Circle time activities: Songs, rhymes and singing games for under-3s
Helen Huleatt

Learn how singing, finger games and rhymes will make your circle time fun for young children.

Learning through music
Elizabeth Carlton

MUSIC! How can children learn or live without it? Music educators have known for years that quality music experiences enhance listening; invite intuitive and steady beat responses; and aid learning of vocabulary, sound and pitch discrimination, emotional responses, creative responses, memory, and many hours of fun for our wee ones.

Little tommy tittlemouse
Players stand in a circle. One child is chosen to be Little Tommy Tittlemouse and he or she crouches in the middle, with hands over eyes. The others join hands and walk around in a circle, chanting or singing the rhyme below.

Open them, shut them
Here are two finger play games for babies to three year olds. They will quickly learn the tune and actions.

Singing time
Marlys Swinger has been singing with children for 60 years. What more can I say? She wouldn’t want me to list her college degrees. In fact, she’ll tell you that degrees are no use if you don’t genuinely love music, love children, and love to bring them together. That’s all it takes.