Preschool Graduations are such a special and important time for little people and also for all the families of the tiniest graduates.
For teachers however, choosing Graduation Theme songs can often seem like a daunting task. Here are a few great ideas and graduation theme songs to go along with them.
Choose an animal to be the class Mascot.
Start a classroom tradition and near the beginning of the year allow your children to vote on a class mascot. This is a great activity to do especially during election time so the children can better understand what voting is all about. Three and four year olds may not be very interested in understanding how politics work, but this brings the concept of democracy to a level that they can participate in, understand, and most importantly have fun with while encouraging cooperation and building self-esteem!
First, allow the students to nominate their favorite animals as potential candidates. When you have several candidates, find images of the animals and print copies of ballots. Preschoolers enjoy either circling the animal of their choice or even putting a check in a little box.
As a class, count the votes. What an awesome way to practice counting too! If there happens to be a tie, just revote and recount!
Find a Graduation Theme Song that suits your Class Mascot animal.
Here are some ideas to get you started regardless of which animal your class chooses.
We Are Going to the Zoo – author unknown
(sung to the tune of London Bridge)
*Feel free to change the names and the actions of the animals to suit your classroom’s needs to be more in line with your own mascot.
We are going to zoo,
To the zoo, to the zoo.
We are going to the zoo,
Won’t you join us too?
We’ll see lions, tigers too,
Tigers too, tigers too.
We’ll see lions, tigers too,
All at the zoo.
We will find some chimpanzees,
Chimpanzees, chimpanzees.
we will find some chimpanzees,
Swinging from the trees.
We will look for kangaroos,
Kangaroos, kangaroos
We will look for kangaroos,
Hopping at the zoo.
5 Little Monkeys – author unknown
This is one of my favorite preschool songs as it’s so adorable and the children love to sing it. It would be appropriate for a class mascot that is either a Monkey or an Alligator. We used it with an Alligator theme that was simply adorable!
The words to the song:
5 little monkeys high up in the tree.
Teasing Mr. Alligator,
“You can’t catch me, can’t catch me, can’t catch me!”
Along comes Mr. Alligator quiet as can be…SNAP! That monkey right out of that tree!
Then, you sing the song again counting down with 4 little monkeys, 3 little monkeys, 2 little monkeys, 1 little monkey, then…
0 little monkeys…Along comes Mr. Alligator fat as can be!
You also add hand motions:
Have children first count the number on their fingers and then pretend to look high up in the tree. Shake hips like they’re teasing Mr. Alligator. Shake a pointed finger for “can’t catch me.” Tip toe for Mr. Alligator being quiet. Snap their arms in a V out in front of them like they’re catching a monkey. Make a big belly for Mr. Alligator fat as can be.
I leave today,
I cannot stay,
Oh, Kindergarten
I come!
(Can yell Hooray at the end too if desired.)
Check out PreschoolEducation.com for some more really great preschool graduation, animal, and zoo songs. There you’ll find the lyrics for other songs like:
Kindergarten Here We Come which is sung to the tune of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.”
Kindergarten In the Fall which is sung to the tune of “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain.”
*If you would like to reprint the lyrics to “Merrily We Graduate” or “Kindergarten Hooray” please provide a link to this article or my CP page. Let others know you found me here on AC. Thanks!
