Seasonal
songs
Spring D-H
Daffodowndilly
Daffodillies
yellow / Daffodilly came to town
Dancing
daffodils
Dear
friends
Do
you know the trees by name / Naming the trees
Dragon
of a thousand lanterns
Early
one morning
Early
Spring
Five baby
crocuses / Getting up
Five
crispy pancakes
Five
Spring flowers
Five
little eggs in a nest of straw
Five
warm eggs
Flowers
tall, flowers small
Fly,
fly, butterfly fly
Fukien
boat song
Good
morning, Mr. Hedgehog
Hal-an-Tow
Have
you ever seen a rainbow?
Here’s
a baby birdie
Here’s
a branch of snowy May. / Maypole song
Hot
cross buns
How
many Valentine’s?
Also find poems and songs at:
Last updated: 3/6/2023
9:39 AM
The songs below are part of ‘Away we
go’ compiled, adapted and illustrated
by Dany Rosevear
Return to the ‘Singing games for children’ home page
To listen to music from these
songs click on 🔊
To watch the
author sing a song click on the title at:
© Dany Rosevear 2008 All rights reserved
You
are free to copy, distribute, display and perform these works under the
following conditions:
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you must give the original author credit
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you may not use this work for commercial purposes
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for any re-use or distribution, you must make clear to others the
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any of these can be waived if you get permission from the copyright
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Your
fair use and other rights are no way affected by the above.
|
Daffodowndilly 🔊
Just love the
cheerful daffodil, the herald of Spring. By A. A.
Milne, from ‘When We Were Very Young’ A hand play
set to music by Dany Rosevear.’ 1. Hold palms of hand above head. Sweep hands down
body. 2.. Turn left and make hand flow and bob head. 3. Look up and make a
circle with hands, shake head. 4. Place finger on lips, shake finger. |
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She wore her yellow sun-bonnet, She wore her greenest gown; She turned to the south wind And curtsied up and down. She turned to the sunlight And shook her yellow head, And whispered to her neighbor: "Winter is dead.” |
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Daffodillies yellow / 🔊 Daffodilly
down came to town
The colour of
Easter: daffodils, the golden crocus, primroses, catkins and fluffy chicks. |
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Daffodillies yellow, Daffodillies gay, To put upon the table On Easter Day. Daffodilly down came to
town With her yellow bonnet And her green gown! |
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Dancing
daffodils 🔊
a cheerful song for early Spring. In warm hollows and on sunny banks daffodils
are beginning to push their way through from February onwards; perhaps not as
early as the snowdrops but certainly one of the heralds of Spring. 20 Best Spring Flowers | BBC Gardeners World Magazine Words and music by Dany Rosevear
inspired by a Japanese Haiku. A gentle circle dance or one
with waving yellow scarves would well with this song. |
|
It may be cold, there may be chills, But it’s early Spring and there’s daffodils, Dancing daffodils! La la la, la la la, La la la, la la la, la la la, La la la, la la la, La la, la la la, la, Dancing daffodils, |
Dancing
daffodils.
|
Dear
friends 🔊
Feeling love for our friends,
family and fellow beings. St. Valentine’s Day is celebrated
in mid February when there is a skip in our hearts as Spring begins and love
is in the air; a good time to remember that love isn’t just for family and a
chosen few but that other friends and acquaintances are worthy of our love
and fellow feeling. Words and music by Dany Rosevear. 1. Play as a circle dance
holding hands and swinging them gently in and out. Or 2. Stand opposite each
other in pairs holding and swinging hands and then on the last line‘toss the
blanket’, swing hands over heads. Find another partner and then continue. |
Dear
friends we love you,
Dear
friends we love you,
Dear
friends we love you,
We love
you with all of our hearts,
Yes, we
do, yes. we do, yes, we do!
For our
friendship is caring and true,
Yes, our
friendship is caring and true.
