5 Reasons to Sing Silly Songs With Your Kids

Silly songs can easily get stuck inside your head. But they are so good for kids to sing. If your kids love singing silly songs as much as mine do, don’t worry! They are actually practicing important reading skills.

So the next time you’re folding laundry or driving to the store, go ahead and start some silly singing. Your kids will probably giggle and join in.

And while they’re singing, they will be practicing important skills like these.

1. Listening

The words in silly songs are often a bit crazy. Often my kids will stop me and ask, “What did you just say?”

Go ahead and ask your child to listen and then sing it again. Ask them to repeat the words back to you and help them if they get stuck. 

It’s a good opportunity to remind them to listen carefully. As they listen, they will be improving their attention span and practicing being attentive.

2. Developing Vocabulary

I don’t know about your house, but buzzard eggs and salamander thighs aren’t part of the normal conversation around here. But when we sing “Mama’s Soup Surprise,” we get to talk about them.

Silly songs can help teach your children new vocabulary words. They can help them activate background knowledge and make connections.

When they learn that buzzards lay eggs, they can associate them with other animals that do the same. They can discover that they are birds.

Learning that salamanders have thighs can spark a great discussion about what body parts animals and humans share. What else does your child have that a salamander does too? What is different about the salamander?

Part of the thrill of singing a silly song is that they use phrases and words that aren’t a part of our everyday speech. They’re a fun way to introduce more words to your children.

3. Rhyming

Many silly songs contain rhyming words. Rhyming is an essential early reading skill.

If your child is struggling to master rhyming, silly songs are a low-stress way to practice.

Songs like “Down By the Bay” and “Willaby, Wallaby, Woo” are good ones to sing when you want to focus on rhyming.

4. Enhancing Creativity

Silly songs can spark creativity for your kids. It’s so much fun to add your own lyrics to the songs. Especially if you can make them even sillier!

Can you think of anything else that old lady could have swallowed? Add your new verses into the original. Maybe before she swallows the goat, she should try a pig:

There was an old lady who swallowed a pig. She put on a wig and swallowed a pig. 

What else can you add? You can create your own versions of any silly song.

5. Improving Memory

Kids can memorize songs so quickly! As we memorize hymns each month, I’ve been amazed at how quickly even my younger kids pick them up.

Songs are much easier to memorize than speech. The brain identifies with the rhythm and tune and makes connections rapidly.

As an added bonus, songs are easy and fun to sing. It’s not uncommon for a child to sing a song over and over again. This repetition helps improve memory.

Silly Songs Are So Fun

Besides those five quick reasons why singing silly songs is good for kids, there are numerous other ones. Singing together can build lasting memories. It can encourage laughing together and just embracing joy.

Singing silly songs is so much fun! But singing the same songs over and over again might drive you a bit batty.

To help add some variety to your repertoire, here are a few of our favorites. You can find most of these on YouTube if you aren’t sure how they go.

• Mama’s Soup Surprise
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
• There’s a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea
• There’s a Hole in My Bucket
• Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee
• Stuck My Head in a Little Skunk Hole
• Boom Boom, Ain’t It Great to Be Crazy?
• Do Your Ears Hang Low?
• Flea Fly
• On Top of Spaghetti
• Going on a Lion Hunt
• John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt

What Are Your Favorite Silly Songs?

Does your family sing silly songs too? Which ones are your favorite? Please share in the comments below!

Lisa Tanner is a homeschooling mom of nine. She loves writing about balancing diapers and deadlines, and ways to make learning fun.

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