Song Set Archives - Donna & Andy

Winter Concert Songs for Children – Vol. 1 – Grades K-1 (ages 5-7)

Andy Duinker — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 19:31:12 +0000

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Winter Concert Songs - Vol. 1

Grades K-1 (ages 5-7)

by Donna Rhodenizer

Composer - music and lyrics details

Music and lyrics - Donna Rhodenizer

Five Little Snowflakes / Five Shiny Stars
Jiggle Wiggle Freeze!
See My Little Candle / See the Snowflakes Falling

Traditional music - Donna Rhodenizer lyrics

Winter A to Z

Traditional words and music - arrangement Donna Rhodenizer

Jingle Bells Scarf Activity

Option - purchase songs separately

Print copies Available on Amazon - S O O N

Print copies are available on Amazon.

Go to Donna's Amazon Author Page to purchase your print copy.

Also, click the "Follow" button to get notified when additional new books become available.

Teaching Tips

In this book, Donna explores topics that must be considered by music teachers planning concerts for singers in Kindergarten – grade 1, ages 5-7

Factors to keep in mind when choosing music
Ways to keep a concert program interesting without over burdening young children with excessive amounts of lyrics
Choosing Repertoire
Dealing with small voices in large performance spaces
Non-singers

Composer's Notes

Winter Concert Songs for Children - Vol.1 - Grades K-1 (age 5-7)

Each song in this collection has its own story of how it came to be written and when it was first used. Overall, this collection is a result of many years of presenting concert programs with my elementary school students. I LOVE planning concerts that are fun for the children to sing and enjoyable for family and friends who attend the performance. Over the years I have needed songs for my youngest students to sing. By writing my own songs I have ensured that they meet the very specific set of criteria that I feel is required to make them worth singing and that help ensure their success. It was fun to put some of these songs together in a collection that I know will help music teachers with their concert planning process. There is no need to reinvent the wheel! I am happy to share these songs and imagine all the smiling faces as kids sing them and make musical memories of their own.

You Are Invited

When you have enjoyed singing these winter songs with your students - please drop by again and leave a Review on this page. Thanks!

Please send us your performance videos - we might be able to post them on this page!

Winter Concert Songs - Vol. 1 - Grades K-1 (age 5-7)

Five Little Snowflakes

Jiggle Wiggle Freeze

Jingle Bells - scarf activity

See My Little Candle

Winter A to Z

Send us your videos of these Winter Concert Songs and perhaps we can post them here.

The post Winter Concert Songs for Children – Vol. 1 – Grades K-1 (ages 5-7) appeared first on Donna & Andy.

4 Turkey Songs and Games

Andy Duinker — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 16:07:34 +0000

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4 Turkey Songs and Games

arranged by Donna Rhodenizer

Audio & Lyrics

The download for 4 Turkey Songs and Games includes the vocal scores and audio accompaniment tracks as well. However, I'm sorry you don't have any sample tracks to listen to here at this time.

Teacher Tips

Why are singing games important?

Singing games are a foundational part of elementary music classroom activities. Singing games have a variety of purposes:

Provide the opportunity for students to learn through play-based learning. This is one of their primary, inherent learning methods.
Prepare music elements that will be identified and presented in later classes (sometimes in the next school year!).
Provide examples of music elements to be identified and labelled.
Review and practice music elements that have been labelled.
Provide students the opportunity to make physical responses, assisting in internalizing the concepts in the song.
Provide physical movement “brain breaks” within a lesson.

A well-planned music class will include one or two singing games. Use a singing game early in the lesson to prepare concepts. Close to the end of a class, a singing game can be used to review something the students already know and to practice those elements in a fun, musical context. In a music class that requires concentration and focus, a fun singing game is a great way for students to relax.

Singing games are best used unaccompanied. This allows students to hear vocal modelling from the teacher without obscuring pitches with an instrument. Singing games include the expectation that students are singing. Unaccompanied singing allows them to hear their own voices as they learn to make vocal changes and match pitch/sing in tune with others.

