Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Spring Makes Me Sing!

The calendar says Spring - even if it may not look like it outside quite yet. At least we're going in the right direction! I love Spring! I love to hear the birds singing and see all the plants and trees wake up from the long winter. Spring truly does make me want to sing - so, I wrote a very simple song entitled just that - Spring Makes Me Sing! This is an excellent song to sing with the very little ones and to encourage singing, communication skills and interaction with special needs children.

Try substituting other sounds for the la, including ma, ee, ahh, ba, oo, etc.


Happy Spring!!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

St Patrick's Day Children's Songs Part 2

Here's a few more songs about Leprechaun's and St. Patrick's Day that you might find useful this week!

Click here to go to a great page with the following songs from the Holiday Zone:

Five Little Leprechauns
Leprechaun, Leprechaun
Can't Catch Me
Have You Seen a Leprechaun
How Many Leprechauns?
I'm a Little Shamrock
Leprechauns Dancing
Leprechauns Are Marching
St. Patrick's Day
Nine Little Shamrocks

All songs are action rhyme's or to familiar tunes.


Another song I've used for St. Patrick's Day is the traditional song Michael Finnegan. I found the sheet music for it on a site called Mamalisa.com.

Click here to get the sheet music

Click here to hear the tune

Mama Lisa has several other interesting Irish songs here that are worth checking out too!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

St Patrick's Day Children's Songs Part 1

Top O' the Mornin' to you! St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner and I have compiled a few St. Patrick's Day, Leprechaun, Shamrock and Irish Songs (or Irish sounding songs) that I have run across or used that you can also use with your little ones!



He Lived Under a Rainbow
(to the tune of B-I-N-G-O)

1. There was a little leprechaun,

He lived under a rainbow.

R- A - I - N - 'bow'

R - A - I - N - 'bow'

R - A - I - N - 'bow'

He lived under a rainbow.

2. There was a little leprechaun,

He lived under a rainbow.
clap - A - I - N - 'bow'

clap - A - I - N - 'bow'

clap - A - I - N - 'bow'

He lived under a rainbow.

3. There was a little leprechaun,

He lived under a rainbow.

clap - clap - I - N - 'bow'

clap - clap - I - N - 'bow'

clap - clap - I - N - 'bow'

He lived under a rainbow.

4. There was a little leprechaun,

He lived under a rainbow.

clap - clap - clap - N - 'bow'

clap - clap - clap - N - 'bow'

clap - clap - clap - N - 'bow'

He lived under a rainbow.

5. There was a little leprechaun,

He lived under a rainbow.

clap - clap - clap - clap - 'bow'

clap - clap - clap - clap - 'bow'

clap - clap - clap - clap - 'bow'
He lived under a rainbow.

6. There was a little leprechaun,

He lived under a rainbow.

clap - clap - clap - clap - clap

clap - clap - clap - clap - clap

clap - clap - clap - clap - clap

He lived under a rainbow.



I'm a Little Leprechaun
(to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot)

I'm a little leprechaun dressed in green,

The tiniest man that you have seen.

If you ever catch me, so it's told,

I'll give you my big pot of gold.

Actions:

I'm a little leprechaun

(hands on hips)

Dressed in green,

(point to shirt)

The tiniest man

(hold thumb and index finger about an inch apart)

That you have seen.

(point to the other people)

If you ever catch me, so it's told,

(make a motion like you're grabbing at a leprechaun)

I'll give you my big pot of gold.

(make a motion like you're giving something away)



The Leprechaun Song
 (to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb)

I'm a little leprechaun, leprechaun, leprechaun.

I'm a little leprechaun who likes to hide my gold.


(I) dress in green from head to toe, head to toe, head to toe.

(I) dress in green from head to toe, I wear green all day long!


You'll never catch me or my gold, not my gold, not my gold.

You'll never catch me or my gold, I hide it much too well!



St. Patrick's Day Song
(to the tune of  The Bear Went Over the Mountain )

We're wearing green for the Irish, we're wearing green for the Irish, we're wearing green for the Irish, on this St. Patrick's Day.

We'll dance a jig for the Irish, we'll dance a jig for the Irish, we'll dance a jig for the Irish, on this St. Patrick's Day.

Me Mither and Fither were Irish, me Mither and Fither were Irish, me Mither and Fither were Irish, and I am Irish too.

We kept a pig in the parlor, we kept a pig in the parlor, we kept a pig in the parlor, and he is Irish too.



Have You Ever Seen a Leprechaun?
(to the tune of Do You Know the Muffin Man?)

Have you ever seen a leprechaun, a leprechaun, a leprechaun?
Have you ever seen a leprechaun from Ireland far away?

Yes, I've seen a leprechaun, a leprechaun, a leprechaun.
Yes, I've seen a leprechaun, I invited him to play!
And did he stay and play with you, play with you, play with you?
And did he stay and play with you, or did he run away?
He didn't stay and play with me, play with me, play with me,
He didn't stay and play with me, he hid and ran away!
Slán go fóill! (Goodbye for now!)

Monday, March 7, 2011

Pamela Ott Interview by Jessica Kingsely Publishers

For any of you interested in reading an interview of me done by Jessica Kingsley Publishers regarding the release of my book (due out this month) "Music for Special Kids - Musical Activities, Songs, Instruments and Resources", you can find it here!