A collection of classic nursery rhymes and hand-play songs for September! Enjoy autumn with your child through songs.
With the refreshing autumn breeze comes a cool season filled with children’s smiles.
During such delightful autumn days, why not incorporate songs and fingerplay that are perfect for the season into life with the children? In fact, there are many children’s songs for September that gently depict autumn scenes, such as ginkgo leaves, chestnuts, and moon-viewing.
Here, we will introduce a wide range of songs that will be useful in September childcare—from pieces that express autumn landscapes like moon-viewing and autumn foliage to fingerplay songs.
Be sure to find songs that let you enjoy the season together with the children while experiencing the ambiance of autumn.
- [Children’s Songs of Autumn] Autumn songs, school songs, and traditional children’s rhymes. A collection of classic pieces to sing in autumn.
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- Song of the Maple Leaves. An autumn children’s song/nursery rhyme/folk song
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- A collection of classic nursery rhymes and hand-play songs for September! Enjoy autumn with your child through songs.
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- Nursery rhymes and fingerplay songs to enjoy in May! Songs perfect for the fresh green season
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- Recommended Autumn Songs for People in Their 80s: A Collection of Seasonal Kayōkyoku and Children's Songs
- Children’s songs, folk songs, and nursery rhymes about insects
September Nursery Rhymes & Fingerplay Classics! Enjoy autumn with your kids through songs (61–70)
Child of Autumn
This is one of the works by Hachiro Sato, who wrote the lyrics for many children’s songs, and it features various symbols of autumn in its lyrics.
It portrays children and is a song that warms the heart.
As you listen, it may remind some of you of your own childhood.
Autumn Moon (Moon)
This piece is the song sung in the autumn section of Rentarō Taki’s suite “The Four Seasons.” The suite consists of four pieces depicting the landscapes of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the spring section is the best-known piece, “Hana” (“Flowers”).
Rentarō Taki is also known for works such as “Kōjō no Tsuki” (“Moon over the Ruined Castle”) and “Hakone Hachiri,” and was an active composer during the Meiji era.
While these beautiful Japanese melodies may be challenging for young children, please do let them listen.
They will surely provide some kind of stimulus to the children’s minds and hearts.
autumn field
This is “Autumn Field” from Hakushu Kitahara’s Six Children’s Songs.
The composition was done by Ikuma Dan.
Among the songs in this collection, it is probably the best known and most often sung.
It is a song in which “that child” from the lyrics walks along a small path, and it captures the loneliness one feels in autumn with remarkable skill.
Many of you have probably felt that same loneliness, haven’t you?
Play song ‘Perfectly Round Moon’
September is known as the time when the moon looks most beautiful.
Since long ago, people have looked at the moon’s craters and imagined all sorts of things—like a rabbit pounding mochi or a crab raising its claws.
This is a play song that turns those imaginings into fun.
It’s an activity even very young children—who may not yet understand what the moon is—can enjoy.
By singing it to them, parents can help their children become aware of the moon; when they do, they might observe it while wondering, “I wonder if there’s a rabbit up there.”
wild chrysanthemum
The children’s song “Nogiku” lets you feel the comforts of autumn.
Released in 1942 as a Ministry of Education song, it depicts wild chrysanthemums blooming proudly in autumn fields and hills, with a gentle and beautiful melody.
It’s a piece that invites you to picture wild chrysanthemums basking in autumn sunlight and scenic autumn landscapes as you listen.
It could be nice to talk about the features of wild chrysanthemums and the autumn scenery bathed in soft sunlight, incorporating simple hand motions as a play song.
The lyrics describe pale purple wild chrysanthemums—try looking up images and enjoying the hand-play song while viewing the flowers, whether at preschool or at home.
Bright Red Autumnsakushi: satsuma tadashi / sakkyoku: kobayashi hideo
This song, vividly depicting the colors of autumn, expresses the season’s beauty through the eyes of children.
Scenes of nature turning red—ivy, maple leaves, and snake gourds—appear one after another, conveying the pure joy of children who discover them.
First introduced in October 1963 on NHK’s “Tanoshii Uta,” it has since remained beloved through “Minna no Uta.” The lyrics, which fully embody Tadashi Satsuma’s poetic worldview, allow children to feel the beauty and vitality of autumn’s nature.
It’s a perfect piece for autumn events at nurseries and kindergartens, or for family strolls.
Why not sing it together and joyfully welcome the arrival of autumn?
rabbit
Autumn is the season for moon viewing.
Many nursery schools and kindergartens probably enjoy making crafts with motifs like the moon, rabbits, and moon-viewing dumplings.
“Usagi” is a traditional Japanese children’s song that lets you savor the atmosphere of moon viewing through singing.
The song does not depict a rabbit on the moon, but rather a rabbit gazing at the moon.
By sharing episodes related to moon viewing and singing together with friends, or doing hand-play while singing, children can feel the customs of autumn more closely.
