Down by the bay rhyming words

The Best Rhyming Songs for Kids

We have found the best rhyming songs for kids, and they are so perfect for young children! They are fun to sing and they have tons of benefits at the same time.

Rhyming Songs for Kids

Songs, especially rhyming songs, are often overlooked. When we sing rhyming songs for toddlers, such as nursery rhymes, we are teaching them so many skills! We consider them to be some of the best songs for kids.

As children are learning to speak, songs help teach inflection, fluency, and more. These are critical in learning to talk. Early Childhood Education Zone explains it this way:

Studies have shown that children who love music and who sing and rhyme regularly also tend to have an easier time learning to speak. They have already developed the vocabulary to express themselves, and they also become more creative and confident. School is also easier for them, especially reading and spelling.

Rhyming songs are not just great for speaking and oral literacy skills, but they are also important for helping children learn to read. So in other words, not only are rhyming songs great for babies and toddlers, but they are also perfect for preschool and kindergarten too.

For ease of use during circle time, we’ve taken some of our favorite rhyming songs and some other popular kid songs and put them together into a handy printable! Check it out in our store.

Why Learning to Rhyme is Important

Rhyming is also one of the BEST predictors of early literacy success. This invaluable pre-reading skill develops confidence, gives children insight into the way our language works, and is super fun! Learning to read can feel like a daunting task, so opportunities to infuse pre-reading FUN provide ways to help little ones build the foundations of reading.

We love including high-quality rhyming activities and rhyming picture books during our literacy time. These books set the stage for rhyming and allow young listeners to hear an experienced reader pronounce the rhyming words. Better yet, many books encourage young children to try and name the upcoming rhyming word.

For an entire book list of rhyming stories, check out our rhyming stories for kids post!

We have created the ultimate set of rhyming cards for preschoolers and kindergarteners. Whether you’re helping children learn to rhyme, looking to expand their rhyming abilities, or looking for rhyming activities, these rhyming cards are such a win, they’ll make your head spin! Check them out in our store!

Rhyming Songs

To share our favorite rhyming songs with you, we’re going to share more about our favorite children’s musicians and our favorite songs of theirs! These are kid-tested and parent and teacher-approved rhyming songs that you all will love singing together.

Rhyming Songs from Laurie Berkner Band 

Oh, Laurie Berkner, where have you been all my life?! She is so enchanting, and we all at Preschool Inspirations are in love.

The tunes are catchy, the words are clever, and she walks a fine line of being 100% geared to children without being overly silly or slapstick. It’s easy as an adult to love her music too!

Laurie used to be a preschool teacher, so no wonder her songs are so full of educational goodness! Hands down, she has some of the best rhyming songs for preschoolers.

Her music holds tons of musical goodness too, like key changes, tempo changes, harmonies, and echoes. Young kids will probably never notice these additions, but they’re doing tons of great things! They keep the song lively and interesting, help develop critical listening skills, help learn pattern recognition, and build imagination.

This is a great one for movement and action! I love to just play the audio and have the kids act out what the dinosaurs are doing.

The tune is catchy, the lyrics are incredibly creative, and kids love it! (And to be honest, I’ve had it in my head for a week now and still love it myself!) See how many rhymes your little learners can find. It’s also chock full of alliteration!

Rhyming AND counting in one song? Sign me up! Don’t miss the rest of our counting songs for kids.

We love The Learning Station! Their songs are some of the best in early childhood education, and they teach so much at the same time. Their passions and expertise shine through their music.

From their website:

“Don Monopoli, Laurie Monopoli, and Jan Hrkach are The Learning Station. With combined backgrounds and degrees in early childhood education, child development, and music, this trio, has achieved international stature as leaders in the children’s educational music industry. They presently have a collection of 31 award-winning audio and video releases and they have published over 400 children’s songs that are part of educational curriculums worldwide. ”

All of their songs revolve around the concept of “Healthy Music for a Child’s Heart, Body & Mind!” Does anyone else hear that tune in their head too?

A classic rhyming song! The Learning Station re-imagines it with fun animations.

No matter how many times my 4-year old has heard this song, she comes running to sing along whenever it comes on! The words and number of frogs left are included on the screen.

I love this “gentler” version of “I Know an Old Lady” that doesn’t include lyrics about the old lady dying.

Jack Hartmann’s music is also a huge win! He’s so enthusiastic and genuine that he just draws everyone in. He has a BA in Child Psychology and a MA in Clinical Psychology. His wife is a former kindergarten teacher, and together they produce some super fun music for kids!

