Category Archives: Story Songs

The Tortoise and the Hare is one of the best known of Aesop’s Fables, stories that are credited to Aesop, a storyteller and slave who lived in ancient Greece. Most children seem to be familiar with the story already; many say they have “seen the movie.”

I wrote a song about the Tortoise and the Hare to teach about musical tempo, and to help children think about story structure and characters. You can find a sample and download of my song at Songs for Teaching or CDBaby. The lyrics are below. It’s a simple 3-chord song in C; I usually play it on the ukulele. Credit my CD producer Eric Kilburn at Wellspring Sound for all the extra instrument parts on the recording. He adores playing his vintage banjo-lin, which plunks along with a slightly goofy sound.

When I sing this song in the classroom, I focus on learning about the opposites, fast and slow. I also introduce  tempo, the speed or pace of a piece. Sometimes music goes slowly like the tortoise, and sometimes it moves rapidly like the hare.

We do the song first as a movement activity. I invite the children to get up and move slowly like a tortoise and then hop quickly like the hare. The children play both parts at the beginning, but around the “nap” part of the song, they usually decide which part they want to play – the hares take a nap while the tortoises keep moving slowly around the room until they win. Hooray!

We repeat the song sitting down. I use percussion instruments such as shakers and rhythm sticks. I ask children to join me in playing the different tempos in this song. Sometimes I divide the kids into two groups; the tortoise group plays shaker eggs during the “tortoise” parts of the song, the hare group plays rhythm sticks during the hare parts. Everyone can play during the parts that involve both tortoise and hare.

To have more fun with the story, you could have children make stick puppets and create their own puppet show, telling the story in their own words or perhaps singing parts of the song.

Fables, of course, have a “moral.” In the case of this story, “Slow and steady wins the race.” Ask children which character they like best, and why the tortoise won the race and the hare lost, even though he was faster. It’s a nice lesson: sometimes the outcome isn’t what you expect. The one everyone thinks is so “slow” can still win!

The Tortoise and the Hare

Aesop’s Fable – Lyrics and Tune © 2015 by Liz Buchanan

All day long, watch the tortoise go, plodding along, his steps so slow.

And all day long, the hare goes fast!

Watch as he goes hopping past, watch as he goes hopping past.

Tortoise, so slow, oh, so slow.

Hare, so fast! Zip, zip fast. Hare, so fast! Zip, zip fast.

So says the hare, “How ‘bout a race?

‘Cause I know I will win first place.

Could the tortoise beat me? Never!”

Then the tortoise says, “Whatever.”

On your mark, get set, go!

Watch that hare go, go, go! Watch that hare, hopping fast!

Watch that hare go, go, go! Watch that hare, hopping fast!

Here comes tortoise, oh so slow. Tortoise, he will come in last.

Tortoise, so slow. Oh, so slow.

Hare, so fast! Zip zip fast. Hare, so fast! Zip zip fast.

So says the hare, “This race is a snap,

So I think I will take a nap.

Racing with a tortoise is such a bore.”

So the hare lies down and soon lets out a snore.

Then along comes tortoise at a steady pace.

Always slow, but still in the race.

Slow, so slow, but he gets there,

And crosses the finish line before the hare!

Give steady tortoise a great big cheer!

Hip-Hip Hooray! Never fear.

Though hare wakes up, he’s just too late

‘Cause slow and steady won the race.

Yes, tortoise kept going and got FIRST PLACE!

‘Tis the season for Peeps!

Even though I’ve always thought the Easter Bunny was kind of a silly concept, bunnies are a perfect topic for spring music time.

I like acquainting children with Beatrix Potter and the story of Peter Rabbit. A fair number of kids seem to have seen a video of Peter, but fewer have seen the actual book with the lovely illustrations. I bring in the little book to show everyone, then I often tell the story with Peter Rabbit finger puppets that I purchased on Etsy.

The traditional “John the Rabbit” song can easily be turned into “Peter Rabbit” and fits perfectly with the story. You can talk about how this song is from the point of view of Mr. McGregor, and he’s pretty mad at Peter! I play a drum and the kids shake shaker eggs (in bright spring colors). We sing it call-and-response style. You can find it on my CD, Once Upon a Tune.

While you’re there, be sure to avail yourself of “Rockin’ in the Rabbit Hole,” a longtime fave of the kids in my music groups. It was written by “Guitar Bob” Messano. Check out his music sometime – he’s written a lot of fun songs for dancing and movement. With this song, the children dance all around like bunnies until the “farmer” shows up – then they get down on the floor and “hide.” For some reason, this is children’s very favorite activity.

Please watch my home-grown peeps video by clicking right here: Peeps video of “Rockin’ in the Rabbit Hole.”  Making it was truly low-tech fun, followed by extremely sticky hands.

If you want to add another springtime creature to the mix, how about some ducks? I got inspired by the music/math lessons that Pittsburgh music specialist Margaret Hooton has created using duck songs and rubber duckies. I recently got some rubber duckies myself, and they’ve made quite a splash! I like singing Raffi’s “Six Little Ducks” or Ellen & Peter Allard’s “Here Comes Mama Duck.” This song is on Volume 3 of their highly useful series, Sing It! Say It! Stamp It! Sway It!

Finally, speaking of splashes, I recommend my puddle song, “Deepest Puddle in Town.” We have a few million of those where I live in MA, as our record snowfall turns to mush and then water, water everywhere. Deepest Puddle is a really fun movement song, with jumping, swimming and flying. And then you can add a quick word about where the puddles go when the sun comes out – evaporation! Science!

The mouse glove is great for telling the story of Frederick.

I had a chance to present my first music and literacy workshop for children’s librarians yesterday and it was a lot of fun! One thing we discussed was pairing books with songs.

I love including books and references to books in my music & literacy sessions with young children. I’ve received lots of suggested book/song pairings from fellow members of The Children’s Music Network.

In my post earlier this week, I talked about pairing the “Today is Monday” song with Eric Carle’s book by the same name. Another book that I love to enhance with songs is Leo Lionni’s book, Frederick.

In this story, all the mice are gathering food and nesting for the winter while mouse Frederick stares dreamily across the field. Frederick tells the others that he is gathering colors, sunlight and words, which he will share with the other mice to help them get through the long winter.

I usually tell the story in my own words, using my “mouse” glove, giving out props to the children in advance. The song pairings could also be used while reading the book.

The first song I sing is my own version of “Three Blind Mice,” which I’d never normally sing anyway (such brutal treatment of three mice with a disability!). My lyrics go:

Five little mice, five little mice

They’re so nice, they’re so nice

They’re gathering up some wheat and corn

For something to eat during winter storms

And also some straw to keep them warm

Oh, five little mice.

I have the children run their fingers across their palm or the floor to show scurrying mice.

Later in the story, when Frederick shares his gathered sunbeams with the children, I sing and do the motions to the traditional song, “Mr. Golden Sun.” I also give out yellow ribbons to the children to wave in the air as sunbeams.

When Frederick shares the colors with the other mice, I sing Ruth Pelham’s “Rainbow Around Me” and have the children wave colored scarves. To save time and stay on track with telling the story, I often just do the chorus of the song rather than all the different color verses.

Finally, Frederick shares the words he’s gathered by giving all the mice a poem about the four seasons. I write out words from the poem and give each child a word. Since most of the children are pre-readers, I read the word with them, and then we point to the words as they come up when I read the poem.

This is a delightful book and song to share in late November or early December! When I first read the book, I was inspired to write my own song about getting ready for winter. I don’t currently have a recording, but I’ll share it sometime soon.