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 songs for the fresh green season (31–40)
Panda Rabbit Koalasakushi: takada hiroo / sakkyoku: inui hiroki
The fresh greenery of May feels great, and it’s the perfect season for a trip to the zoo, isn’t it? That’s when this song—featuring three kinds of animals appearing one after another—is perfect for parents and kids to sing and play together.
With lyrics by Hiroo Takada and music by Yuki Inui, it has been loved for many years, including being featured on the December 1990 album “NHK Okaasan to Issho Best 35.” Broadcast on NHK’s “Okaasan to Issho,” this piece is especially fun because you can imitate animals in time with the rhythmic calls! The simple choreography is easy to learn right away, making it perfect for getting everyone excited on a field trip bus or at a picnic.
Be sure to strike cute poses together and have fun!
Height comparisonSakushi: Umino Atsushi / Sakkyoku: Nakayama Shinpei
This is a Japanese children’s song, published in the Taisho era, that depicts the festivities of Tango no Sekku (the Boys’ Festival).
In ancient China, Tango no Sekku was considered a day to ward off evil and pray for health.
Customs included going out to the fields to gather medicinal herbs, displaying dolls made of mugwort, and drinking shobu (sweet flag) liquor.
Close It, Open Itsakushisha fushou
In dazzlingly fresh May greenery, don’t you feel like getting active and playing with the kids? That’s when the perfect choice is that familiar hand-play song with the motions of opening and closing your hands.
Simple yet irresistibly engaging for children, its melody is actually said to have its roots in an opera by the French thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
In Japan, it became widely loved in its current form as a play song after being included in the May 1947 elementary school textbook First-Grade Music.
Its easy-to-remember rhythm and movements are also great for interacting with very young children who can’t speak yet.
How about trying it outdoors on a picnic, sitting face-to-face and playing together as parent and child?
Stroll MarchSakushi/Sakkyoku: Tsujibayashi Miho
On nice spring days, it’s really fun to play outside, isn’t it? This month’s song on “Okaasan to Issho,” Osanpo March, is also a lovely tune that perfectly captures the refreshing feel of May.
The lyrics—“Let’s walk across the rainbow; it’s a colorful path, so it’s fun.
Full of energy, let’s keep walking all the way to space”—are easy to relate to.
Once you hear the marching rhythm, you might feel like walking while singing along.
On sunny days, singing outdoors is great too.
Osanpo March, sung by Yuuichirou Hanada and Atsuko Ono, is available for download on RecoChoku.
Happy Children’s DaySakushi: Maki Fusayu / Sakkyoku: Hara Kenichi
Exactly as the title suggests, this is a Japanese Ministry of Education school song themed around May 5th, Children’s Day.
It’s a piece notable for its somewhat nostalgic melody and refreshing lyrics.
Incidentally, in 1948 May 5th was designated a national holiday, and the festival of Tango no Sekku came to be known as Children’s Day.
Nursery rhymes and fingerplay songs to enjoy in May! Perfect songs for the fresh green season (41–50)
Tea PickingMonbushō shōka
It is a Japanese children’s song and Ministry of Education shoka, published in 1912, known for its opening line “Summer is coming near on the 88th night.” This piece is said to be based on a tea-picking song from Ujitawara Village in Kyoto.
Incidentally, the “88th Night” is one of the zassetsu (seasonal days outside the traditional 24 solar terms), referring to the 88th day counted from the start of spring (Risshun), which typically falls around May 2 each year.
The Very Hungry CaterpillarGensaku: Erikku Karu / Yakushi: Mori Hisashi / Sakkyoku: Shinzawa Toshihiko
This is a song from the picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which features a caterpillar with a red face and a long green body.
The lyrics follow the story in the book, so just like in the book, the hungry caterpillar eats lots of different foods.
The song has a light, gentle melody, making it great to enjoy while reading the book! Caterpillars themselves appear in large numbers in May, so this song is perfect for May.
It might be fun to observe real caterpillars while enjoying the book and the song together.