Jack’s music is research-based and extremely educational. He’s got songs on everything from counting to phonics to planets to colors to sight words, as well as tons of brain breaks and hybrid exercise/learning songs. His songs are one of the top ways to bring literacy into circle time.

His library of rhyming songs are super fun! They include nursery rhymes that are sung to updated tunes, and engaging songs where he shares words and your little learners have to decide if they rhyme or not.

Even older kids will love this “cool” version of the nursery rhyme!

This is a great critical listening song. If the two words rhyme, you exercise. If they don’t, you freeze!

Jack says two words that rhyme, then you help him out by thinking of a third one that rhymes too!

When the two words rhyme, you do a dance move. When they don’t, you do a different dance move.

Patty Shukla is a music educator from Florida who was playing in original bands when she was bitten by the children’s music bug! She keeps a busy schedule of live performances at elementary schools and libraries, and also records tons of original songs and videos for YouTube. Her live shows are known as “Musical PE for You and Me” for the creative ways she fuses music and movement. Movement is essential for brain function, especially in early childhood education!

Her songs are chock full of preschool curriculum – shapes, colors, textures, directions, verbs, counting, using your imagination, and much more!

“Rhyme, rhyme, rhyming time!” Join Patty and a bunch of friends as they see what words rhyme with the words Patty calls out.

Kids probably know the song, but can they find the rhyming words?

This wonderful man was once called “the most popular children’s singer in the English-speaking world” (Washington Post) and “Canada’s all time children’s champion” (Toronto Star). I’ve been a big fan since childhood – I used to play his tapes ad nauseam on my walkman during family road trips!

Although not as visible today as he once was, Raffi still tours occasionally and is an active children’s advocate. He’s got a special emphasis on social media safety for young users and the need for screen limits for the very young.

We love Raffi! His songs are so great to use for circle time or just song time in general.

Cool story about Raffi – he was once approached by a major Hollywood studio about doing a film based on this song. He declined, because the film’s marketing would have included direct advertising to children, which he is staunchly against! Go Raffi!

When you think of rhyming songs, this is really the quintessential one. “Have you ever had a time when you couldn’t find a rhyme?” Genius.

Simple and sweet! This rhyming song has been a staple in homes for decades.

A perfect hello song or name song to include in your morning circle time. “Woo” can rhyme with ANY preschooler’s name! Clever and silly.

Need more awesome songs for kids? Check out our library below!

Educational Songs

• Songs that Teach
• ABC and Alphabet Songs
• Days of the Week Songs
• The Ultimate Guide to Preschool Songs
• Rainbow Songs for Kids
• Clean Up Songs
• Color Songs

We also have Music and Action songs, Circle Time songs, seasonal songs, and so much more!

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Karalee Sartin

Karalee is the blog manager and resident "music education expert" for Preschool Inspirations. She has two girls who attend 1st and 2nd grade at the same school, and loves being "room mom" there!

Latest posts by Karalee Sartin (see all)

How to Use These Free Rhyming Picture Cards

Use these free rhyming picture cards with the Down By the Bay song. Kids love matching the rhymes on the cards and using them to extend the classic song.

Today I have some printable rhyming cards to share with you.  I made the cards as a supplemental rhyming activity to go with the rhyming song “Down by the Bay Where the Watermelon’s Grow”, but you can use them on their own too.

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. There will be no additional cost to you if you purchase something from the link, but I receive a small commission each time someone makes a purchase through one of the links.

Down By The Bay Song and Book

If you are not familiar with the song, here are a couple of versions.  The Raffi version is a classic.  It brings back great memories for me.   My kiddo and I used to listen to Raffi a lot when he was little.

There is a book version of it too.

Here is another version of the song by The Learning Station.

Adding More Rhymes to the Song

The song is filled with many silly rhymes like “Have you ever seen a whale with a polka dot tail….down by the bay.”  It’s fun to make up more verses to add to the song and these cards will help you do that.

There are 12 cards….or 6 sets of rhyming words.  Here are the rhymes that you can make with them:

• Did you ever see the moon using a spoon?
• Did you ever see a flower taking a shower
• Did you ever see a pig wearing a wig?
• Did you ever see a peach rolling down the beach?
• Did you ever see a shark playing at the park?
• Did you ever see a ram eating grape jam?

I printed all of the rhymes on a card so that you have them for reference.

How to Use the Rhyming Picture Cards

Match the Cards – Kids can name the objects on each picture card and match the pairs that rhyme.  You don’t even need to use the song for this activity

Picture Prompts – Use the cards on a bulletin board or on a pocket chart as you sing.   Point to the cards to prompt the kids as they sing along.

