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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- 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
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Nursery rhymes and fingerplay songs to enjoy in May! Perfect songs for the fresh green season (41–50)
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.
Nursery rhymes and hand-clapping songs to enjoy in May! Perfect songs for the season of fresh greenery (51–60)
soap bubbleSakushi: Noguchi Ujō / Sakkyoku: Nakayama Shinpei
It’s a classic children’s song that straightforwardly portrays the scene of playing with soap bubbles.
The bubbles, reflecting light and soaring beautifully, can also prompt us to notice the surrounding scenery.
In early summer, when the plants are a vivid green and the sky a deep blue—especially in May—soap bubbles look particularly beautiful.
The song expresses a pure wish for the bubbles to keep flying without ever popping, conveying the joy and excitement of engaging with them.
Because it evokes the image of children playing with soap bubbles, it seems perfectly suited as a song to represent Children’s Day as well.
On the busSakushi sakkyoku: Taniguchi Kunihiro
May is a month with more chances to go on field trips a little farther by bus.
This song, “On the Bus,” makes those boring bus rides fun.
It sings about all the different movements you experience on a bus—turning right and left on curves, going up and down hills, and more.
You can move your body up, down, left, and right to match the lyrics’ motions, raise your hands to show the bus going farther and farther, or act out a countdown—so instead of just singing, you can enjoy the time by moving your whole body.
The song even describes arriving at the destination at the end, so after repeating the song several times, try to have the song “arrive” right when you actually reach your destination!
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!
TulipSakushi: Kondo Miyako / Sakkyoku: Inoue Takeshi
This song is about tulips, a flower familiar as a symbol of spring.
Tulips are commonly seen from mid-April to around May, so this song is perfect for May! In addition to the classic colors mentioned in the lyrics, tulips are said to come in a total of nine colors, including purple, green, and black.
You might not find them easily around your neighborhood, but you may be able to see them at places like botanical gardens.
We recommend going for a stroll to look for tulips in unusual colors while singing “Tulip”!
Koi in the pondMonbushō shōka
When we think of Children’s Day in May, koinobori (carp streamers) come to mind, but the carp in this song are real carp living in a pond.
There are many kinds of carp, from the ones you might find in a park pond to vividly colored nishikigoi (koi).
The lyrics depict scenes of clapping to get their attention or tossing them ofu (wheat gluten feed) out of a desire to see and play with the carp.
Koinobori floating in the sky are wonderful, but it’s also lovely to sing along and play like this with real carp in nature!