Downloadable Colored Hearts Worksheet

Valentine’s Day is a great holiday for practicing or reviewing a number of vocabulary topics. We particularly like to use it for colors, shapes, counting, and emotions.

Colors are some of the first words we teach our students, and like the alphabet and numbers, it is a good idea to practice them often. In almost every lesson, we ask the kids about the color of different items; flashcards, clothing, pictures from the storytime book, and classroom objects.
Knowing the colors is a big confidence booster, which can help students feel more comfortable speaking in English.

Here are some ideas for practicing the four language skills with colors.
Download the three different Hearts worksheets from our Valentine’s Day ideas page.

Listening – Print out several sets of the colored heart cards so that two to four students are sharing them. As you say the name of each color, students point to that card.
Give each child a blank hearts worksheet and have them color a heart as you name the colors.
Afterwards, pair up students and use the cards for a game of concentration.
Speaking – Hold up a colored heart card and have students say the name of that color. Ask students to name their favorite color.
Reading – Print the colored heart worksheet and the color word cards. Have students match the name of the color with the correct card.
Writing – give each student a blank hearts worksheet. Say the name of different colors. Students write the name of the color on the cards and then color them.

Check the Super Simple Songs Valentine’s Day ideas page for more games, free worksheets and activity suggestions.

The perfect rainy day song!

Many of our songs have more than one version. Often, we have a slowed down or simplified “Learn It” version so that young learners can get to know the words at an easy pace. After they have learned the lyrics and the gestures, they can move to the regular speed version.

“Rain, Rain, Go Away!” has both a “Learn It” and a more complicated “Play With It” version. It’s the perfect rainy day song. Use it to talk about weather, especially on days that kids are stuck inside because of wet weather.

The “Play With It” version is also great for discussing family members and outdoor activities. Father, mother, brother, sister, and baby all want to go out to play, but the rain is stopping them. Download and print the “Rain, Rain, Go Away” flashcards or watch the YouTube video. What are some of the different activities that the family wants to go do? What are some things that the kids would like to go outside and do?

Practice family members by having kids draw or color pictures of families and then hold them up as they sing each verse.
Thanks to Tracey’s English School in Wakayama, Japan for this video idea!

What are your favorite rainy day activities?

Put those fingers together!

Fingerplay songs are great for the classroom or at home. In fact, they are great for anytime and anywhere, because the only ‘equipment’ you need is your hands. Kids love to see their hands transformed as they perform the actions. Fingerplay activities engage the creative mind and help with fine motor skill development. And, it’s fun!

Here are five super simple fingerplay songs we think you’ll love:

5. Open Shut Them

This is a classic kids’ song that has been around for a long time. We use our version from Super Simple Songs 3 for teaching opposites. Our simplified lyrics teach opposite pairs such as open and shut, big and small, please / no, thank you, fast and slow, and loud and quiet. And you can use the classroom version to add your own combinations.

4. Rock, Scissors, Paper

Based on a song popularly used in Japanese kindergartens, “Rock, Scissors, Paper” from Super Simple Songs 2 is great for using your imagination to come up with all kinds of fun combinations. This song also helps teach left and right. Using just the three symbols of rock (fist), scissors (two fingers extended) or paper (hand open with fingers extended), make various foods, animals and other common objects.

3. Wheels on the Bus

This song can be sung over and over. As with all of these favorite fingerplay songs, there are many versions out there. “Wheels on the Bus” is extra fun with so many verses. This song can be done as a fingerplay, or, if space is available, act it out with chairs, a bus driver and passengers, like in this video from Ms. Lucky in Hong Kong.

2. Five Little Monkeys

Those monkeys are at it again, jumping on the bed and refusing to go to sleep. Kids can relate to this song, and are sure to giggle at the idea. We had to update our hand actions though. Growing up, we learned to dial the doctor, but nowadays, most kids have never seen a rotary phone. They punch in the numbers on a cell phone!

1. Eensey Weensey Spider

Some people say “itsy bitsy”, some people say “incy wincy”, but no matter how you say it, hands down (pardon the pun), our favorite fingerplay song is the “Eensey Weensey Spider.” This song is a staple in classrooms and homes worldwide. Besides learning about the spider, practice weather words like rain and sun.

Here’s Jeremy-sensei doing our version of the “Eensey Weensey Spider.”

Remember that you can turn any of your favorite movement and music songs into fingerplay activities. For example, we love singing Walking Walking while moving around the room, but it’s a nice change of pace to sit and do it with our fingers from time to time. Give it a try!
What are your favorite fingerplays?

