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!
- [Songs for May] Tracks that suit fresh greenery and driving & Mother's Day songs
- Nursery rhymes to sing in spring: a collection of classic songs you'll want to sing with your children
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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.
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!
carp streamerSakushi: Kondō Miyako / Sakkyoku: Fumei
Speaking of May, it’s Children’s Day! And when it’s Children’s Day, you often see carp streamers gently swaying as they swim through the sky.
There’s a classic Children’s Day nursery song called “Koinobori” that sings about a family of these carp streamers.
There are a few other songs that also feature koinobori and use kanji in their titles, but this one is the most popular and is often sung in preschools and kindergartens.
The song depicts a large black or blue father carp streamer and small, adorable child carp streamers swimming in the sky.
On Children’s Day, why not head out to look for koinobori in your neighborhood while singing this song?
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!
Fruit TarōSakushi: Okuhara Yume / Sakkyoku: Bearuguraundo
Here’s an energetic song also featured on NHK’s popular children’s program “Okaasan to Issho”: “Kudamono Taro.” The lyrics are by Yume Okuhara, who is also active as a picture book and children’s story author.
Spotlighting Momotaro, the boy born from a peach, and coming up with “Kudamono Taro,” a boy born from fruit, is just the sort of approach you’d expect from a fairy-tale writer.
In the program, fruits like bananas and cherries appear in colorful costumes, shaking their hips and doing playful shoving games, making it impossible to look away.
It’s perfect for May and the start of a new school term, where every child can be the star no matter which fruit they play.
A highly recommended song you can enjoy while moving your body.
Oh, the pastures are greenLyrics: Czechoslovak folk song · Ugo Nakada / Composition: Czechoslovak folk song
In the fresh, shimmering greens of May, a song that’s perfect for singing while feeling nature’s warmth is the Czechoslovak folk song “Oh, the Meadows Are Green.” In Japan, the lyrics written by pastor Ugo Nakata are widely known, and the song gained popularity after being featured on NHK’s “Minna no Uta” in 1961.
The lyrics, which describe how the snow melts as winter turns to spring and nourishes the growing greenery, let you feel the changing of the seasons.
Enjoy the spirit of May and sing it out with lots of energy!
The Hill Where Mandarin Orange Blossoms BloomSakushi: Katō Shōgo / Sakkyoku: Kainuma Minoru
When it comes to winter foods to enjoy by the kotatsu, mikan (mandarin oranges) are a must! Before the fruit forms, mikan trees begin to bloom around early May.
This children’s song, which evokes the sight of hills covered with lots of cute white mikan blossoms, is absolutely perfect for May! The lyrics—reminiscing about a mother while looking at ships and islands seen from a place filled with blooming mikan flowers—also make it fitting for Mother’s Day.
There’s even a slightly challenging hand-play version of this song, so it might be fun to try it together with Mom on Mother’s Day!