|
Do you know the trees by name 🔊
In the Spring watch in wonder as the
leaves unfurl and trees are decked in catkins, pussy willow and blossom. All children should be able to
identify some of the more common trees – it will stay with them for life. Go
on nature walks along country lanes, visit woodlands or just the park in
town. Play I-Spy trees and make collections. By Rebecca B Foresman from ‘The
music hour, one-book course’ McConathy, Miessner, Birge and Bray, Silver
Burdett and Co., 1932. |
|
Do you know the trees by name When you see them growing In the fields or in the woods? They are well worth knowing. Watch them in the early spring, When their buds are swelling; Watch each tiny little leaf Leave its little dwelling. Watch them later, when their leaves Everywhere are showing; Soon you'll know the different trees When you see them growing. |
|
Dragon
of a Thousand Lanterns O
A great song for Chinese New Year;
make your own large class dragon and get the children marching round the playground
underneath it as they sing this song for maximum effect! The song features in Ming-Ming and
the Dragon Lantern from Time and Tune BBC radio for schools Spring 1980. I
don’t know who wrote it – let me know if you find out - it’s a great song. |
|
To the sound of gongs and cymbals, And the playful beat of drums, With flute and bell for his warcry yell, The Lantern Dragon comes. Snip-snap
teeth, bamboo sticks! Dragon of a Thousand Lanterns; Glinting
eyes, magic tricks! Dragon of a Thousand Lanterns With a tail of dancing
children, And a vast array of feet, His body led by the Panda
head, All dragons he can beat. To the river-bank he
marches, In a wiggle-waggle way, And when Kong-Sang in a
fury sprang, That monster fell astray. For the Lantern Dragon teased him, With a thousand artful wiles, The dragon fray could be heard that day, For miles
and miles and miles. |
|
Early
one morning O
The tune and the title will be very
familiar to those at school in the 1940s to 60s but these seasonal words by
Nathan Haskell Dole are not the ones I sang at school in the 1950s but are
more suitable for young children. It appears in The Concord series, no 7 “140
Folk tunes” published in 1915 in Boston. ‘Bluebirds’ could be changed to
‘blackbird’ a more familiar bird in the U.K. |
|
Early one morning, before the sun has risen I heard a bluebird in the fields gaily sing: “South winds are blowing, green grass is growing. We come to herald the merry, merry Spring.” One autumn afternoon, just as the sun was setting, I heard a bluebird on a tree pipe a song: “Farewell, we're going. Cold winds are blowing! But we'll be back when the days grow long.” |
|
Dancing
daffodils 🔊
In warm hollows and on sunny banks
daffodils are beginning to push their way through from February onwards;
perhaps not as early as the snowdrops but certainly a herald of Spring. 20
Best Spring Flowers | BBC Gardeners World Magazine Words and music by Dany Rosevear
inspired by a Japanese Haiku. |
|
It may be cold, there may be chills, But it’s early Spring and there’s daffodils, Dancing daffodils! La la la, la la la, La la la, la la la, la la la, La la la, la la la, La la, la la la, la, |
|
Five baby crocuses / Getting up O
A poem and
hand play by Hilda I. Rostron. Set to music
by Dany Rosevear. 1. Tightly clench left hand. Shake wrist gently with
right hand. 2. Half open fingers of left hand, shake wrist as
before. 3. Left hand fingers stand tall, left hand shakes
right in greeting. 4. Clap hands three times. |
|
Five baby crocuses, Each a sleepy head; Someone shook their blanket And sang: ‘Get out of bed!’ Five baby crocuses, Opened sleepy eyes; Someone shook their blanket And sang: ‘It’s time to rise!’ Five tall crocuses, Wide-eyed in a ring; Robin sang: ‘Good morning It’s time to meet the Spring!’ And they did! |
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Five crispy pancakes O
Let each child
decide what they want on their pancake. |
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Five crispy
pancakes in a frying pan, Flip
them and toss them and catch them if you can. Along
came (child’s name) for a pancake one day, Sprinkled
it with sugar and took it away. Four
crispy pancakes in a frying pan... Three
crispy pancakes in a frying pan... Two
crispy pancakes in a frying pan... One
crispy pancake in a frying pan... No
crispy pancakes in a frying pan, Time to
tidy up, all spick and span. And then
next year on Pancake Day, We’ll
make more pancakes, hip, hip, hooray! |
|
Five little eggs in a nest of
straw 🔊
A hand play. Set to music
by Dany Rosevear. Verse 1. Show five fingers, cup hands like a nest.
