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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- [Children’s Day Hand-Play Songs] A Collection of Nursery Rhymes & Traditional Children’s Songs for Parents and Kids to Enjoy Together
- [For Seniors] A collection of nostalgic classics to sing in May: popular songs everyone can hum together
- Songs for an Unwinding Heart in May: From Showa-Era Classics to Recent Hit Singles
- [Children’s Songs for June] Fun finger-play songs and traditional nursery rhymes perfect for the rainy season
- [Karaoke Songs for May] A list of classic tracks that capture the lingering spirit of spring and the arrival of early summer
- Blow away the May blues! Cheer songs and feel-good tunes to listen to in May
- March nursery rhymes & hand play songs! Spring songs you can enjoy with your kids
- [For Seniors] Spring Songs You'll Want to Hum: Feel the Season with Nostalgic Classics
- Spring songs from the early Showa era: a collection of kayōkyoku and shōka that evoke spring
- [Hand Play] Popular with kids! A collection of trendy hand-play songs and nostalgic traditional children’s songs
Nursery rhymes and fingerplay songs to enjoy in May! Perfect songs for the fresh green season (41–50)
Tan-go Festivalsakushi/sakkyoku: ichigokurabu
Tango no Sekku is one of the five seasonal festivals and is also called the Iris Festival.
We know it’s a long-standing custom, but these days it’s become more like an event to celebrate children’s growth—eating kashiwa-mochi, flying carp streamers, and soaking in iris baths.
The song “Tango no Sekku” is one of the “Ichigo Club Original Songs” created by Ichigo Club.
Its melody hits all the right notes of a classic children’s song and is very pleasant to listen to.
The lyrics, with their “I’m going to grow big! I’m going to be strong!” vibe, are also encouraging.
It’s an easy song to sing, and I hope more people get to know it.
motherSakushi: Tanaka Nana / Sakkyoku: Nakada Yoshinao
The children’s song “Okaasan” (Mother), perfect for Mother’s Day, sings about a kind mother.
The child tells their mother she smells nice and realizes that the scent comes from the household chores she does every day for them.
A mother filled with such lovely scents deserves nothing but gratitude! How about trying to do some of those chores yourself on Mother’s Day? She will surely be happy—not only because you help with the chores, but also because she can see how you’re growing by taking the initiative.
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.
Summer has comeSakushi: Sasaki Nobutsuna / Sakkyoku: Koyama Sakunosuke
It’s still a little early for summer, but May is when we start to feel summer in the warm weather.
Perfect for May, the beginning of early summer, is the song “Natsu wa Kinu.” At first glance, “kinu” might make you think that summer hasn’t come, but in old Japanese usage it actually means “summer has come.” The lyrics mention various things you can see in May.
When you start seeing many of those things, you really feel that summer is just around the corner.
That sentiment is woven into the song.
It might be nice to go out and look for the early-summer scenery that appears in May, just like in the lyrics!
PicnicYakushi: Hagiwara Eiichi / Sakkyoku: Igirisu min’yō
With the warm, pleasant weather in May, it makes you want to pack a bento and head out for a picnic, doesn’t it? The perfect companion for such a fun picnic is the children’s song “Picnic.” This song, which depicts the cheerful walk toward a picnic at a ranch, is based on English and African American folk songs.
The scenes featuring ducks and goats at the ranch are especially fun, with parts where you imitate their calls! WANIMA’s song “Yatte Miyou,” which was featured in au’s Santaro commercial series and is based on the melody of this song, also became a hot topic!
Koinobori Swimming Through Space!machi akari
Koinobori is a custom that started in the Edo period, said to have begun among samurai families to pray for the healthy growth of boys.
Nowadays, people raise them to wish for children’s health regardless of gender.
The famous song “Koinobori” is such a well-known nursery rhyme that every Japanese person can sing it.
Do you know a fun song that’s like a parody of that “Koinobori”? Akari Machi’s “Swimming Through Space! Koinobori” tells the story of carp streamers swimming beyond rooftops, past the clouds, and all the way into outer space.
It even has a proper punchline where they get hungry and come back home, making it a real delight.
Listen once and you might get hooked!
Warm and leisurely strollingSakushi: Sakata Hiroo / Sakkyoku: Komori Akihiro
Warm, balmy May is the perfect season for a stroll, isn’t it? A song I recommend for such times is the children’s song “Poka Poka Teku Teku.” Its composer, Akihiro Komori, created many well-known children’s songs such as “Genkotsuyama no Tanuki-san” and “Obentō-bako no Uta.” This song describes marching along with friends on a sunny, beautiful day, swinging your arms and legs wide as you walk on and on.
Its poppy, lighthearted melody feels like it could keep your feet moving forever! It’s surprisingly fun to just wander endlessly with friends without deciding on a destination.
Be sure to sing this song and enjoy an unknown journey!