Nursery rhymes I want to sing in July: fun summer songs
July, the beginning of summer, is hot but such a fun season, isn’t it?
How about singing joyfully in the hot summer to blow the heat away?
To prevent kids from getting heatstroke, spending time indoors singing fun songs is also recommended!
Here, we’ve gathered classic children’s songs and ones often sung at nurseries and kindergartens.
There are songs you can enjoy with hand play, too.
There are lots of songs children love, so sing and play together and feel the summer!
You can have a great time at home as well.
Use this as a guide so both kids and adults can have fun together!
- [Childcare] Summer songs: Full of fun! Summer nursery rhymes & finger-play songs
- [For Seniors] Speaking of July, it’s this song! A selection of tunes to enjoy the hot summer
- [Children’s Songs for June] Fun finger-play songs and traditional nursery rhymes perfect for the rainy season
- [Sea Nursery Rhymes] Fun children's songs themed around the sea
- Children’s Songs You Can Sing in August: Summer-Friendly Kids’ Songs and Fingerplay Rhymes
- Children’s songs to sing on a rainy day / children’s songs with a rain theme
- [Tanabata Children's Songs] Fun hand-play songs and a nostalgic collection of traditional nursery rhymes and folk songs
- Masterpieces that color the hot season! Summer songs recommended for the Yutori generation
- Get pumped with popular songs from “Okaasan to Issho”! A collection of timeless tunes everyone will want to sing together
- [July Karaoke Songs] Carefully selected summer classics and popular Japanese summer hits!
- A collection of cheerful nursery rhymes—songs that make you feel happy when you sing them.
- [July Songs] A selection of Japanese summer tunes perfect for the start of the season!
- Recommended summer songs for people in their 90s: A collection of Showa-era summer tunes [2026]
Nursery rhymes to sing in July: Fun summer songs (21–30)
mixed juice
A sweet and delicious mixed juice filled with all kinds of fruits.
Let’s try making that mixed juice while singing! We gather ingredients from facial features—like apple cheeks and grape eyes—and whirl them round and round, and before you know it, the tasty mixed juice is ready! In the video it ends with a cheerful “Cheers!”, but it seems there’s also a version where it ends by saying “Here you go!” and handing it to someone.
fireworks
This piece, Fireworks, was released in 1941, and it’s astonishing to think it came out more than 70 years ago.
As you listen, scenes of fireworks rising into the summer night sky come to mind.
The composer is the same as that of the July song Tanabata-sama.
Cherished as a classic that evokes the feeling of summer, it continues to be sung to this day.
gluttonous gorilla
This is a fingerplay song about a gluttonous gorilla who finds and eats various foods.
He finds a banana, a lemon, and an onion and gobbles them up.
He peels the banana and eats it—what a yummy face! He peels the lemon and eats it—what a sour face! He also tries peeling the onion, but he can’t tell where the peel ends, so there’s nothing left to eat and he makes a sad face! Try becoming the gorilla and pretend to eat all sorts of things!
sea
A classic children’s song.
Its relaxed sound makes you picture the vast open sea and really feel the summer.
I often saw kids on what must have been summer vacation, singing this song loudly on the train.
I remember their smiling faces as they happily played hand games.
It’s a song I hope children will keep singing forever—one I’ll always love.
I also hope it continues to be sung in schools for years to come.
Watermelon-producing region
Speaking of summer, it’s got to be watermelon! That’s a classic line from way back, right? The repeating, distinctive lyrics are the secret to why kids love it.
When I see the children’s beaming smiles as they do the hand motions to this song, I can’t help but feel that a fun summer has arrived! You can enjoy it not only with hand play, but also by dancing with your whole body—together with lots of friends!
Whale Clock
With lyrics by Kazuo Seki and music by Takeshi Shibuya, this song was broadcast on NHK’s “Okaasan to Issho.” In the lyrics, a whale floating in the sea appears, and a seagull flies over to ask it the time.
The whale’s reply is a kid-pleasing pun that’s absolutely adorable.
As a sea-themed song, it’s a cool, refreshing tune perfect for July.
It’s one you’ll want to sing at least once when heading to the beach or when pool season starts at kindergarten or daycare.
water play
In summer, we get more chances to play in the water at pools, the sea, and rivers! Here’s a hand-play song with a water-play theme.
Scoop up lots of water and strike a pose as you go “shoo, shoo, shoo” with your water gun! In the second verse, it seems you scoop up hot water and turn it into a hot-water gun.
Doing this makes you want to go beyond a hand-play song and play with a real water gun! Use this for image training and have a blast with water-gun battles at the pool or the beach!