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Create a song bag
A song bag makes choosing what song to sing next at group time easy. Collect soft or hard toys to represent each song you want to sing and put them into a bag, pillowcase, basket or box.
There are several ways you can manage song time. You could:
- choose a few toys to sing about each week
- allow the children to choose one song toy each
- ask a few children to pull out their favourite song toys.
How you do it is up to you. It'll be determined by how many children or families attend playgroup and how much time you have available for singing.
Tip: You may like to have the children try and guess what toy or song you will be pulling out of the bag by giving a few clues. For example, 'what is green, lives in the water and likes to jump?'
| Song | Suggested toy |
|---|---|
| Twinkle, Twinkle | Star |
| Der Glumph | Frog |
| Three Little Speckled Frogs | Frog |
| Old McDonald Had a Farm | Any farm animal, for example a cow |
| This Little Piggy | Pig |
| Round and Round the Garden | Teddy bear |
| Rock-a-Bye Your Bear | Teddy bear |
| Baa, Baa Black Sheep | Sheep |
| Incy, Wincey Spider | Spider |
| Two Little Dickie Birds | Bird |
| Johnny Works with One Hammer | Hammer |
| Little Peter Rabbit | Rabbit |
| Hay Dee Ho | Elephant |
| Down in the Jungle | Zebra |
| Cuddly Koala | Koala |
| Miss Polly Had a Dolly | Doll |
| Horsey, Horsey Don’t You Stop! | Horse |
| How Much is That Doggy in the Window? | Dog |
| Soft Kitty | Cat |
| Wheels on the Bus | Bus |
| Dingle, Dangle Scarecrow | Scarecrow or floppy hat |
| Here is a Beehive | Bee |
| Row, Row, Row Your Boat | Boat or crocodile |
| Three Naughty Monkeys Jumping on the Bed | Monkey |
| Three Cheeky Monkeys Swinging in a Tree | Monkey |
| Three Little Ducks | Duck |
| Hickory, Dickory Dock | Mouse |
| Once I Caught a Fish Alive | Fish |
| Humpty Dumpty | Egg or Humpty Dumpty |
| I’m a Little Teapot | Teapot |
| Yellow Butterfly | Butterfly |
| Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree | Kookaburra |
Other singing resources
Baby Karaoke | raisingchildren.net.au – a fun way to learn and sing popular children’s songs, also available as a free smartphone app
SunSmart songs for early childhood – lyrics and music files for download
