Singing with your child is a fabulous and fun way to work on language skills. The repetitive nature of many preschool songs will help your child to follow along and hopefully also sing along! Many of these preschool songs have motions that your child can do while singing or listening. Continue reading to get a list of songs (some you may know already and some may be new to you) and how to work on language skills while singing.
10 Preschool Songs for Language Development
- The Itsy Bitsy Spider (lyrics). This classic nursery rhyme is great for language development. The song contains the basic concepts of up and down. Make sure to do the hand motions while singing the song with your child (Ex. Put your fingers together to make the “spider”. Make your fingers go up and down when the spider goes up and down the water spout).
- When You’re Happy and You Know It (lyrics). This song is wonderful since it keeps your child active throughout. You can get creative with the lyrics and have your child tap different body parts (Ex. tap your nose, or touch your ears).
- The Wheels on the Bus (lyrics). This song also has great hand motions your child will love to act you (Ex. rolling arms around each other for the wheels spinning; pretending to cry like a baby).
- Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (lyrics). Great song and wonderful for learning about numbers. Your child will love this cute song.
- I’m a Little Fishy (lyrics and tune ). This song is to the tune of I’m a Little Teapot. I think this song is so adorable and your child can pretend to be a fish while singing.
- Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes (lyrics). This classic song is fabulous for learning about body parts.
- Shake Your Sillies Out (lyrics and tune). Your child will love this active and silly song. He will be able to shake his sillies out, jog his jitters out, and even clap his crazies out.
- You Are My Sunshine (lyrics and tune). This very happy song is great to sing with your child in the spring and summer. You can create hand motions to follow along with the lyrics as well.
- Old McDonald (lyrics), Another classic song that is great for learning about the animals and their sounds.
- Days of the Week Song (youtube video). Well, this song is great for learning the days of the week! The song is fun because your child can sing the days of the week different days (Ex. quietly, clapping, stomping).
Language Skills and Songs
For starters, singing songs with your child is a fun and interactive way to spend time together. Your child will learn new vocabulary including nouns, actions, and adverbs while singing songs. If your child has language delays or disorders, then the repetitive nature of the songs will be great for your child to follow along. You can sing the song to your child and then pause in the middle of the song. Your child may surprise you and fill in the blank of the song (Ex. The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout. Down came the ____ (rain) and washed the spider _____ (out)). If your child is non-verbal, you can pause in the middle of a song as well, but this time wait for your child to look up at you (giving you some sort of eye contact) and then continue singing the song.
Preschool Song Recommended Products
Click on each individual image below to learn more about the products. These recommended preschool books go along with some of the songs listed above.
The Itsy Bitsy Spider:
Wheels on the Bus:
Five Little Monkeys:
Old McDonald Had a Farm:
Buzz Speech 
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