Nursery rhymes and fingerplay songs to enjoy in May! Songs perfect for the fresh green season
In dazzlingly green May, many of you are surely looking for children’s songs and hand-play tunes to sing with kids at daycare or at home.
Songs that evoke spring really capture children’s hearts and add color to everyday activities.
In this article, we’ll introduce plenty of nursery rhymes and hand-play songs perfect for May.
From familiar, easy-to-sing melodies to ones that get kids moving, we’ve got a wide range—so try incorporating them into your daily childcare and parent-child time!
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Nursery Rhymes and Fingerplay Songs to Enjoy in May! Perfect Tunes for the Season of Fresh Greenery (61–70)
Watermelon-producing regionsakushi: takada sankuzou/genkyoku: amerika min’yō
This song is a Japanese piece based on the American folk song “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” and many of you have probably played the hand game that goes with it.
The lyricist Sakuzo Takada, who wrote the Japanese lyrics for this song, also adapted many other well-loved foreign songs in Japan, including “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” “Ten Little Indians,” and “London Bridge.”
cuckooDoitsu min’yō
This song is a nursery rhyme widely known in German-speaking countries.
The original lyrics were written by Hoffmann von Fallersleben, a 19th-century German writer of children’s songs.
There are two Japanese lyric versions—one by Masami Ōura and one by Junichi Kobayashi—and the latter half of the lyrics differs between them.
The opening melody matches the cuckoo’s call perfectly, making it a memorable tune.
cherry
Sakuranbon is a hand-play song themed around cherries, which are in season from May to July.
You use your hands and arms to represent cherries and keep the rhythm by swinging your arms widely from side to side.
The cherry fruits are shown with clenched fists! You can stack your clenched hands under your chin to look like a beard, place them on top of your head to imitate a bear, or stretch your arms straight out in front to show driving a car—there are lots of different poses included.
Of course, you can freely change the poses made with your clenched hands! What unique poses will the children come up with?
A-I-U-E-O nigirisakushi/sakkyoku: shuu saeko
A bright, rhythmic tune themed around the joy and smiles of making rice balls as a family.
With lyrics that spark curiosity and imagination about everyday ingredients, it captivates children’s hearts.
First broadcast on NHK’s “Okaasan to Issho” in April 2001, the song has been covered by many artists, including Satoko Yamano and the Himawari Kids.
It’s used in nursery schools and kindergartens as part of food education, and it’s also recommended to hum along at home while making onigiri with your child.
Song of a little birdsakushi: Yoda Jun’ichi / sakkyoku: Akutagawa Yasushi
This charming children’s song features a bright, light melody and adorable onomatopoeia that evokes birds chirping.
Depicting a little bird gently calling for its mother and father, it was released in 1954, and its tender lyrics expressing love for parents have warmed hearts across generations.
Many people likely sang it in nursery school or kindergarten when they were young.
In educational settings, it is often sung during May’s Bird Week.
It’s a perfect song for families to enjoy together with hand-play actions.