Composer's Notes

4 Turkey Songs and Games

I didn’t compose these four turkey songs but as soon as I discovered them, they became favourite seasonal songs I enjoyed sharing with my students leading up to Thanksgiving. Although it is great to be a composer and write what I want to sing with my students, finding great songs written by someone else is also a great way to go. Each turkey song in my collection serves a different purpose in the music classroom: a sing-along song, a simple finger play, an action song, and a game that is always a great end-of-class activity.

I grew up on a family farm, but my farming background did not include any experience with turkeys. My visit to a local farm was very informative and the turkeys had a few tricks to play on me! I am glad my students are not inclined to wander off when I am explaining a game. I am also happy that my students are MUCH better at participating in the turkey songs that I use in my music classroom.

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When you have enjoyed singing these songs and doing the activities with your students - please drop by again and leave a Review on this page. Thanks!

Please send us your performing video - we might be able to post it on this page!

Send us your video of 4 Turkey Songs and perhaps we can post it here.

The post 4 Turkey Songs and Games appeared first on Donna & Andy.

5 Halloween Songs

Andy Duinker — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 19:38:19 +0000

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5 Halloween Songs

by Donna Rhodenizer

Blog Post - 5 Halloween Songs

Learn more about Donna's most popular 5 Halloween Songs in this blog post.

You Are Invited

When you have enjoyed singing these songs with your students - please drop by again and leave a Review on this page. Thanks!

Please send us your performance videos as well - we might be able to post them here on this page!

Welcome Songs, Greeting Songs and Name-learning Songs & Games

Andy Duinker — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 00:53:44 +0000

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Welcome Songs, Greeting Songs, Name-learning Songs & Games

by Donna Rhodenizer

Sample Pages

See SAMPLE pages of scores and instructions here.

You Are Invited

When you have enjoyed trying some of these songs with your students - please drop by again and leave a Review on this page. Thanks!

Please send us your performance video - we might be able to post it on this page!

The post Welcome Songs, Greeting Songs and Name-learning Songs & Games appeared first on Donna & Andy.

27 New Singing Games for Young Singers

Andy Duinker — Sun, 25 Aug 2024 17:43:32 +0000

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New Singing Games

for Young Singers

by Donna Rhodenizer

Vol. 1 Grades K-1, ages 5-7

New Singing Games for Young Singers Vol. 1 Grades K-1, ages 5-7

Donna Rhodenizer has written twelve original singing games for Kindergarten and Grade 1 students, singers ages 5-7. These songs focus on the early skill development of emerging singers including galloping, action songs, fast and slow, as well as songs with simple tone sets (mainly s-m-l combinations). Individual singing opportunities are built into many of the singing games. Students have the opportunity to work on discerning differences in pitch and pitch matching, leading to singing in tune with others. All of the singing games provide young singers with a play-based learning experience, inherent to their innate learning style and crucial to their skill development. All songs include scores and game instructions, plus adaptations for small group and individual instruction.

Vol. 2 Grades 2-3, ages 7-9

Donna Rhodenizer’s second volume of singing games focuses on singers in grades 2-3, ages 7-9. Eleven original singing games focus on providing practice for skills learned earlier and adding songs and skills with expanded tone sets and more complex rhythmic elements. Individual singing games are still a mainstay as students continue to hone their ability to sing in tune with others. Repetition is a key element of singing games, creating opportunity for internalizing musical concepts for labelling and practicing in future lessons. Games with movement, guessing games and even a few chasing options make these singing games interesting and motivating for students. All songs include scores and game instructions, plus adaptations for small group and individual instruction.

Vol. 3 Grades 4-5, ages 9-11

The third volume of Donna Rhodenizer’s singing games is created for singers in grades 4-5, ages 9-11. Ten original singing games delve into more complex musical elements such as minor tonalities, wider tone sets and complex rhythms. Singing games with individual responses include singing as well as rhythmic and melodic improvisation. Musical challenges for this age group are offered using a play-based learning style that creates a relaxed atmosphere for exploring and learning without pressure. All songs include scores and game instructions, plus adaptations for small group and individual instruction.

Print copies Available on Amazon

Print copies are available on Amazon.