Complete the Rhyme:  Sing the first part of the rhyming verse.  Then, let kids select the matching rhyme from several choices.

Make up More Rhymes:  When you use all of the rhymes in the song and on the cards, it’s fun to make up additional rhymes.  Here are some ideas:

• Did you ever see a bear sitting in a chair?
• Did you ever see a fox inside a box?
• Did you ever see a cat wearing a hat?
• Did you ever see a sheep driving a jeep?

Can you think of more rhyming verses to add to the song?  I would love to hear them.  Please share them in the comments below.

Get Your Printable Rhyming Cards

Sign up for my newsletter below and I will send the cards directly to your inbox.

I hope you and your kids have fun making rhymes.

Additional Rhyming Resources

Are you looking for additional rhyming resources for your kids?  Check out these favorites from the store.

Time. 2005. - 3rd ed.

%PDF-1.6 % 10 obj > endobj 6 0 obj /Title /Author /Subject (ISBN 5-94117-064-5) >> endobj 20 obj > stream

Epiphany, 1977 / Poetic translations / Official website of the poet Yuri Levitansky

A few words about this book

I met Imants Ziedonis, a wonderful Latvian poet, a few years ago, when, by the will of fate, I first found myself in his native Latvia, on the coast of this northern bay, and was fascinated by the restrained beauty of a land unknown to me hitherto, captivated by the aroma and colors of this land where poetry lived since ancient times.

"We touched each other, touched, touched." (And it turned out we had enough of them - touch points.)

Within the walls of the Dome Cathedral, in the pipes of its famous organ, discordant winds of seven centuries sang.

Somewhere behind the copper pines, in the dunes, behind the rustling of sand and pine needles, behind the quiet splashes of the evening sea, the strict lines of Weidenbaum and the slender stanzas of Rainis, inscribed in this landscape forever, clearly stood out.

In a spacious fisherman's house, in the house of Ziedonis's parents, at a generous fishermen's feast, touching each other easily and freely, penetrating each other and preserving their basis, their smell, their color and sound, Latvian and Russian were interspersed, the proximity of the forest and the proximity of the sea , the measured breathing of prose and the rapid flow of verse.

I was somewhat surprised when Imant told me:

You must translate my Epiphanies.

“But, as far as you know, I am not a prose writer! I replied.

"Me too," said Imant. - Me too. That is why Epiphanies are not prose in the usual sense. I think it's closer to poetry.

Closer - but still - not poetry?

And here is this book.

Poems and prose?

Maybe prose poems?

Or maybe prose in verse?

"Epiphanies" is a Greek word. reflection. Revelation. The subtlest impulse, a short flash, snatching out of the darkness an instant of a fleeting life, highlighting the tension of a thought, gesture, sensation, event, deed, object.

Short flashes, impulses, sometimes in some way contradicting each other - dialectically contradicting each other - a combination of heterogeneous phenomena and even complete opposites into a single - dialectically connected - continuous stream. And the general direction of the flow is from birth to birth, from birth and again to birth, the eternal triumph of life over death, life, its eternal, irresistible, triumphant rhythm over everything.

Such is this book.

And yet - poetry or prose?

Above each individual passage (short story? Poem?) - three asterisks, as above lyrical poems.

Rhythm clarity. Rhythms varied. And - classically, canonically poetic.

And interspersed with rhymes, full-bodied and precise, interspersed with frankly rhymed, repeatedly rhymed lines.

Some of the epiphanies (especially in the second part of the book) are simply poems in their purest form, only written in an order unusual for poetry.

And - the very principle of figurative associative thinking, the principle, the manner of poetic vision of the world, objects, things.

So what is poetry or prose?

The image of the edge, the invisible edge, the border of things and phenomena - it is not in vain that Ziedonis loves it so much.

On the border, on the verge of high poetry and serious, exacting, detailed prose.

On the border - and in combination, in interweaving - purely national and what worries the entire human race.

Ancient Latvian songs, towns, villages and rivers, customs and landscapes of this land found a place for themselves here, fit in and settled freely.

The tonality, attitude, interweaving of the national and universal "Epiphany" make me suddenly recall Rolland's "Col Brugnon", a wonderful book about which the author himself said that she "laughs at life, because she finds a taste in it and is healthy herself."

And a kind of rusticity and rudeness, as if coming from the very earth - isn’t Rabelaisian, earthly and healthy, a spirit hovering here?

Such is this book, smart and lively, written with the utmost sincerity and high tension of thought and feeling, full of lyricism and irony, sometimes sarcasm, sometimes mischief, sometimes polemic.

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