Recommended children's songs and hand play songs for October! Music time in childcare that feels like autumn.
The season of children’s songs that warmly embrace the heart in October has arrived.
Crimson dragonflies at dusk, cosmos flowers, golden rice ready for harvest, and children going out to collect acorns and fallen leaves… Scenes that color autumn in Japan are beautifully depicted in the lyrics and melodies of these songs.
In this article, we introduce autumn children’s songs beloved in early childhood settings, as well as seasonal finger-play songs you can enjoy with kids.
Please sing these autumn songs—cherished across generations—together with your loved ones, children and adults alike!
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Recommended children's songs and hand play songs for October! Music time in childcare that feels like autumn (31–40)
Tanuki of Fist MountainSakushi: Kayama Yoshiko/Shokyoku: Komori Akihiro
As everyone knows, it’s a classic hand-play song.
Children’s author Yoshiko Kayama wrote the story-rich lyrics, and composer Akihiro Komori set them to an easy-to-love melody.
This play song not only features the cute figure of a tanuki, but also conjures up gentle, idyllic autumn scenes—like the white butterfly and red flowers depicted in the lyrics.
The song and its story come together as one, enriching the listener’s imagination.
After it was featured on the TV program “Tobe Tobe Panpororin” in 1973, it spread across Japan.
The motions—like stacking clenched hands—and the lively choreography that matches the lyrics are great fun too.
Become tanuki together as parent and child, and give it a try!
Little Sumo Bear
This is “Sumo Bear,” where you wrestle with a little bear.
The song includes actual calls used in sumo matches, so it’s perfect for listening while you practice sumo with your friends! Speaking of wrestling with a bear, that brings to mind Kintaro—a boy so strong he could beat a bear in sumo, yet kindhearted.
May you grow to be strong and gentle like Kintaro.
gluttonous gorilla
This song is a hand-play tune popular at nursery schools and kindergartens, featuring a gluttonous gorilla who keeps eating different foods one after another.
Because it also lets you express how the food is eaten and what it tastes like, it’s great as a teaching tool for young children.
At the end, there’s a punchline where an onion appears—but it’s all peel, so you can’t eat it.
You can incorporate any edible item into the lyrics and keep adding your own original verses, so it’s a good idea to include the child’s favorite foods.
World of Stars
Perhaps because it was originally a hymn, it carries a slightly formal and distant air, but the lyrics are full of beautiful words, making it a song I would love children to sing.
It’s also lovely to gaze at the starry sky on an autumn night and let your thoughts wander to the mystery and vastness of the universe.
The lyrics of Hymn No.
312 are also sung in churches and other places.
Child of Autumn
Here is a song with lyrics by Hachirō Satō, known for works like “I Found a Little Autumn” and “Happy Hinamatsuri.” The music was composed by Yasuo Suehiro, who is also known as the director of an aquarium.
You can feel Satō’s warm, affectionate perspective toward children in the lyrics.
It may be less well-known among children’s songs, but it’s a lovely piece—please try singing it together with your child.
It’s a charming song filled with the spirit of Japan’s good old days.
Recommended Nursery Rhymes & Finger-Play Songs for October! Autumn-Themed Music Time in Preschool (41–50)
Acorns and a Little Squirrel
Donguri to Korisu is also a counting song, making it an especially recommended tune for children at the age where they want to learn numbers.
As the acorns flee from the chasing squirrel, they increase one by one—one, two—and the song counts up to ten.
Even if a child doesn’t yet grasp the concept of numbers, they can have fun singing and naturally learn the numbers and their order.
Before long, they’ll likely want to count all sorts of things on their own! Even setting aside the numbers, it’s a charming song about a squirrel and acorns, so try singing it in different ways to suit everyone from infants to older kindergarteners.
bright red maple leaves
Speaking of autumn, there are lots of fallen leaves like maple leaves, and they’re often used for crafts.
The hand-play song “Makkana Momiji,” brimming with seasonal feeling, is a children’s song you can enjoy not only by singing, but also with hand motions—and even by holding real maple leaves and having fun.
Even if you don’t use real fallen leaves, letting paper maple leaves you made yourselves fall from the sky and catching them will surely make it even more enjoyable.
With a hand-play that captures the atmosphere of autumn, plus an active game using leaves, it seems like kids can have twice the fun.
