I have had a few request for some of the songs I have written for my girls…..so here you go! I love teaching through music and will continue to do so, even if the eyes are rolling 😉

If you are a parent or an early childhood educator you probably know the little ditties that are sung on Daniel Tiger. They are very helpful (for the most part – the potty song is not good for literal thinkers….trust me! I know!) These little songs have a generation of children being able to work through different situations by singing these little songs. New foods? Try them, they might taste good. When you feel mad? Take a deep breath and count to four. The writers hit a key component when teaching children new things. They got it right.

MUSIC AIDS LEARNING

It is well known that putting things to music or in a rhythm aids in learning, especially in remembering information. I still remember so many things (like quotes, Bible verses, information for tests) that were put to music, even over 30 years later! I have always loved rhyme, rhythm and music. So, when I had children it just always made sense to be singing and to make up songs as we needed to learn new concepts or to reinforce them. 

Most of my songs are off-the-cuff, in that I just make them up as I go along and if it sticks it stays. I will never win any awards for my songs but they are fun to write and I love to hear the girls singing them. We have our own little songbook of about 20 songs and it covers such things as wearing underpants, flushing away our poos, and our bedtime routine. My girls each have their own song and they have a theme song, because who doesn’t need a theme song? 

NEW THING, NEW SONG

When something new comes up I tend to just write a new song. I just wrote one for the girls about when riding a bike you stay to the right (it would have to be to the left when in Australia but I have to work out a rhyme for that) and I sing it to the girls when we are out on the bike paths. This is because they were having issues staying out of people’s way. Thankfully they do not roll their eyes at me……yet.

I have several requests about sharing some of my songs with you. So here I go. They will be unaccompanied in the video because that is how we sing them.

The first song is We give cuddles and kisses. This was to teach about not hitting, etc. We still use it to this day. I only have to start the first line and they are usually singing along and it helps to calm the situation.

We give cuddles and kisses 

We give cuddles and kisses
Oh we do not hit or bite
We give cuddles and kisses (mwah mwah mwah)
Oh we do not kick or shove

The next song was to teach how we speak to other people. It is getting a lot of use lately. The older they get it seems the more attitude comes out.

We speak nicely 

We speak nicely to each other
We speak nicely to each other
We use kind words with a friendly smile
We speak nicely to each other

This next song is to teach about water and how it’s the best thing to drink. It gets stuck in your head. My apologies.

Water is good 

Water is good, water tastes great
It’s the best to help us hydrate
(Repeat)

W (w) A (a) T (t) E (e) R (r)
What does that spell? Water!!!

Water is good, water tastes great
It’s the best to help us hydrate

This last one is actually still my favourite. They are our key rules in our family. And it sort of launched a new way of referring to behaviours we don’t like. This was definitely an off-the-cuff song and I just rhymed “words” with “turds”. So that is why we now refer to “turdish behaviour” or “acting like a turd” in our family. It actually is a good term – a turd stinks up a room and no one likes to be around it, let alone play with it, so it is just best to get rid of the turd and make everything nice again.

The Rules

Pardon me, does this face look happy?
Do you really want a cranky mummy?
What can you do to help me out – 
So I don’t get frustrated and shout?

One! Speak nicely with kind words
Two! Be respectful (don’t act like turds)
Three! Do first time what I ask or say
And then we’ll all have a lovely day 

Do you have any songs that you made up and sing at home? I would love to hear them 🙂