Make egg shape and then open hands. 2. Show four fingers, cup hands, one
under the other, like a nest. Make tree shape. As before. 3. Show three
fingers, tickle hand. 4. Show two fingers, hands pass each other in a wavy
movement. 5. Show one finger, shape hands like the sun. Shake head and wave
finger. |
|
Five little eggs in a nest of straw One egg hatched and then there were four. Four little eggs in a nest in a tree, One egg hatched and then there were three. Three little eggs all speckled blue, One egg hatched and then there were two. Two little eggs where the waters run, One egg hatched and then there was one. One little egg in the morning sun, That egg hatched and then there were none.” |
|
Five Spring flowers
Who’s afraid of
thunder and lightning? Lots of youngsters! This rhyme might just make
children more comfortable and hopefully excited at the prospect. Line 1. Hold up and wiggle five fingers, 2-5. Wiggle
thumb and then each of the fingers in sequence. 6. Clap hands loudly. 7. Draw
a zigzag in the air. 8. Squeeze hands together and look afraid. 9. Shake your
head and wag finger. 10. Raise hands up to the sky. |
Five
spring flowers, all in a row,
The first one
said, “We need rain to grow!”
The second
one said, “Oh my, we need water!”
The third
one said, “Yes, it is getting hotter!”
The fourth
one said, “I see clouds in the sky.”
The fifth
one asked, “I wonder why?”
Then BOOM went
the thunder!
And ZAP
went the lightning!
That
springtime storm was really frightening
But the
flowers weren’t worried – oh, no, no!
The rain
helped them to grow, grow, GROW!
|
Five warm eggs 🔊
A number bond
song for Easter. Words and
music by Veronica Clark. How wonderful for
children to watch young hatchling emerging from their shells. Ideally sing
this song as the eggs break. 1. Hold up five fingers close them up with the other
hand. 2. Tap back of with two fingers. 3. Open both hands up. 4. Rest one
finger on the palm of one hand. Continue until there are five hatched eggs
and no eggs in the incubator. |
|
Five warm eggs in an incubator, Tipper tipper tap and a little bit later Broken shell in an incubator, One damp chicken on the floor. Four warm eggs in an incubator, Tipper tipper tap and a little bit later Broken shell in an incubator, Two damp chickens on the floor. .... etc |
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Flowers tall, flowers small 🔊
A gentle action rhyme or finger play and counting song. ‘Five Spring flowers’, what might they be? Raising the required
fingers will be a challenge for some and will need practice. For a challenge
try ten fingers once children have got the hang of doing this with one hand. Author
unknown. Music by Dany Rosevear. Action rhyme: 1. Stretch tall. 2. Bend down low. 3. Sway arms back and forth. 4.
Count fingers. Finger play: 1. Raise middle fingers. 2. Raise little finger and thumb. 3. Make a
circle over your head. 4. Wiggle fingers. 5. Touch each finger as you count.
Repeat with ten fingers. |
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Flowers tall, flowers small, In the springtime sun. Blowing gently in the breeze, Count them one by one. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. |
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Fly, fly, butterfly fly 🔊
The world
awakes in the Springtime, time for a simple hand play. I found this in ‘Dancing as we sing’, it is
from ‘Bimbam Bellatje’ translated by K. Willwerth. Adapted by Dany Rosevear; I had some
difficulty with the lovely tune so I wrote my own easier version for younger
children that could easily be played on the guitar; it needed very slight
changes to the words to accommodate the new music. 1. Cross hand s at the wrist and flap. 2. Throw out
hands. 3. Hands make a big circle. 4. Hands fly upwards. |
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Fly, fly, butterfly fly, Whither lies your way? I fly to the sun On this lovely Springtime day. Fly, fly, butterfly fly, With your wings of every hue. From the sun please bring us, Warm greetings from the blue. |
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Fukien boat song 🔊
A Chinese
children’s song sung sometimes as a lullaby. I found it in Jean Gilbert’s
book ‘Festivals’ published by OUP in 1986. The English words and arrangement
are by Gaik See Choo who taught at a school in London. The language is the
Hokkeien dialect spoken in Penang, Malaysia. You can find out more about this
language at: http://www.lewismicropublishing.com/Publications/HokkienEnglish/HokkienEnglishFrames.htm
Younger children can enjoy the rowing movements as
they sing. |
|
Row, row the boat to Hokkien Bay, This is the time to get away. Row, row the boat to Hokkien Bay, Surely we’ll get there by midday. Chichia eh hoay chun kia’tee Hokkien, Kia kou tee poa hai chut or ean. Ah Hock ee chin sooi goa boh gian. Kam goan khee chia chia khee seng tian. |
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Good morning, Mr. Hedgehog 🔊
How sad it is that
our garden friend is a rarer and rarer sight in this country. This song is
still being sung in classrooms around the country. From ’The
nursery song and picture book’ published 1935 with words by Hilda M. Dodd,
