobel’s got her hat on and she’s coming out to play.

Now we’ll all be happy.
Hip, hip, hip hooray!
The sun has got his hat on and he’s coming out to play.

Sheet music (PDF)

Bouncing Up and Down on a Big Red Tractor

Tractors can be red, or any other colour you like. They can be fast, slow or wobbly. Below are two examples. You place your child on your knees, bounce up and down in time to the song then lift them in the air for the “Hey!”

Bouncing up and down on a big, red, tractor. x3
Bringing in the hay. Hey!

Bouncing up and down on a wobbly green tractor. x3
Bringing in the hay. Hey!

There is a variation which changes the colour and then “brings in” something associated with that colour. It is particularly useful when big brothers and sisters, who enjoy the challenge of more unusual colour choices, are around; we’ve often used it walking home from school and in the car.

Bouncing up and down on a big, green tractor. x3
Bringing in the water cress.

Bingo

Sing this through six times. First time through, sing all the letters of BINGO. The next time, clap once instead of the first letter. Then, clap twice in place of the first two letters, and so on, until the last time when you clap all the letters. It does tend to gather speed!

There was a farmer had a dog
And Bingo was his name-o.
B-I-N-G-O x3
And Bingo was his name-o.

Dingle Dangle Scarecrow

Children start by lying down so they can jump up with the scarecrow. They can shake their hands and feet with the scarecrow, too. The first verse is sung normally throughout, the second ends loudly and the third, softly.

When all the cows are sleeping,
And the sun has gone to bed,
Up jumped a scarecrow,
And this is what he said:
“I’m a dingle dangle scarecrow
With a flippy floppy hat.
I can shake my hands like this.
I can shake my feet like that.”

When all the hens are roosting and the moon’s behind a cloud,
Up jumped a scarecrow and shouted very loud:
“I’m a dingle dangle scarecrow
With a flippy floppy hat.
I can shake my hands like this.
I can shake my feet like that.”

When the dogs are in the kennel,
And the doves are in the loft,
Up jumped a scarecrow and whispered very soft:
“I’m a dingle dangle scarecrow
With a flippy floppy hat.
I can shake my hands like this.

Mary Had a Little Lamb

 

Mary had a little lamb,
Little lamb, little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb.
It’s fleece was white as snow.

And everywhere that Mary went,
Mary went, Mary went,
And everywhere that Mary went
That lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day,
School one day, school one day.
It followed her to school one day.
That was against the rules.

It made the children laugh and play,
Laugh and play, laugh and play.
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.

Mary had a little lamb,
Little lamb, little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb.
It’s fleece was white as snow.

 

Little Bo Peep

From my childhood, I recall the sheep “leaving their tails behind them”. But I came across this version more recently and it works really nicely with scarves. Hide a scarf somewhere, behind your back for example. Then bring it out and wave it about when the sheep return “wagging their tails behind them”.

Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep,
And doesn’t know where to find them.
Leave them alone and they’ll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them.

There’s a Spider on the Floor

I like spiders, so do not wish the spider dead, though many others do. Treat your hand as if it were a spider and move it according to the words.

There’s a spider on the floor, on the floor.
There’s a spider on the floor, on the floor.
There’s a spider on the floor and it wasn’t there before.
There’s a spider on the floor, on the floor.

Continue in the same way with the following:

There’s a spider on my leg and it’s really, really big.
There’s a spider on my tummy and it’s making me feel funny.
There’s a spider on my neck, making me a nervous wreck.
There’s a spider on my head and I don’t wish it were dead.

Now knock the imaginary spider back onto the floor and repeat verse 1.

Tiny Tim the Turtle

This is a really good one for building suspense. I’ve seen children as young as two sat with their hands all ready, waiting for the signal to pop the bubble.

If you lay one hand palm-down on the back of the other and interlace your fingers slightly, you have a turtle shell. Your thumbs can be its front flippers and so it can swim around. Actions for drinking and eating are obvious enough. And for the last line, imagine you are holding a giant bubble and each time you say the word, make it a bigger bubble, then clap loudly on the word “pop”. The last line is spoken.

I had a little turtle, his name was Tiny Tim.
I put him in the bathe-tub to see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water and ate up all the soap.
And now he’s sick in bed with a bubble in his throat.
Bubble, bubble, bubble…POP