Skidamarink a Doo, We Love You!

“Skidamarink” is our favorite Valentine’s Day song, it’s a little bit silly and very sweet. The actual word “skidamarink” doesn’t ‘mean’ anything, but it’s sure fun to say!!

Besides singing it to tell people you love them at Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day, Skidamarink can also be used to talk about times of day like morning, afternoon, evening and night time (symbolized by the moon).

When do you…?

Demonstrate the times of day gestures from Skidamarink, (download the gesture guide here) for morning, afternoon, evening and the moon. Use a cardboard clock to talk about the different times of day and what types of activities you do at those times. Ask kids about their daily and weekly activities. When do you eat breakfast? Go to school? Eat lunch? Have soccer practice? Go to English lesson? Eat dinner? Take a bath? Go to sleep?
Put the students in pairs and have a dialogue practicing with each other.

When do you….eat dinner?
I eat dinner in the evening.

When do you…eat breakfast?
I eat breakfast in the morning.

Afterwards, watch the video and sing Skidamarink together.

Let us know what you’ll be doing for Valentine’s Day this year!

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?

Say Cheese!

A couple of times a year, most schools have a party or an event. For us, our main events are the Spring Picnic, Halloween Party, and Christmas Party. A key feature of each party is the group picture.

Getting dozens of young children (and their even younger brothers and sisters) together for picture is a little bit like herding cats. It can be challenging. So to help out with that, we made the song Say Cheese (Let’s Take A Picture). Songs are great tools for letting students (especially students with developing language skills) know what they are supposed to do. Verbal instructions can often be hard to follow and easy to tune out. But verbal instructions paired with music immediately catches students’ attention and helps them understand what is going on.

Want to get kids into a circle? Play the Make A Circle song. Want students to get their ABC books? Play the Alphabet Song. Want students to clean up? Play the Clean Up song. And if you want students to pose for a picture, play Say Cheese! (Let’s Take A Picture).

Try introducing the song in class with smaller groups. As you sing each verse, take pictures of the students with your camera phone or a digital camera. After singing the song, show the pictures to the students. They’ll love it! You can follow up by taking more pictures, and letting the students take turns snapping the photos.  Teacher Weena from the Philippines has some nice examples of this. After singing the songs in class a few times, when it comes time for all of the students to gather at a party, they’ll know exactly what to do when they hear the song playing. Just put the song on and watch the students gather to pose.

Say Cheese! ^_^

Learn the four seasons with Row Row Row Your Boat

When talking about the seasons, it can help to have side by side illustrations so that kids can follow along throughout the course of a year. What marks the changes of the seasons? How are the seasons where you live?

Row Row Row Your Boat

Have you seen our video for Row Row Row Your Boat? This is a classic children’s tune, often sung in a round as on this version. The illustrations by Alberto Cerriteño, are a great for discussing a variety of topics, including the weather and seasons.

To use this video as part of a weather related lesson, first discuss the four seasons and what types of weather we experience in each. Then watch the video and have students point out what they see to indicate the changes as the squirrel and rabbit float merrily down the stream. Point out things like birds singing, new leaves, sunny weather, trees with full foliage, leaves changing colors and falling and, of course, snow.

For older or adult students, you can talk about the corresponding changes in the couple as they go through the different stages of life together. But with younger learners, it’s a great opportunity to see a year’s worth of weather in just a couple of minutes.

Learn the months of the year. What comes next?

Learning the months needs lots of repetition, so be sure to practice them often. In addition to watching The Month’s Chant video, here are some activity ideas for the home or classroom.

Jump the Months

Type and print a flashcard for each month. Include a picture that represents something that happens during that month, for example a holiday, celebration or a change in the season. If possible, laminate them so they will last longer. Spread the flashcards on the floor and have students help you put them in the correct order. Next, stand in a line next to January and jump to February, March, etc. Listen to The Months Chant and jump to each month in order.

Next, mix up the cards so that students have to jump back and forth to the next month.
If you have a large class, have two students come to the front of the class to jump while the other students help them.

Months Clapping Game

This game works great for 2 to 6 students, if your class is larger than that, split them into smaller groups. Have students sit in a circle. Each student puts their left hand palm up and their right hand palm down resting on the hand of the student next to them. Start by saying “January” and clapping the hand of the student to your right. That student will say the next month as they clap the hand of the student next to them. Continue around the circle saying all of the months of the year in order. Repeat several times.

To add some challenge to the game, every time a student says “December”, the next student should try to move their hand before it can be clapped. If the student moves their hand before the student who said “December” can clap it, the student who said “December” is out and the circle gets smaller. Start from January again. If the student who says “December” is able to clap the hand of the next student, that next student is out.  Keep playing until there is only one student left.