Go to Donna's Amazon Author Page to purchase your print copy.

Also, click the "Follow" button to get notified when additional new books become available.

Composer's Notes

New Singing Games for Young Singers

My music classroom has been singing based from day one. Everything we did hinged on singing, and the best way to get kids to sing is to make it a game. Singing games were part of my music education courses and my approach was influenced by my training in the Kodaly teaching method, also founded on the use of singing games to teach concepts to children.

Over the years I have had certain singing games that I enjoyed sharing with my students. I knew they liked those particular games, it was exciting to play them, and they were motivated to participate. As time and political correctness became an issue in our classrooms, some of the singing games from decades (centuries?) ago began to come into question. Old singing games that were based on less than favourable past-times and ways of doing things began to be considered inappropriate and needed to be removed. Song context aside, the games that went with some of those songs were favourites of my students (and of mine as well) so I set about to create new songs that would fit the games that went with the old songs. I had collected quite a few singing games by the time I was chatting with Nikki Loney (Full Voice Music) about doing a question and answer online session with teachers about singing games. With my collection already started (sort of) it seemed like an opportune time to put together an official version of these songs.

What started out as a single collection across grade levels (K-5) started to get too large and unwieldy for a single book. We decided to split the book into K-2 and 3-5. Then THAT got too big so we revised and split the book into 3 volumes. Now there were not quite enough songs to make a reasonable sized book (in my estimation) so in addition to the songs I already had, I designed some new ones. Trying to figure out games that would work for each of the songs had us galloping, passing sticks to the beat, counting bars to match dance steps and having lots of fun! I also needed to think outside of my elementary classroom focus and create adaptations for singing games that could be used by private vocal teachers with small groups or just one student. That was a fun challenge!

I ended up writing six new songs in a week to insert into various age groupings. I was reminded of my days in the classroom when I needed songs for specific events and I ended up writing them. It was an intense, productive two weeks and I was exhausted but creatively energized by the whole process.

You Are Invited

When you have enjoyed doing these singing games with your students - please drop by again and leave a Review on this page. Thanks!

Please send us your performance videos - we might be able to post them on this page!

New Singing Games - Vol. 1 - grade 1-2 (age 5-7)

New Singing Games - Vol. 2 - grade 2-3 (age 7-9)

Also found in New Singing Games - Vol. 1

Also found in New Singing Games - Vol. 3

New Singing Games - Vol. 3 - grade 4-5 (age 9-11)

More Singing Games

Send us your videos of these New Singing Games and perhaps we can post them here.

The post 27 New Singing Games for Young Singers appeared first on Donna & Andy.

Vocal Warm-ups for Choir, Elementary Schools and Vocal Studios

Andy Duinker — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 17:49:43 +0000

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Vocal Warm-ups

by Donna Rhodenizer

Print Copies also available on Amazon

Print copies are available on Amazon.

Go to Donna's Amazon Author Page to purchase your print copy.

When you are on Donna's author page, please click the "Follow" button to get notified when additional new books become available.

More Information

Warm-ups are an important element to include at the beginning of choir rehearsals and vocal lessons. Although it may be tempting to skip warm-ups if time is limited, healthy singing requires vocal and physical preparation. I often use the example with my students that athletes warm up their muscles before running, jumping and throwing for athletic activities. The voice is also a muscle and it needs to be warmed up before making it do a vocal workout. Warming up helps develop strength and prevent injury.

Young singers in elementary school choirs arrive at the music room from various locations and other activities. Private vocal lessons are often at the end of the day and sometimes squeezed between multiple after-school activities. Some students will need time to wind down, others will need to be energized! Warm-ups provide a good focus and transition time. In choir or small-group lessons, warm-ups also help the group begin to work as a team.

Combining movement with vocal warm-ups helps engage the whole body in the singing activity. Combining singing AND doing an action is good for the brain, and is often a welcome challenge that helps engage students, particularly older students.

Warm-ups can be used for diction, warming up the vocal range, challenging the brain and waking up the body.

Vocal Range Warm-ups

Vocal Range Warm-ups

Ascending / Descending Warm-ups:

Down to the Bottom of the Sea
Ee he he
Doobee doo
Vowels

I Know, I Know, I Know

Have You Seen My Alligator?

