Favorite rhyming/rhythmic children's books

[Dmmetler]

I'd like to add new ones to my collection to use with my preschool music kids, and I'm a bit out of date :). I figured ya'll could help!  In general, any book that is rhythmic or has rhyming ohrases or a repeating phrase is really useful to use in a music lesson, as are picture books of songs  (like the "I know an old lady who.... Series") . 

Edited November 6, 2022 by Dmmetler

[domestic_engineer]

The Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson 

 

[Rosie_0801]

Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema isn't annoying.

Over in the Jungle by Marianne Berkes has such great illustrations it can't get annoying quickly.
 

And if you need another 'Old Lady Who' book, this is new out:
'There Was an Old Auntie Who Swallowed a Samosa' by Aasma Hussain.
(I am totally going to buy myself a copy next time I'm in town, even though grandkids are probably 15 years away.)

[Dmmetler]

I looked up the Auntie one (I've discovered I can find readaloud versions of almost any children's book on Youtube, which lets me see the whole thing vs just a page) and found a bunch more localized versions that are now on my shopping list :).  I might skip getting "I know an old lady who swallowed a thong" though, since thaf has a different meaning to US audiences :). 

 

The good news is that I have few enough preschool sections that I usually don't get sick of a book. I did several weeks of "The little old woman who wasn't afraid of anything" with my preschool and 5-8 yr old homeschoolers, but it was still only about 6x total. 

 

 

[cintinative]

You are going to think I'm silly, but I like this one Llama llama mad at mama  https://www.amazon.com/Llama-Mad-at-Mama/dp/0670062405  It's no children's classic but it's fun.  There is a whole series of Llama llama books.

Edited November 7, 2022 by cintinative

[Dmmetler]

2 minutes ago, cintinative said:

You are going to think I'm silly, but I like this one Llama llama mad at mama  https://www.amazon.com/Llama-Mad-at-Mama/dp/0670062405  It's no children's classic but it's fun.  There is a whole series of Llama llama books.

One of my four year olds was Llama, Llama Red Pajama for Halloween 🙂

[cintinative]

1 minute ago, Dmmetler said:

One of my four year olds was Llama, Llama Red Pajama for Halloween 🙂

It's one of my fave little kid books! 

[cintinative]

Do you have a picture book for On top of spaghetti? We used to have one years ago.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?  has lots of repetition but not as much rhyme. 

[cintinative]

Chicka Chicka boom boom  https://www.amazon.com/Chicka-Boom-Board-Book/dp/1442450703  video of read aloud --she seems to have them doing some activities like snapping along with the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdrTXRD090U

Going on a bear hunt (not a book):  https://www.thelearninggroove.com/going-on-a-bear-hunt

Edited November 7, 2022 by cintinative

[historically accurate]

Ones that come to mind:

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Pout Pout Fish

Mary wore her red dress and Henry wore his green(?) sneakers

Ninja, Ninja Never Stop

[cintinative]

This was on a wee sing CD we had. I think there are hand motions to it:  https://allnurseryrhymes.com/baby-bumblebee/

[Dmmetler]

I used to have an audio tape for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom that had multiple versions, including a very rock-like sung one. I used to have my 5th graders take the book and come up with orchestrations for it that we'd video record and have the kindergartners pick their favorites :). 

[Terabith]

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More and Baby Danced the Polka by Karen Beaumont

[Zoo Keeper]

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything--

and you can read it on archive.org  https://archive.org/details/littleoldladywhowill00will/mode/2up

[ScoutTN]

Train Song by Diane Siebert
Bats at the Library by Brian Lies
Wet Dog by Elise Broach

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by ScoutTN

[GoodnightMoogle]

My son loves the Pete the Cat books, and they actually are put to music you can find on YouTube. Super fun and catchy!

“Did Pete cry? Goodness, no! He kept walking along and singing his song!”

[alisha]

Sheep in a Jeep is one I love! by Nancy Shaw

[Clarita]

Sandra Boynton has some books that are rhythmic I think. There's a few that are put to actual songs. Like Barnyard Dance, Perfect PIggies, Dinosaur Opposites... 

[ScoutTN]

7 hours ago, Clarita said:

Sandra Boynton has some books that are rhythmic I think. There's a few that are put to actual songs. Like Barnyard Dance, Perfect PIggies, Dinosaur Opposites... 

❤️ these! 

[Lori D.]

Jamberry -- here is an audio of the song that is loosely based on the book (the song is NOT the exact book words -- here is the book being read)

Amazing Anthony Ant -- has the actual "sheet music" as the end page, as I recall; you lift the flaps on the pages for the lyrics; it is the tune of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" but with new lyrics: "The ants come marching in a line, hurrah, hurrah..."

[Dmmetler]

12 hours ago, Zoo Keeper said:

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything--

and you can read it on archive.org  https://archive.org/details/littleoldladywhowill00will/mode/2up

We did that one for Halloween, adding lots of sound effects :)

 

[cintinative]

I forgot about this one.

The Jazz Fly  

 

[sweet2ndchance]

16 hours ago, cintinative said:

Going on a bear hunt (not a book):  https://www.thelearninggroove.com/going-on-a-bear-hunt

Oh but it is a book and one of our favorites for preschool here.

We're Going On a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury and illustrated by Michael Rosen.

Here is a video of Michael Rosen performing the book.

[Xahm]

Muncha, Muncha, Muncha was/is my favorite to read to little ones, and it has repetition and rhythm, though not as strongly as some.

[Dianthus]

I love king jack and the dragon

Also carnival of the animals by Jack pretlusky is a favorite. It comes with a music cd so might work well.

Sandra boynton Moo Baa La La La

[Dmmetler]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Just in case it might be helpful in making suggestions-or to homeschooling parents, here's some of what we use them for. I usually use at least one book per session with kids, sometimes two. 

1) Books that are songs/chants. Obviously, we can sing/read along with these, and since they're easy to learn, often are some of the first books a child can "read" aloud to the group. (All the skills that come with read-alouds!). 

2) Books with a repeated refrain, like playing bells for the doorbell every time the book says "The Doorbell rang". (Listening skills, inhibitory control. It is extremely difficult for a 3 yr old to sit with bells on their lap and NOT play until the correct time!)

3) Books with multiple sets of sounds to put in. Same as above, but a lot harder because now you have to listen for your cue with a lot of distractors. I use these up into early elementary

4)Books where we have melodic fragments to put in at a specific point-for example, all of the "I know an old woman" variants have the repeated Do Re Mi La (with some variation on rhythm. These are great for beginning piano students to practice playing specific notes. Many of the books in #1 can be used this way

5) Books where we're listening for specific word sounds or word fragments-all the words with an -ing ending, or all the words with the short u sound. Both listening skills, but also phonemic development and phonemic awareness

6) Super rhythmic books which lend themselves to orchestration-These sometimes get used up even to middle school level for composition work. For example, Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom, or Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb work really well to hand to a group of four older kids to figure out how to orchestrate it and then perform or record for younger kids. It's also a child-safe way to explore rap as a genre :). 

 

 

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