Tips for Singing in Nursery

I love to go into the nursery to do singing time.  Even though the little children may not "sing" the songs with their voices they really are learning and singing in their hearts.  I think the key to nursery singing time is to use repetition so the children know what to expect and anticipate what you are going to do next. Since most children this age will participate by actions and movement long before they start using their voices to sing, bringing a variety of hands on visual aids and noise makers really enriches nursery singing time.  When I teach songs in nursery I just start right in and sing using whatever visual I'm going to use.  The children will watch and listen and because I do the same songs in nursery week after week they eventually just join in at whatever level they are at.

The first thing you want to do when preparing to start teaching music in nursery is consider a list of songs that you want to use.  It's important to know all of your nursery songs by heart and not need any help from a book to sing them.  I like to use a variety of songs when I choose songs for nursery. I try to put in a mix that will allow us to get up and move, use noise makers, and use hand movements.   I also like to teach a couple reverent songs that we would sing in primary singing time.  That way when the nursery children leave nursery at age 3 and join the older primary as Sunbeams they will recognize and be able to sing some of the songs we use in singing time.

I do nursery singing time acapella because I like the freedom to speed up and slow down a song according to the individual children and what they need and I am comfortable singing without accompaniment.  If you feel more comfortable singing with music I would suggest making a master playlist in the order that you want to sing the songs so you aren't skipping through music trying to find what you want. A couple of ways you can do this is to make a playlist in the gospel music app and play the music from your phone (this is especially nice if you want to make more than one play list so you have a little more variation in what you sing) or you can download music from lds.org and add it to a CD.

All of the songs I sing in nursery are from the Children's Songbook.

I sing about 9 songs each week (takes about 10 minutes) with the nursery children.  Since children this age look forward to knowing what is coming next and consistency I sing these three songs every week to help indicate singing time is starting and ending:

Hello Friends pg 254 (Gathering song)
I Love to See the Temple pg 95 (Opening song)
I Am a Child of God pg 2 OR Jesus Once was a Little Child pg 55 (Closing Song)

When I first started singing time in nursery I introduced the children to all of the songs I wanted them to learn by singing the three songs above in the same order every week and then adding in 6 activity song for a full month singing them in the exact same order each week.  The next month I sang 6 new activity songs in the same order every week.  By the end of the two months the nursery children had favorites and started requesting to sing certain songs so it became harder to stick to a strict order and schedule.   Now I know what songs the children like the best and we sing them every week and rotate in the other songs around them.  This is what my list of songs looked like when I first started:

Month One: 

Hello Friends pg 254
I Love to See the Temple pg 95
Book of Mormon Stories pg 118
Rain is Falling pg 241
Fun To Do pg 253
Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam pg 60
Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes pg 275
Smiles  pg 267
I Am a Child of God pg 2

Month Two:

Hello Song pg 254
I Love to See the Temple pg 95
Roll Your Hands pg 274
If You're Happy pg 266
Popcorn Popping pg 242
Wise Man/Foolish Man pg 281
Little Seeds pg 243
Follow the Prophets pg 110
I Am a Child of God pg 2

Now:
Hello Friends pg 254
I Love to See the Temple pg 95
Rain is Falling pg 241
Fun to Do pg 253
Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam pg 60
Roll Your Hands pg 274
If You're Happy pg 266
Follow the Prophet pg 110
I am a Child of God  pg 2 OR Jesus Once was a Little Child pg 55

Each week I rotate one or two of the action songs out for a different action song on my list so they stay familiar with them,but I always try to sing the songs the children request so my list is pretty flexible.