Little Ditties

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Appropriate for Preschool
Can you hear yourself singing something like "She'll be chopping up the carrots when she cooks, chop, chop!" to the tune of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain when she Comes"? Your children, familiar with the original song and quick to catch on, start the second verse: "She'll be slicing up tomatoes when she cooks, slice, slice!" Before you know it you'll have finished making the salad and you'll have thoroughly amused yourselves.

Children love it when parents make up simple songs about them and their activities or personalize the lyrics to songs they already know. To your infant on the changing table, you might sing about fingers or toes; to your toddler at play, you might sing about toys. Preschoolers especially enjoy songs that call for name substitutions, for example "Johnny Plays with One Hammer" or "Mary Wore Her Red Dress." About this age, they also will enjoy helping you fill in the patterned rhymes to made up songs or adding verses to songs they already know.

Spontaneous singing can give you a nice uplift, and your children's own moods will be lightened and brightened as they hear you and join in. Besides amusing everybody, little ditties help pass time. If an errand is taking a parent a long time, a quick verse to the tune of "Where Is Thumbpkin?" might relieve the boredom or concern:

Where is Daddy? Where is Daddy?
Where is he? Where is he?
I would like to hug him,
I would like to kiss him,
Hurry please! Hurry please!

Source: The RIF Guide to Encouraging Young Readers, edited by Ruth Graves, New York: Doubleday, 1987.

More on: Activities for Preschoolers