music by Annie Irwin Dodd. Arranged by Dany Rosevear. |
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Good morning Mr. Hedgehog, And how are you today? The morning’s fine, the
sunbeams shine, We hope you’ve come to
stay. We miss you Mr. Hedgehog, As winter days go by, We cannot see where you
can be, However hard we try! We love your bright eyes
twinkling, Your shining prickles too. So small and round, upon
the ground, How funny to be you! |
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Hal-an-Tow 🔊
A late Spring
song to usher in the summer. Sung at May
Day processions accompanied by Morris Dancers and a hobby horse and other
traditions which can still be seen at Helston in the South West of England. Find out more
at: https://mainlynorfolk.info/watersons/songs/halantow.html
|
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Chorus Hal-an-tow, jolly rumble-O For we’ve been up, long
before the day-O! To welcome in the summer, To welcome in the May-O, For summer is a-coming in And winter’s gone away-O. Robin Hood and Little
John, Are both gone to the
fair-O, And we shall go to the
merry green wood To chase the buck and
hare-O, To chase the buck and
hare-O! Hal-an-tow, jolly rumble-O For we’ve been up, long
before the day-O! To welcome in the summer, To welcome in the May-O, For summer is a-coming in And winter’s gone away-O. |
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Have you ever seen a rainbow? 🔊
So lovely to
see a rainbow at any time of year but there is a freshness in the air and
quality of light that somehow makes the rainbow seem brighter and more
colourful! Music by Dany
Rosevear. |
|
Have you ever seen a
rainbow On a sunny springtime day, After it's been raining In the misty month of May? Out from the clouds it
will appear, And then it's gone away. Have you ever seen a
rainbow On a sunny springtime day? |
|
Here’s a
baby birdie O
A lap game for a baby as below or
an action game for a toddler. Learn to go up and down the musical
scale with this song. . Show young children how they might
move – older ones will have their own ideas especially for the dinosaur
verse. 1.
Hold baby ‘bird’ close .2.Touch head and wiggle bottom 3. Stretch
legs and flap elbows 4. Lift baby up 5. Gently lower baby to the floor. |
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Here’s a baby birdie, hatching
from a shell; Out pops her head, then out
comes her tail. Now her legs she stretches, her
wings she gives a flap. Then she flies and flies and
flies, Now what do you think of that? Down, down, down, down, down,
down, down, down, BOOM ! Here's a baby dinosaur, hatching
from a shell; Out pops his head, then out comes
his tail. Now his feet he's stomping, he
gives a little roar ROAR! He turns around and turns
around, Then sits down on the floor! Down, down, down, down, down,
down, down, down, BOOM ! |
|
Here’s a
branch of snowy May Maypole
song 🔊
A song and dance to celebrate arrival
of late Spring; children wear blossom in the hair to symbolize new growth
when dancing round the Maypole. For a simple Maypole dance weave
ribbons in an over and under patern. The children then turn and skip in the
opposite direction to unweave the ribbons. |
|
Here's a branch of snowy May, A branch the fairies gave me. Would you like to dance today, With a branch the fairies gave
me? Dance away, dance away, Holding high the branch of May. Dance away, dance away, Holding high the branch of May. |
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Hot
cross buns O
This is a street cry used in days
gone by to sell spicy buns with a white cross which are associated with Good
Friday. These days you can buy such buns all the year round! Find out more
at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Cross_Buns or http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8598312.stm This song is often sung as a round. Play a pat-a-cake clapping sequence
with a partner; clap own hands, partner’s right hand and then left. |
|
Hot cross buns, Hot cross buns, One a penny, Two a penny, Hot cross buns. If you have no daughters, Give them to your sons, One a penny, Two a penny, Hot cross buns. If your sons don't like
them, They're the only ones, One a penny, Two a penny, Hot cross buns. Buy them when they're hot And eat them by the ton, One a penny, Two a penny, Hot cross buns. |
|
How many
Valentines?
Count those you love, a hand play. With
the second verse be generous and inclusive when choosing names so no-one
feels left out. Tap each finger in turn. On last line of
each verse make heart shape with forefingers and thumbs. Go round more than
once if the group is large. |
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Valentines, valentines; How many do you see? Valentines, valentines, Can you count them with me? One for father, One for mother, One for grandma, too, One for sister, One for brother, And here is one for YOU! Valentines, valentines; How many do you see? Valentines, valentines, Can you count them with me? One for Florence, One for Jacob, One for Mia, too, One for Alisha, One for Jesse, And here is one for YOU! |
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