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 hand-play songs to enjoy in May! Songs perfect for the fresh green season (91–100)
To the Sun in the Palm of Your HandSakushi: Yanase Takashi / Sakkyoku: Izumi Taku
A wonderful song in which Takashi Yanase’s gentle lyrics and Taku Izumi’s bright melody blend beautifully, teaching us that earthworms, dragonflies, and frogs are our precious friends too.
Created in 1961 and broadcast the following year on NHK’s “Minna no Uta,” it quickly captured the hearts of many.
It has since been covered by numerous artists, including Dark Ducks and BON-BON BLANCO, and featured in the film “Chiisana Jumbo” and the TV anime “Sore Ike! Anpanman.” Cherished across generations, from children to adults, this work is also perfect as a hand-play song for families to enjoy together.
scarecrowMonbushō shōka
It seems that this song is actually a Ministry of Education school song published in 1911 (Meiji 44) in the Elementary School Songbook for the second grade.
The theme of the song is the scarecrow used to drive away pests like crows from rice fields and vegetable patches.
Thanks to this song, there are probably quite a few people named Yamada who ended up with the nickname “Scarecrow.” These days, there may even be children who don’t know what a scarecrow is.
shoulder tapSakushi: Saijō Yaso / Sakkyoku: Nakayama Shinpei
A song themed around a shoulder massage that will make your mom happy on Mother’s Day.
It describes gently tapping your mother’s shoulders to the rhythm.
The lyrics also notice the changes in your mother as you massage her, as well as the seasonal changes around the home.
While singing this warm, heartfelt song, why not actually give your mom a shoulder massage as a Mother’s Day gift to express your everyday gratitude? She’s sure to be delighted!
rice plantingSakushi: Inoue Takeru / Sakkyoku: Nakayama Shinpei
This song is a Ministry of Education school song released in 1942 (Showa 17).
Nowadays we have bread, pasta, and other foods, so it may not feel as striking, but the lyrics evoke a time when rice was precious.
The opening lines are said to have been influenced by a Fukushima folk song that was sung as a “Honen Odori” (Good Harvest Dance) to thank the rice-field deity for a bountiful harvest.
KintaroSakushi: Ishihara Wasaburō / Sakkyoku: Tamura Torazō
This is a Japanese Ministry of Education song included in “Children’s Songs” in 1900.
The piece sings about the folktale Kintaro of the same name.
Kintaro, depicted as a lively boy carrying a hatchet, riding on a bear’s back, and wearing a diamond-shaped bib, became the model for Boys’ Festival dolls.
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.
Song of MaySakkyoku: Mōtsaruto / Sakushi: Aoyagi Zengo
This is the piece known as “Longing for Spring,” which Mozart composed in January 1791 as an easy-to-understand song for children, based on the theme of his final Piano Concerto, K.
595, and to which Japanese lyrics were later added.
It has been sung as a Ministry of Education school song.
The content of the lyrics preserves the imagery of the original words, and the gentle triple meter seems to express the pleasant weather of May.
In conclusion
Songs and hand games for May in early childhood settings offer a precious time to experience the changing seasons together with children. By gently incorporating May nursery rhymes and fingerplays into daily activities, you’ll likely see even more smiles from the children. Find your favorite May songs and bring richer color to life at the nursery.