Happy Apple Season!
I like to start of Fall with a focus on Apples before I get into leaves and pumpkins and other Autumn things
So today I have for you five preschool apple songs that you can use in your circle time or music class or anytime!
But before we get to those today – I want to invite you to a fun FREE LIVE STREAM with me to celebrate Fall, tomorrow Wednesday, September 28th, 2022 at 4:30 pm Central time:
The link to join us is HERE. (Or copy and paste this into your browser: https://members.mymissnina.com/programs/live-egopgkrrjuw )
It’s been a while since I’ve seen you online – so go to that link and you’ll be able to join me for some fun Fall Music & Movement!
So in the USA it’s at:
5:30 Eastern / 4:30 Central / 3:30 Mountain / 2:30 Pacific
Come an party with me!
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Now – to today’s preschool apple videos:
As you probably know, I love using music and movement as an “across the curriculum” tool. Music & movement helps us all toward deep learning. There are several theories out there on the “stages of learning”; in my personal experience, and my experience with children it seems to go something like this: memorization, repetition, application, understanding, integration.
Songs and movement activities really do help children through all these stages. First there’s memorizing a song an it’s actions. A child may repeat and repeat and repeat a song and it’s actions until “mastery”. They can say the words, remember the order and do the actions. So the first two steps – memorization and repetition go hand in hand.
It’s after “living with” a song for a while that a child might start to really make the connections of what’s being learned and use it/apply it in their every day life. (I’ll give examples further down in the blog with each video) They start applying what they’ve learned in the real world with these connections.
With that, they start to really understand the new concept, skill or subject that they learned in the song. And finally it just becomes a part of their knowledge and life.
(I’m finding this to he the learning process for me, too, while I”m learning to play the piano!)
So below I have five apple videos that are not only fun because they are about apples, but they also help to teach math skills, color identification, the concepts of up and down, fine and gross motor skills development and speech & language development!
SO MUCH great learning through music and movement. Let’s get started:
1. FARMER BROWN HAS 5 RED APPLES
Okay, so first of all, Piper is adorable in this video and you might enjoy it for the sheer entertainment of her! But there is SO MUCH to learn with this song and video. Here’s what a child will learn from this song and video:
1. One to one correspondence: using fingers to count (or construction paper apples in this case!) we learn the skill of counting one object as we say one number. This is the definition of one-to-one correspondence. A simple concept to grown ups, we forget we had to LEARN it!
2. Subtraction: in this song we start with 5 apples and in each verse we take one away and then sing about how many are left. You can do this song how we do in the video, or use actual apples or colored shakers to visually show how we “take away” an object to subtract it.
3. Color identification: You can make this song about red apples, green apples or yellow apples – whichever you choose, the repetition of this color teaches children what RED is.
2. WAY UP HIGH IN THE APPLE TREE:
I don’t know why I love this song so much, but I do! I’ve been doing it for years. You can grab actual apples to use in this song, make big paper plate apple shakers, use shakers or just your hands! And I love this song for teaching the very simple concepts of UP & DOWN. The kids love this song. It’s so much fun to embody and experience the concept of HIGH with their arms up high and then LOW when the apples shake and fall down. And who doesn’t have fun “shaking” things – apples, shakers or your own body – in a song?!
3. ONCE I CLIMBED AN APPLE TREE:
In this song we pretend to climb and in the song before we put our arms up high and then bring them down low. The children don’t know it, but getting them to put their arms up high helps develop their upper body muscles that they need to develop first in order to hold a pencil or pen and write. !!! Who knew?! But yes, parachute time and my UP & DOWN song are gross motor development songs that eventually help fine motor development. So keep putting those arms up high!
Also, this song, Once I Climbed and Apple Tree, is rhythmic, silly and fun. It tells a quick story, names delicious apple food and asks a very intriguing question at the end that kids love to both ask and answer!
4. I LIKE TO EAT APPLES & BANANAS:
Everyone loves this song because it’s simple to remember, easy to sing and it’s silly. But there is also SO MUCH LEARNING going on with this one. This one is especially great for speech and language development.
Saying the words Apples and Bananas over and over again is wonderful for that short a sound. A sound which comes pretty easy to children, and helps them to learn how to say two foods that are often a part of their every day life!
And then there’s all those long vowel sounds! For toddlers and preschool kids, this is just really fun for speech and language development – using our mouths and making these sounds over and over again, For older kids? They get to hear, say and see vowels and long vowel sounds which is a big step in learning to read!
****NOTE: I was just made aware that I teach one of the signs in this video wrong! My apologies. Here are the corrections:
The sign for “like” should just be your thumb and middle finger and then pull away from your chest.
5. THE APPLE PICKING SONG or THE APPLE PICKERS REEL:
After singing so many apple songs and doing specific movements, it’s fun have a little freestyle jam! This song is definitely a jig, so whether you put out instruments for a play-along jam session, or just let everyone free dance for some gross motor fun, put this song/video on and let them just heave some fun! This one definitely invites skipping!
There’s also real apple orchard footage in this video, so if you’re getting ready to go on an apple orchard field trip this is a fun one to watch to get prepared!
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And there you have it! Five preschool Apple songs to sing, move and learn to! Have fun using these songs for across the curriculum learning and, well for some some fun!
More Fall songs coming next week! Until next Tuesday….
XOXO
Miss Nina
