Children’s songs, folk songs, and nursery rhymes about insects
We’ve put together a collection of children’s songs about insects.
Don’t worry—by insects we don’t mean the kind everyone dislikes, like cockroaches, but rather the beloved ones such as butterflies, ladybugs, honeybees, and red dragonflies.
The selection includes a variety of songs: newer children’s tunes, folk songs, traditional nursery rhymes, and classic playground songs.
Many boys in particular seem to love insects, so teaching them these songs might make them happy.
Cute insect songs are also popular with toddlers, so they’re definitely worth learning.
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Children’s songs, folk songs, and nursery rhymes about insects (1–10)
Mr. Ant on an errand
Lyrics were written by Eiichi Sekine, and the music was composed by Ikuma Dan.
As NHK prepared to resume a children’s program that had been suspended due to the worsening war situation, the piece was announced in 1950.
This marked Sekine’s debut as a children’s song writer, and afterward Dan went on to create works such as “Yagi-san Yūbin” and “Zō-san.”
To the Sun in the Palm of Your Hand
Lyrics by Takashi Yanase, music by Tak Izumi.
It was played in the music segment of NET News Show, for which Takashi Yanase handled the script composition.
The following year, in 1962, it was broadcast on NHK’s Minna no Uta, and in 1965 The Bonny Jacks covered it and it became a hit.
It was included in sixth-grade elementary school music textbooks and was selected as one of Japan’s 100 Best Songs.
Incidentally, “amenbo” (water strider) was originally sung as “namekuji” (slug).
snail
The traditional children’s song “Katatsumuri” (Snail) is one that almost everyone has sung at least once! With its relaxed tempo and lyrics that are almost the same in the first and second verses, it’s easy to remember.
It’s also great for indoor play during the rainy season, when snails are commonly seen! Singing with piano accompaniment is fun, but you can also enjoy it as a hand-play song or a gesture game.
You can even make snail hats together as a craft—there are lots of ways to enjoy it!
Children’s songs, folk songs, and nursery rhymes about insects (11–20)
Come, firefly
It is a traditional children’s song of unknown authorship, or a call-and-response song, that sings about catching fireflies (a firefly hunt).
Other children’s songs about fireflies include Natsu wa Kinu, with lyrics by Nobutsuna Sasaki and music by Sakunosuke Koyama, and Hotaru, a Ministry of Education school song with lyrics by Takeshi Inoue and music by Koichi Shimofusa.
Song of Insects
The song “Konchū no Uta” (Insect Song) is one you’ll definitely want to enjoy together with the video! It’s also educational, teaching about the structure of insects’ bodies.
Adults take it for granted that “if it has six legs, it’s an insect,” but for kids it’s a mystery—“What about spiders? Aren’t pill bugs insects?” The song and illustrations explain it clearly.
In a kindergarten or nursery setting, adapting it into a picture-story show would likely delight the children! It seems like it would spark their curiosity too, with questions like, “So is this an insect?” spreading one after another.
butterfly
Based on an old German nursery rhyme, the kokugaku scholar Nomura Akiashi adapted the lyrics of a children’s song that had been sung throughout the Okazaki area of Aichi Prefecture, adding new words, and it was published in 1881 in the Ministry of Education’s Shogaku Shoka-shu under the title “Chōchō.” The widely known version today dates from 1947, at which time verses from the second onward were abolished.
Butt-biting bug
It was broadcast on NHK’s “Minna no Uta” in 2007, became popular, and was released on CD.
In the same year, at the 58th NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen, a special segment featured a stage performance with children and a performer in an Oshiri Kajiri Mushi costume.
Although the artist name is “Oshiri Kajiri Mushi,” in reality five people, including Uruma Delvi (lyrics/composition) and Hirotaka Matsumae (co-composer/arranger), sang using a voice changer.