10 Little Elves are Making Toys

One of the great things about teaching with songs is that they can be listened to over and over again. Kids love the repetition of hearing a favorite tune and each time, it seems, they learn a little more.

Repetition provides a great opportunity to focus on different aspects of a song to teach new vocabulary. You can listen to a song week after week in your lessons and focus on a different theme. Change your flashcards, play new games or use different gestures. Kids love mixing it up.

10 Little Elves

“10 Little Elves” is a perfect song for this. It can be used to work on a variety of vocabulary themes. Of course, it is great for practicing or reviewing counting and numbers. But you can also use it to talk about toys (along with “What Do You Want For Christmas?” from Super Simple Songs 1 and “Santa’s On His Way” from Super Simple Songs – Christmas). How do elves make different toys? What are they making? What toys do you want?

Next you can focus on action verbs. Action verbs are fun to teach because they are so…well, active. Students love demonstrating or gesturing out the different words.
This song brings in five brand new action verbs (plus sleeping) that young learners might not have encountered yet. And while they may be familiar with the action involved, maybe they don’t have the language to describe it, making this song a fun new challenge.

10 Little Elves Charades

Use the “10 Little Elves” picture cards (sewing, painting, sawing, hammering, wrapping and sleeping) to review the actions and the matching words. Then, give each student a small piece of paper on which one of the action words is written. The students should not show the paper to each other.
Tell the students they are elves and they must find other elves from their group. When you say “Go,” the elves move around the room silently, doing the action on their piece of paper. The elves make groups according to their actions and stand together.
Put the picture cards at the front of the room so students who have trouble reading can match their word to the word on the picture card. (They can also ask the teacher for help.)
Sing “10 Little Elves” one more time, this time with each group singing and performing its verse.

Have fun!

What do you want for Christmas?

We know that this time of year isn’t just about giving and receiving presents, but the holidays do provide a great opportunity to talk about gifts and toys. Many children get quite excited at the idea of Santa coming for his annual visit and want to discuss the possibilities.

“What do you want for Christmas?” is a question that many children will be asked during the upcoming holiday season. So, we decided to make a very simple, active song to help kids talk about their Christmas wishes.

There are two versions of “What Do You Want For Christmas?”, the original on Super Simple Songs 1, which features train, rocket, robot and teddy bear, and “Santa’s On His Way” from Super Simple Songs – Christmas with ball, yo-yo, bike and jump rope. The Christmas CD also features a sing-along version so that you can sing about other toys as well.

In addition to talking about different types of toys, this song is a great way to introduce “I want…” You can easily extend the conversation with “I don’t want…”, “I have….” and “I don’t have….”

These are also nice, easy songs for young children to sing and act out at Christmas pageants and parent presentations.

Language Activity

Using realia, or real objects, in the classroom is a great way to keep students’ interest. Flashcards or picture cards also work well, but there’s nothing quite like being able to touch and pass around a physical object. This is the perfect opportunity to bring in actual toys for the kids to talk about.

When introducing new vocabulary or doing a review, we like to build excitement and interest by being very mysterious. Rather than just showing students the objects or flashcards, we slowly reveal them, perhaps putting them in an envelope, bag, or hiding them around the room.

Mystery Box

One of our favorite ways of introducing new items is with the Mystery Box. It’s easy to make a Mystery Box and it may quickly become one of your favorite teaching tools. Once students recognize the song and The Box, they will be very excited when they see it, there’s always something good inside!

You can make a Mystery Box out of any box.  Just wrap it or decorate it with question marks, letters of the alphabet, seasonal pictures, or whatever you like. Just looking at the box itself can be a whole activity.

Play the “Mystery Box” song from Super Simple Songs 2 and point to the box. Ask students what they think is inside. You can give hints and have them guess. Look inside and act very surprised, intrigued, and excited to build the tension. Slowly pull out one item, in this case, a toy, and have students identify it.

Look it over together, demonstrate how to use it and make up a gesture for it. Pass it around so everyone can take a closer look. Then move on to the next item.

After you have taken all the items out of the Mystery Box, you can use the objects to play games or use with a song.

Here’s a video from MILK English in South Korea. You can see just how fun a Mystery Box can be!

Do you have more tips for using a Mystery Box in the classroom? Please share them below!

Make a shaving foam Santa

Do you need a fun activity this holiday season that the kids are sure to love? Make shaving foam Santas!

All you need are some cans of shaving foam, red food coloring and tables to work on.
Prepare the area by covering the tables in plastic covering (garbage sacks work well) or use place mats.