Parachute / Umbrella Warm-ups

Diction / Articulation Warm-ups and Challenges

Diction /Articulation Warm-ups and Challenges

Consonants

The Tip of the Tongue
Zinga Zinga Zah
Maybe My Mommy

Five Tongue Twisters

Listen to the Vocal Local Yodel
My Swiss Wristwatch
We Will Surely See the Sun
Shawn Swan
The Bold Bluebird Blinks

More Tongue Twisters

Red Leather, Yellow Leather
Pass the Pasta

Piccolo Meenie

One, One-Two-One

Z-Y-X (Backward Alphabet)

Animal Can-Can

Physical Warm-ups

Physical Warm-ups

My Bonnie

Bim Bum

Stretches - Physical Warm-up Story

Creating Harmony

Creating Harmony

Sustained Ooh

Chairs to Mend

Alfred (The Alligator Song)

Round and Round the Earth is Turning

Vocal Range Warm-ups

Diction / Articulation Warm-ups and Challenges

Physical Warm-ups (voice and body)

Creating Harmony

Send us your videos of these Vocal Warm-ups and perhaps we can post them here.

The post Vocal Warm-ups for Choir, Elementary Schools and Vocal Studios appeared first on Donna & Andy.

20 Best Camp Songs – Donna’s Camp Song Collection

Andy Duinker — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 21:09:30 +0000

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Camp Songs

Print copies available on Amazon

Purchase a Print copy on Amazon. Enjoy!

Go to Donna's Amazon Author Page to see more Donna Rhodenizer books.

Also, click the "Follow" button to get notified when additional new books become available.

Teaching tips

Use camp songs at the beginning of the school year to “break the ice” and encourage students to join in singing. They are more likely to participate if their nervous laughter is covered by the laughter resulting from a silly song.

Camp songs can be used as warm-ups. Canons and rounds that are delightful around an evening campfire are also lovely as an easy harmony exercise and vocal warm-up. Action songs get students singing and moving to warm up (or wind down!) physically before singing.

Use camp songs as an end-of-year activity. Students anticipating the end of the school year may find it difficult to settle. Camp songs have a good combination of fun and exuberance to handle attitudes at this time of year.

Use camp songs to give your students a library of songs they can share in summer social settings when someone says, “Let’s sing something!” As much as the students learn from singing games and pedagogical songs, they are not the type of songs a student would suggest when they are contributing to a sing-along.

Read the lyrics carefully before using any camp song in this collection or anywhere else. Some lyrics that are acceptable to some may be considered inappropriate for others. You will need to make your own assessment of what is appropriate for your unique setting/school. “When in doubt, leave it out,” has always been sage advice.

Ask the students if they have a favourite camp song to share. Again, this is best done with some monitoring from the teacher!

Composer's Notes

Camp songs are fun to sing and can leave a lasting impression. I remember with great clarity being at camp and hearing "The Bear Song” for the first time. I listened in horror as that bear closed in on the singer. I could see that huge tree and the branch so far from the ground. When the runner jumps and misses, my heart was racing and I couldn’t figure out how this could possibly end well. The twist at the end when the singer actually missed the branch on the way up, but caught it on the way down was funny and a relief all at the same time. Fast forward to decades later, and I still love sharing this song with my students. The call and response format makes it accessible for the students with no words to remember (it’s all up to you, the song leader!). It is still a relief when the safe arrival on the branch concludes the song.

I also remember the crackle of the fire, darkness settling slowly and gently around us as we sang and roasted marshmallows. Singing songs in this setting is such a great memory.

Music and singing was a huge part of family life when I was growing up. My love of music has carried on to become my chosen profession, what I enjoy for fun, and my greatest joy. Perhaps young singers will learn a silly camp song, discover that they enjoy singing and include music in the activities they pursue for the rest of their lives. That’s a pretty big mandate for the lowly camp song, but you never know!

Couloring Page - Download

Download (pdf), print and have fun colouring this page while you sing the songs in the Camp Song Collection. You can also colour while you play the song videos.

