Penguin Parade
A fun penguin song for preschoolers and young singers age 3-8
Penguin Parade
- Watch the videos
- Purchase the Super Pack and enjoy Penguin Parade using the printed music, audio tracks and lyrics
- Use the activities to extend the music into other subject areas
- Use the suggestions provided for movement and singing restricted classes
View and download highlights of this webpage.
I love penguins.
I had the opportunity to see real penguins at the Bronx Zoo in New York. They didn’t have any snow in which to play, but they certainly had fun in the water. The artwork in the video was done by students in a school in New Brunswick, Canada. We were at the school doing a Donna & Andy concert for the students and they had a penguin bulletin board display set up to surprise us.
Teachers, parents, children and marching penguins love this song!
The Penguin Parade is a delightful march as the penguins waddle to the ocean to have a swim. The descriptive words provide an excellent opportunity to add actions that support the lyrics and also create a visually pleasing performance.
Create a simple costume by wearing black top and bottom and using a legal sized sheet of white paper, cut to create an oval penguin’s “white shirtfront” which is pinned to each penguin performer.Music Performances by Students
Introduce Penguin Parade using the studio performance track. Very young music enthusiasts will have fun marching as they listen. Young singers with a bit more experience will enjoy singing along with vocal modeling and support from Donna & Andy.
Studio Performance Track (sample)
Students sound great singing with the instrumental studio track for performances and presentations. The studio accompaniment begins with a 4-bar snare drum solo to set the mood. The piano accompaniment is enhanced with two bassoon lines. The bassoon line doubles some of the bass notes and also adds a counter melody at certain points. The instrumental verse (the “B” section) is a lovely interplay between a harmony part played in the lower bassoon register and the melody, played in the higher register. This is a wonderful listening activity to identify the sound of the bassoon and to explore the structure of the piece.
Instrumental Studio Track (sample)
Rehearsal tracks
The piano rehearsal track begins at bar 5 (without the snare drum solo) and can be used with the melody guide or piano only. The final bars (“outro”) include some synthesized trumpet, but otherwise the accompaniment is piano only.Piano + Melody Guide (sample)
Licensing
The audio tracks included in the Penguin Parade - Super Pack can be used for concert and studio recitals. No Licensing fee is required to add these tracks to online classes or performances.
Teaching Music to Young Students – ways to use the song:
Vocal studio teachers and classroom teachers can use Penguin Parade for a variety of purposes including performance repertoire/concerts/recitals, expressive singing, musical theatre/dramatizing the text, marching, actions, instrument identification, form and MORE!Form (ABA)
Penguin Parade is a single verse but it is presented in ABA form with singing at the beginning and the end and the verse played as an instrumental interlude in the middle. Students may do the actions while inner hearing (a great way to practice this skill) or create a unique penguin dance routine for the B section.Art
Have the students create “ABA penguin art” by drawing three penguins with the middle penguin looking different than the other two. Find other visual examples of ABA form.CROSS-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Cross curricular activities are provided in the Activity Pack for extending and connecting the musical experience to other subject areas. These activities are wonderful enrichment opportunities for classroom teachers and a great vehicle for home-schooling families to engage the whole family.
There are 14 activities included in the Penguin Parade - Activity Pack: two activities to introduce the song and explore the lyrics, plus an additional 12 activities across a variety of subject areas (music, visual art, drama, dance, language arts, science and technology). This is an excellent opportunity to listen to the music and make connections to related activities that arise from the lyrics.
Teachers - Is Singing Restricted in Your Area (schools)?
There are still many ways to engage with this piece of music in meaningful musical ways.
Read through the lyrics together.
- Discuss what descriptive/action words are in the song.
- Follow a printed lyrics sheet and circle all the descriptive action words in the song.
- Have the children suggest their own words that might work in the song to create a unique version of the song.
Listen to Penguin Parade. Use your downloaded audio tracks or use this video
- Create penguin art as you listen
- Add the children’s art to the performance track of “Penguin Parade ” to create a video.
- Play the video as part of a school presentation.
Show the students a metronome (the old-fashioned pendulum kind).
- A metronome pendulum swings side to side like a waddling penguin.
- Choose simple songs/chants and sing or chant with the metronome .
Send us Your "Penguin Parade" Song Video
We would love to see your performance of Penguin Parade. There is no licensing fee required when you post your video on YouTube. In your video post title, please include Donna Rhodenizer's name as the composer of the Penguin Parade. Here is the title example Penguin Parade by Donna Rhodenizer - Performed by Performers Name. It helps people to find your video and will generate more video views. Then, send us your YouTube Video link so we can promote it and maybe post it on this page.
Join me on my Elementary Music with Donna - YouTube channel and subscribe to see new videos when they are posted.
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Have Fun!
Composer Notes
I wrote this penguin song at the request of a teacher at my school who was doing a penguin unit with her students. She asked me for a penguin song and I didn’t know any, so I wrote my own! Her students came to my music class and told me lots of penguin facts that I used for composing ideas.
With all the facts I found out, I wrote four penguin songs! “Penguin Parade” is a fun song that imagines the penguins waddling off for a swim. What a great parade that would be!
You also may enjoy another Donna Rhodenizer Penguin song - The Penguin Ball
Other marching/movement songs – March Music and Activities for Kids
Donna & Andy
Donna Rhodenizer and Andy Duinker perform together as the duo Donna & Andy. They are the award-winning recording artists who created the studio recording for Penguin Parade and all the songs in the Computer Cat Song Collection.
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