Be sure to go over some basic rules with the children before you start. Hands to yourself and don’t rub your eyes! After everyone agrees, you’ll be all ready to start the activity.

First, spray some shaving foam on the mat and make a big fluffy beard. Then, make the outline of his face and add some hair. You can use buttons to make his eyes, nose, and mouth, or just use shaving foam. Last, make his hat and put a fluffy white ball on top. Mix in one or two drops of red food coloring to make the hat red. It’s Santa!

After finishing, you can smooth out all of the shaving foam and practice writing letters. Show the students the S picture card, name the card, and then show them how to write the letter in the shaving cream with your finger. Let the students try. Continue with the rest of the letters from SANTA. After you have gone though all of the letters, try again…this time without showing the picture cards.

You can practice other letters of the alphabet, shapes or different holiday vocabulary like snowmen, stars, and Christmas trees.

When you are finished, get ready for clean up. Have some towels ready or get lined up to go to the sink. Shaving cream cleans up very easily, but be sure everyone washes their hands when the activity is finished.

Don’t forget to take pictures! Kids will love seeing their shaving foam Santa after he is all cleaned up.

Finish the lesson by singing “S-A-N-T-A” from Super Simple Songs – Christmas.

What do you want for Christmas?

What makes Christmas such a special time of year? There is magic in the air! It is a time filled with possibility, wonder and excitement. No matter where you look, there is something special. Decorations, twinkling lights, falling snow…and music is everywhere.

Using music in the classroom is a powerful teaching tool. Songs stay with us. Sometimes for years, or even an entire lifetime. Some of the most classic songs are those associated with the holiday season. Young children and emerging speakers may struggle with some of the more complicated lyrics and concepts in these traditional tunes and hymns. We wanted to make something special, just for them. Songs that they can understand and sing along to. Songs that are fun, playful and active. Songs that make them laugh and smile.

Christmas is also a great time to introduce a variety of other topics. In addition to traditional holiday themes, it’s easy to practice and review other basic language like counting, action verbs, clothing, weather, parts of the body, prepositions of place, and more.

We have a big collection of classroom and at-home activities to share. See our Christmas Pages for holiday songs, videos, games, lesson plans, party ideas, worksheets, and picture cards, all made super simple for emerging speakers. Watch the blog for more teaching tips. And check out the Super Simple Songs – Christmas enhanced CD for even more resources like printable lyric sheets and additional worksheets.

Be sure to send us your ideas and videos this holiday season! And have yourself a Super Simple Christmas!

Our favorite song for Valentine’s Day is Skidamarink.  It is, of course, super simple and super fun. We usually play the song in the background as we make Valentine’s Day cards or explore some Valentine’s Day worksheets.  By the time we are finished with the cards or worksheets, all of the kids are familiar with the melody and most of the words and are ready to learn the gestures and sing.

Many people ask us what “Skidamarink” means.  The answer is… nothing.  It’s just a fun word kids really enjoy playing with.

Check out the song, lyrics, gestures, video, and FREE Valentine’s Day worksheets on our Skidamarink page.

We’d love to know what you do for Valentine’s Day.  Let us know by leaving a comment!

Skidamarink a dinky dink.  Skidamarink a doo.  We love you!

There’s some exciting unpredictability, there’s some strategic planning, and there’s a whole bunch of laughter.

Devon and I recently presented this activity as part of a workshop at PEN (Primary English Teachers of Niigata), and my 5th and 6th graders have decided this is their new favorite game.

There are several variations. Start with this version.

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1) Divide your class into 2 teams and assign team captains. Play Eeney Meeney Miney Moe, and the team captains point to each student in turn.

2) At the end of the rhyme, “moe” will land on one student from each team.

3) These 2 students do Rock Scissors Paper with each other.

4) The winner returns to the team, and the loser sits down.

5) Repeat until all the students from one team are sitting down.

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Tip: You don’t need to spend much time teaching Eeney Meeney Miney Moe. You will play it so many times during this activity that the students will learn most of it automatically. Happy warning: you and the students will continue humming it for the rest of the week.

Stay tuned for variations on this activity!

Kids love marbles.  Put some in a bottle of water, add glitter and/or any other tiny shiny objects you can find and you’ll end up with a little magic in a bottle for a 4 year old.

A different color and a different number in each bottle turns it into a fun counting and color recognition activity.  Place the bottles in slots in a box labeled with corresponding numbers at the bottom and it makes a great count and match activity kids can do on their own or with a teacher/parent.