You are invited

When you have enjoyed singing these camp songs - please drop by again and leave a Review on this page. Thanks!

Please send us your performance videos - we might be able to post them on this page!

Camp Songs come in a variety of categories:

Songs with disgusting lyrics

that make us say, "Eeuw!"

Found a Peanut

Herman the Worm

Tom the Toad

Action Songs

Bim Bum

Dum Dum Dada

I'm Glad I am a Camper

Waddle-ee Ahcha

Call and Response / Echo Songs

The Bear Song

Boom Chicka Boom

Going on a Lion Hunt

The Moose Song

Sing-along Songs / Story Songs

Banjo Song / My Old Banjo

The Chicken Song

The Fox

Long-legged Sailor

Old MacDonald Mash-up

Rattlin' Bog

Canons / Rounds

A Ram Sam Sam

Fire's Burning

One Bottle o' Pop

Bonus

The Rooster Story

Songs with disgusting lyrics - that make us say, "Eeuw!"

Action Songs

Call and Response / Echo Songs

The Bear Song

Sing-along Songs / Story Songs

Canons / Rounds

Bonus

Send us your videos of these Camp Songs and perhaps we can post them here.

Composer, Elementary Music Specialist, Performer

Donna Rhodenizer

Donna Rhodenizer loves playing singing games with her students. In addition to pretending to be a bird flying in and out of windows, an owl hiding in the forest, or a mother chicken calling to her chicks, Donna’s vivid imagination is put to good use composing songs for young singers. She has written over 500 pieces of music in the past four decades and, unless that pesky wolf in the forest causes an early demise, she has plans to write more songs in the future.

The post 20 Best Camp Songs – Donna’s Camp Song Collection appeared first on Donna & Andy.

5 Tongue Twisters

Andy Duinker — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 01:39:45 +0000

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5 Tongue Twisters

by Donna Rhodenizer

Tongue Twisters - Blog Post

Read more about Tongue Twisters in this blog post created by Donna to support teachers with teaching tips and strategies plus additional tongue twister activities.

Teaching Tips

Use a metronome to set a slow and steady speed.

Say each tongue twister slowly and clearly.

Increase the speed of the metronome and continue to strive for accuracy as you speak the tongue twister.

For an added challenge, select an element of the tongue twister for which you will add an action (like a clap, snap or tap). The element you choose may be a specific word, words that rhyme, or words that begin/end with the same letter.

Continue adding the action you have added, but leave out the word where you have added the action.

Speak your tongue twister in canon with another person. Can you stay on track?

Use spoken or sung tongue twisters as a warm-up activity before singing other repertoire.

Composer's Notes

5 Tongue Twisters

When I was in grade 7, our math teacher held multiplication table competitions. Two of us would stand in front of the class and be given a specific times table to recite. I remember doing the 12 times table. Because of my ability to speak quickly (and maybe because I was used to singing and had developed some breath control) it was possible to get all the way to “12 x 12 is 144” without needing to take a breath. My opponent would stop somewhere along the way to take a quick breath and, voilà, I would be at the finish line – the winner! I can still rattle off all those times tables which astounds my grown up children who whip out their phone to do some of those higher combinations that are still firmly established in my memory.

How do math times tables have anything to do with tongue twisters? Like reciting times tables, tongue twisters also incorporate the ability to speak or sing words in rapid-fire succession. I enjoy playing with words and seeing how they sound in various combinations, so tongue twisters are a great fit for how I work with language. I know there is much research on how music and math are connected. Note values correlate with mathematical equations and the harmonic overtone series can be explained using principles of physics. I don’t know if anyone has ever researched the tongue twister – multiplication table connection, but maybe someone should look into that!

My collection of Five Tongue Twisters evolved when Nikki Loney of FULL VOICE Music asked me to create some melodies for a few simple tongue twisters. In addition to creating the tunes, I added lyrics to produce a song with a bit more substance. I chose five tongue twisters and put them together to create a set. The beginning of each tongue twister might sound familiar, and if I did my composer’s job well, the extra parts I have added should sound like they belong with the rest of the words. One-verse and two-verse tongue twisters mean the singer (or speaker) has many more words to accurately manage, increasing the challenge of the tongue twister. I also created a three-verse version of We Will Surely See the Sun that is included as a study in the FULL VOICE Music publication, Songs and Studies for Kids, Introductory A. That should prove to be a good challenge.