You can use this quick and easy game to practice any sequential vocabulary such as the letters of the alphabet, days of the week and counting.

Make a Calendar

What better way to practice the months than to make a calendar of the upcoming year? Include special events, holidays and birthdays for each month. When is the last day of school? The first day? How about the 100th day of school? You can have students draw pictures to represent things that happen during each month. Hang it on the wall and use it to talk about the days, months and holidays.

Do you have other teaching ideas for learning the months of the year? Share them below in the comments!

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?

The Months Chant will help you remember the months of the year!

What better way to kick off the New Year than with a brand new video? It’s a super simple chant to help kids learn the months of the year. Perfect for back to school after the holiday break or anytime that you want to practice or review the months.

The months can be a little tricky for young learners to remember. The Months Chant from Super Simple Songs 3 helps them practice the months and order with a call and response format set to an catchy beat.

When learning the months, it helps to associate each month with an activity, holiday or change in the weather. This video is based on some popular North American holidays and changes in the seasons. Here’s an explanation month-by-month:

January – winter and snowy weather are here!
February – celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th with hearts.
March – even though it’s an Irish holiday, many people in the U.S. celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th. Clover leaves and the color green are traditional symbols of this holiday.
April – in North America, we have a saying, “April showers bring May flowers.” Spring is in the air and rain is common.
May – summer flowers mark the return of warm weather.
June – brings the end of the school year and lots of time for outdoor activities, like kite flying.
July – the United States celebrates Independence Day on the Fourth of July with picnics and fireworks.
August – the perfect time to go to the beach!
September – get ready for back-to-school with your ABC book.
October – Halloween is coming! October 31st is the big day.
November – the seasons change again as the leaves turn colors and fall from the trees.
December – the holiday season is here and music is everywhere!

What are some holidays or seasonal changes in your country? When you introduce the months, try identifying the monthly events with your young learners, and then create simple picture cards that include the month and an event, holiday, or seasonal change to go along with us. Feel free to share with us in the comments below.

For reading practice, give young learners 12 small pieces of paper with the months written on them, and have them put them in order as they listen to the song. To help, you can start by first giving them pieces of paper with numbers on them (January – 1, February – 2, etc.), and then later distribute pieces of paper without the numbers.

Now watch the video and chant along!

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!

Tips from Bob's Frog

This post was contributed by Bob Pensak, owner of “Bob’s English” in Okazaki, Japan and author of the blog “Bob’s Frog.”

I have been singing, gesturing, and performing Super Simple Songs ever since I discovered them three years ago. Since then, I have collected small ways to make the songs even more enjoyable and funny. I call these “Super Simple Hacks”.

Skeleton Dance (Super Simple Songs – Halloween) – One of my favorite songs and a popular song with my students. Especially when done in a “Freeze Dance” style. Play the song while doing the actions. Several times during the song, pause the music. The students and teacher, “Freeze”. This in itself is hilarious. Choose the right moment to “freeze”,when your face or body is in a strange position.

Super Simple Hack 1: Take an extra long pause while “freezing” and scratch your nose.

Are you Hungry? (Super Simple Songs 1) - Does this song really need a “HACK”? So much fun! Really exaggerate eating the food, make some funny faces and puff your cheeks at the end of the song when you say “I’m full” and the kids will love you.

Super Simple Hack 2: Pretend to take imaginary french fries from each student during the french fry part of the song.

Walking in the Jungle (Super Simple Songs – Animals) – A recent song from the “Animals” CD (not the Pink Floyd CD). I’m still exploring ways to do the songs. “One step, two steps, three steps forward. One step, two steps, three steps back.” For a “children’s song” it rocks!

Super Simple Hack 3: Hide small animal cards around the room. When they hear the animal sound, have the kids go find the hidden animal card.

Seven Steps (Super Simple Songs 1) - The simplest of simple songs and a classic. There are many ways to do the movements and customize the song. Check around and invent different ways.

Super Simple hack 4: Moon walk backwards like Michael Jackson holding his hat. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7. WHOO! and shout like Michael.

Counting Bananas (Super Simple Songs 2) – The kids like it so much they want to do it twice. Singing and dancing while counting bananas to 20. At the end of the song, you eat an imaginary banana.

Super Simple Hack 5: Do the song twice. The second time instead of “eating” the banana at the end, pretend to stick it in your ear!

Give these five “hacks” a try. I hope to have more in the future. If you have some “hacks” that you would like to share, leave a comment or contact me.

Bob Pensak has been living and teaching English in Okazaki, Japan, for ten years. This April he started his own school “Bob’s English” with his wife and three year old son. He has been entertaining children with magic since he was 13 years old. Check out his blog, Bob’s Frog, for more teaching tips.