[Childcare] Recommended songs and nursery rhymes for November: Fun autumn fingerplay songs
November is late autumn—the season of falling leaves—and a time when we start to feel winter approaching.
This time, we’ve gathered children’s songs and fingerplay songs with a November theme.
From pieces that evoke autumn scenery to songs that hint at the coming of winter, we’ll introduce plenty of sing-and-play fingerplay tunes!
They’re perfect for play at home, daycare, or kindergarten, so be sure to give them a try.
We’ve provided movement examples, but it’s also fun to arrange them in your own style!
Before the real cold sets in, let’s all sing and play together on these autumn days!
- [Children’s Songs of Autumn] Autumn songs, school songs, and traditional children’s rhymes. A collection of classic pieces to sing in autumn.
- [2026] Songs to listen to in November: masterpieces of late autumn, autumn songs.
- Recommended children's songs and hand play songs for October! Music time in childcare that feels like autumn.
- Song of the Maple Leaves. An autumn children’s song/nursery rhyme/folk song
- December children's songs, folk songs, and nursery rhymes: fun winter hand-play songs
- Songs for January: Nursery rhymes and fingerplay songs we want children to grow familiar with
- A collection of classic nursery rhymes and hand-play songs for September! Enjoy autumn with your child through songs.
- Collection of winter nursery rhymes, folk songs, and children's songs. Includes fun winter hand-play songs too.
- [Autumn Songs] Songs of autumn. Classic tracks and popular favorites you’ll want to listen to in the fall.
- [For Seniors] Autumn Songs That Touch the Heart: From Nostalgic Children’s Songs and School Songs to Showa-Era Kayōkyoku
- Snow Songs to Enjoy in Winter! Children's Snow Nursery Rhymes & Hand-Play Songs
- Recommended for daycare activities! A Halloween song you can sing and play with
- Autumn anime songs: iconic tracks for the deepening fall
[Childcare] Recommended songs and nursery rhymes for November: Fun autumn finger-play songs (31–40)
Sticky-bug bug
“Hittsuki Mushi-Mushi” is a play song where you stick to something that matches the color mentioned in the lyrics.
Like the game “Color Tag,” kids love this kind of play! If you’re playing outside in November, choosing colors like red, brown, yellow, and black to match the seasonal scenery makes the game easier and adds a sense of the season—highly recommended.
Of course, it’s fun indoors too, so give it a try!
cricketSakushi: Sekine Eiichi / Sakkyoku: Akutagawa Yasushi
In autumn, you can hear the beautiful sounds of autumn insects from outside.
With their various calls like “chirori-chirori” and “korokoro,” these insects make us feel the arrival of fall.
Among them, crickets are especially familiar; many children may have even held one and observed it up close.
This song is about those familiar crickets—a beautiful piece with a calm mood that’s perfect for an autumn night.
When you hear the voices of the autumn insects, try singing along!
oden (Japanese stew with assorted ingredients such as daikon radish, tofu, fish cakes, and eggs simmered in a light soy-based broth)
Oden is a hand-play song that combines the delicious winter dish “oden” with simple hand movements.
The ingredients in oden actually include lots of shapes like circles, triangles, and squares.
It’s a song that even children who can’t speak yet can enjoy, so we recommend first listening to it repeatedly.
For the circle, triangle, and square gestures, teachers at nurseries and kindergartens, as well as parents and children together, should try them in a hand-play style.
It’s even more fun if you sing while imagining a tasty bowl of oden!
peach, apple, pear, pineapple
A hand game song that uses fruits loved by children lets them learn while having fun.
In this song, kids move their bodies to a rhythmic tune themed around autumn harvests like peaches and apples.
The lyrics are simple, but the way you pretend to have eaten the fruits and gradually leave them out makes it a playful activity that helps build children’s memory and concentration.
Often used in nurseries and kindergartens, this hand game is perfect for children around ages 3 to 5.
Why not include it in autumn events or daily childcare and have everyone sing and play together? It’s a lovely song that helps kids learn fruit names while also feeling the change of seasons!
Excuse me, udon shop.
Here’s a hand-play song that features lots of food and is likely to be popular with children: “Excuse Me, Mr.
Udon Shop.” A song about udon is perfect for the chilly autumn season.
In the first verse it’s the udon shop, and the key point is adding gestures for tanuki and kitsune.
In the second verse it’s the ramen shop, and just like with udon, the slurping-noodles motion is very cute.
The third verse is a restaurant, and you do gestures that match each food; I think it’s fine if everyone does their own different gestures however they like.
The way the food theme changes from verse one to three is another point that draws children in.
It’s also fun to make parody verses by swapping in everyone’s favorite foods!
[Childcare] Recommended Songs and Nursery Rhymes for November: Fun Autumn Finger-Play Songs (41–50)
Acorns and a Little Squirrel
This is the counting song “Acorns and the Little Squirrel,” themed around acorns and a squirrel.
It’s a song where the acorns being chased by the squirrel keep increasing, and you can play along by counting numbers 1 to 10 with your hands.
As kids enjoy the growing number of acorns and wonder, “What happens at the end?”, they naturally learn the numbers too—so it’s recommended even for children who struggle with number order! The melody is very cute, so it’s fun just to listen to as well!
A squirrel is digging a hole.
Acorns are one of autumn’s seasonal words.
How about trying “Risu wa Anahori” with that theme? The song features lyrics by Izumiichi Hanafusa and music by Masao Tomioka.
It portrays a squirrel digging a hole and hiding acorns inside.
Because the same phrases are repeated, it’s easy to get familiar with.
Another fun point is the comical choreography that imitates a squirrel’s movements.
Try becoming a squirrel yourself and have fun with it!