Tongue twisters are a fun writing exercise and I know I will return to this form of writing for future compositions.

More Tongue Twisters

More Tongue Twisters to Sing and Purchase

This collection of 5 Tongue Twisters can be spoken or sung and they can be used as a challenge, a game, a warm-up, and for fun. They are a great tool for working on pronunciation and expressive delivery of text.

Pass the Pasta is a two-verse tongue twister that can be spoken or sung. Use it as a challenge, a game, a warm-up or just for fun. It is a great tool for working on pronunciation and expressive delivery of text.

Seven Sassy Sailors enjoy sailing the seven salty seas until they run into trouble and sink their schooner. Their sorry state is reflected by a switch to the minor key. Do not worry, they send an S.O.S, they are rescued, and the song finishes on a happy note.

Witch Watches is a twisty witch tale that fits with a Halloween theme, however, singers will enjoy singing this song at any time of the year.

Fish Wishes is a delightful tongue-twisting tale of two fishes caught in the dilemma of how to share the three wishes they have been granted. They are happy to each have a wish, but how will they share the third wish?

Try this notoriously difficult, but hilariously fun tongue twister warm-up:

Pretty, Itty, Bitty, Kitty Unicorn (by Donna Rhodenizer & Nikki Loney) - on the Full Voice Music website.

You Are invited

You are invited to send us your performance of any of the 5 Tongue Twisters.

Maybe your video will be featured here on this page.

Send us your videos of your tongue twisters and perhaps we can post them here.

The post 5 Tongue Twisters appeared first on Donna & Andy.

Song Set Archives - Donna & Andy

Winter Concert Songs for Children – Vol. 1 – Grades K-1 (ages 5-7)

Composer - music and lyrics details

Option - purchase songs separately

Print copies Available on Amazon - S O O N

Teaching Tips

Composer's Notes

You Are Invited

Winter Concert Songs - Vol. 1 - Grades K-1 (age 5-7)

4 Turkey Songs and Games

Audio & Lyrics

Teacher Tips

Composer's Notes

You are Invited

5 Halloween Songs

Blog Post - 5 Halloween Songs

See also - Dark Night Sky

You Are Invited

Welcome Songs, Greeting Songs and Name-learning Songs & Games

More Information - Blog Post

Sample Pages

You Are Invited

27 New Singing Games for Young Singers

Vol. 1 Grades K-1, ages 5-7

Vol. 2 Grades 2-3, ages 7-9

Vol. 3 Grades 4-5, ages 9-11

Print copies Available on Amazon

Composer's Notes

You Are Invited

New Singing Games - Vol. 1 - grade 1-2 (age 5-7)

New Singing Games - Vol. 2 - grade 2-3 (age 7-9)

New Singing Games - Vol. 3 - grade 4-5 (age 9-11)

More Singing Games

Vocal Warm-ups for Choir, Elementary Schools and Vocal Studios

Vocal Warm-ups

Print Copies also available on Amazon

More Information

Vocal Range Warm-ups

Diction / Articulation Warm-ups and Challenges

Physical Warm-ups

Creating Harmony

Physical Warm-ups (voice and body)

Creating Harmony

20 Best Camp Songs – Donna’s Camp Song Collection

Camp Songs

More Information - Blog Post

Print copies available on Amazon

Teaching tips

Composer's Notes

Couloring Page - Download

You are invited

Camp Songs come in a variety of categories:

Call and Response / Echo Songs

Sing-along Songs / Story Songs

Canons / Rounds

Bonus

Donna Rhodenizer

5 Tongue Twisters

5 Tongue Twisters

Tongue Twisters - Blog Post

Teaching Tips

Composer's Notes

More Tongue Twisters

Try this notoriously difficult, but hilariously fun tongue twister warm-up:

You Are invited