The best ten sing-along books your child will love

Here are ten suggestions for sing-along books for children that are a hit in our home. These books are sung over and over. A couple have even been so well-loved the old ones have been recycled and then new ones repurchased. 

Even though I do just a lot of singing around the house with my children, it is nice to have some options to just sit down and sing with a book. I find this helps them learn the individual words of the songs and what we are actually singing about. It increases my toddlers’ vocabulary and the pictures delight my baby. 

1. Baby Beluga

Baby Beluga is by far the favorite in our home. My oldest child loved it from the get go. And maybe because I was constantly singing it, my other children fell in love with it too. If my husband would not have heard it on repeat for the last handful of years, I bet it would be his favorite children’s song too. 

We love Raffi in our house. Baby Beluga is the embodiment of what Raffi is for me – calm, yet catchy music. I particularly like the sing-along book because I have not seen many arctic themed books. We do not talk a lot about the animals that far north. When I read Baby Beluga to my toddler, I can point out a narwhal, polar bear, penguin, etc. 

For my older kids, we can talk about eskimos and the associated culture. It really is an opportunity to learn things that I haven’t seen in many other children’s books. 

2. Down by the Bay

Down By the Bay is another one of Raffi’s sing-along books. It has a completely different vibe than Baby Beluga. It is silly and has some absurd rhymes. I am not very good at letting loose and being a little goofy, but Down By the Bay tees me up perfectly for a little silliness. 

This book is where one of my children learned what a “fly” was. Afterwards, he would go around and point to the flys (and bees) outside and go “zzzz, fly, fly”. He also thought “llamas eating their pajamas” was hilarious. 

It really is just a book to let loose a little with your kids and maybe get a little rhyming in along the way. 

3. Five Little Monkeys

There are two options of this book you could buy if you want to sing about these crazy monkeys with your kids. There is “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” and “Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree”. I prefer “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” because my kids are more familiar with going to bed than swinging in a tree. You can use these sing-along books to talk about pajamas, bathing, and brushing teeth, or trees, alligators, and swinging.

I also take the opportunity to talk about being a “good listener” when I read this book. I think it is a good example of what can happen if you do not listen. I explain that the doctor doesn’t want them to jump on the bed because she knew they would get hurt. We talk about how we too can get “owies” and “bonks” if we do not listen carefully. 

4. If You’re Happy and You Know It!

All of my kids have learned how to clap with this sing-along book. They first think clapping is amazing as they watch me and then, they will slowly start to try to mimic me. They learn a lot of other action words from this song too. 

While the book is pretty limited in the actions that it has written down, feel free to add in your own actions. You can even add in your own emotions. It is a great song to talk about being sad too! It is a super easy song for toddlers to catch on to. 

5. Wheels on the Bus

My kid loves a song about a bus. Some of my kids learned what a bus was before they ever learned about cars. My toddlers love it when I point to school buses while we are driving. They eventually learn to point them out to me. It is easy for them to discern what a school bus is because its color. Nice, bold yellow, and not many other things on the road are yellow.

We also talk about family members while we read this book. There are verses about mom, dad, and baby. With my toddlers, I will also teach “round and round” with actions by rolling my hands in circles. It is an easy action for them to mimic. They catch on fast. 

6. Old MacDonald Had a Farm

It is pretty easy to know why Old MacDonald is so popular. I love to sing it without the book, but I often try to sing it with the book so my kids can learn the animal sounds and what they look like. We do not live on a farm, so it is nice to give them ample opportunities to know what a horse, sheep, cow, etc. look like. 

Often, kids will learn the sound that each animal makes before knowing what the animal is called. It took me a while to catch on to the muffled “moo” in the car when we would drive past some cows. Now, I listen for the “moos”, “quacks” and “meows” as we run our errands. 

7. Five Little Speckled Frogs

My kids learn multiple things from singing-along with this book. First, they love to count the five frogs, then the four frogs, then three frogs, all the way down to one. They prefer to count the five speckled frogs over the five jumping monkeys. 

They also learn the frog sound and how to jump like a frog. I love teaching them the frog jump. I I think it helps with coordination and is actually easier from them than just straight up jumping. Maybe because their center of gravity is a little lower and it helps them feel more stable.

They also love the “glub, glub” at the end of each verse. When else does a kid get to hear a “glub, glub”? 

8. The Itsy Bitsy Spider

We talk a lot about rain and sun while singing this book. We will also talk a lot about other weather like snow and wind. This is often one of the first opportunities we take to sit down and talk about bugs. Afterwards, I will make sure to point out spiders outside…or inside. (Yuck!) 

Depending on my child’s age we will also practice the classic finger play associated with this song to sharpen their fine motor skills. They are always quite pleased with themselves when they get it mastered. 

9. Miss Mary Mack

This song has some nice rhythm to it that is enjoyed by toddler and babies. My kids also love the jumping elephant and the fact that there is an elephant swimming pool at the end. 

For my late pre-school and kindergarten age friends, I would recommend teaching them the handclap that goes along with this song. It is super easy and only has three parts. 

• For the first syllable (Miss): cross your arms over your chest, touching your shoulders with your hands. 
• For the second syllable (Ma-): uncross your arms and bring your hands down to touch your knees
• For the third syllable (-ry): Clap your hands together 
• For the words that repeat (Mack, Mack, Mack): Clap your partner’s hands on each word
• Repeat this pattern for the whole song

10. There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

This is just a classic that my kids get a kick out of. It is a goofy little song. I think reading it out of the book helps them put together what is even happening since it is so absurd. Often my kids are concerned about the lady and we will talk about “pretending”. 

There are bunch of other versions of this song that are fun for you and your kids as they become familiar with this silly lady swallowing all these crazy things.

Examples:

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