Fun Action Songs to Teach your Toddler

By Sam Allred, Momivate's CouncilMom over Music, Inspiration, and Laughter

These fun songs for toddlers and young kids are not only great for using up some of their extra energy, but they also teach coordination skills and help with language development. These are great songs to use on a rainy day or during the cold months of the year when kids are typically stuck indoors, but they would also be a great addition to your daily routine. 

1. Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes - This is a classic song to teach your kids the basic body parts. After your kids learn the lyrics and actions, you can teach them to do the song really fast, really slow, or any other alternatives you can think of. 
   
   
   
2. If You’re Happy and You Know It - This song will encourage kids to get creative and get moving. You can replace clapping your hands with different actions such as stomp your feet, blink your eyes, turn around, shout hooray, etc. Encourage the kids to come up with their own actions too! 
   
   
   
3. Wheels on the Bus - We couldn’t make this list without including this song, which even toddlers can pick up on from a young age.  This is a very popular song in our house that we sing at nearly every diaper change to distract our wiggly toddler. 
   
   
   
4. Five Little Monkeys - Even if jumping on the bed is against the rules, this is a great song to help with gross motor development and getting wiggles out through lots of jumping. It also is a great tool to teach about numbers and counting. 
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5. Itsy Bitsy Spider - This simple song is short and sweet, but can help greatly with fine motor skills. Toddlers love it and can learn to mimic the simple actions. 

Next time your kids need to get some wiggles out, consider teaching them some of these fun songs. When kids move to music, they are getting so much more than just exercise. They are developing coordination, balance, language, and concentration. 

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