December children's songs, folk songs, and nursery rhymes: fun winter hand-play songs
When it comes to December, it’s the season that makes you excited and a little restless, with Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and preparations for the New Year.
Especially as kids, there was so much to look forward to—not just Christmas, but winter break and playing in the snow when it fell.
In this article, we’ll introduce children’s songs perfect for this wonderful month of December, along with playful songs everyone can enjoy and traditional nursery rhymes that have long been popular.
Most of these are for children, but there are also moving masterpieces that resonate deeply with adults.
Try listening while feeling the crisp air outside, or while staying cozy and warm indoors.
- Collection of winter nursery rhymes, folk songs, and children's songs. Includes fun winter hand-play songs too.
- [Snow Songs for Winter] Children's Snow Nursery Rhymes and Hand-Play Songs
- [Childcare] Recommended songs and nursery rhymes for November: Fun autumn fingerplay songs
- [February Songs] Introducing children's songs, folk songs, nursery rhymes, and hand-play songs about Setsubun and winter!
- Songs for January: Nursery rhymes and fingerplay songs we want children to grow familiar with
- [Christmas Songs] Christmas songs to sing with children
- Songs we want children to listen to! Recommended Christmas songs and nursery rhymes
- [Children’s Songs of Autumn] Autumn songs, school songs, and traditional children’s rhymes. A collection of classic pieces to sing in autumn.
- Nursery rhymes, folk songs, and children's songs about animals
- Recommended children's songs and hand play songs for October! Music time in childcare that feels like autumn.
- Nursery rhymes, folk songs, and children's songs about food
- [Children’s Song] A Collection of Hand Play Songs Perfect for Christmas
- The World of Kagoshima Folk Songs: Traditional Melodies that Carry On the Spirit of the Hometown
Children’s songs, folk songs, and nursery rhymes for December: Fun winter hand play songs (71–80)
Now, sing! Now, celebrate!Lyrics: Masaki Nakayama
The hymn “Come, Sing, Come, Rejoice,” perfect for Christmas, is a Christmas carol famous in Germany, but it actually has its roots in a Sicilian folk song.
Johannes Daniel Falk wrote the lyrics for the children of an orphanage, and because he used a Sicilian Marian hymn for the melody, it came to be regarded as a Sicilian folk tune.
With Japanese lyrics also available, the song conveys a wish to celebrate a night as beautiful and pure as Christmas with hearts that are just as pure.
sleddingLyrics by Kayoko Fuyumori / Music by Leroy Anderson
The piece Sleigh Ride is often played as in-store BGM during the Christmas season.
But in fact, it isn’t a Christmas song.
It was composed as an orchestral work by composer Leroy Anderson.
Many children look forward to going sledding in winter, and this piece vividly portrays the lively, joyful fun of a sleigh ride.
It may not be a Christmas song, but it’s a classic winter tune I highly recommend for children!
Do you want to build a snowman?Kristen Anderson-Lopez,
A song from the Disney film Frozen, which was a huge hit in Japan.
It depicts Anna inviting Elsa, who is shut away in her room, to build a snowman together.
As the song progresses, time passes quickly, and in the end it portrays the loneliness of being just the two of them, while also conveying Anna’s hope that the two of them can move forward together.
Snow and ChildrenLyrics by: Junichi Kobayashi
The children’s song “Yuki to Kodomo” (Snow and Children) first aired on NHK’s Minna no Uta in 1962.
Its melody was composed based on a Norwegian children’s song, with the lyrics written by children’s literature scholar Junichi Kobayashi.
The song expresses the excitement of children hoping for white snow to pile up.
Their eagerness for winter play comes through, including lively scenes of them hurrying to hop on vehicles and race along.
With its somewhat wistful, minor-key melody, the song evokes the chill of winter.
Winter nightMonbushō Shōka (Ministry of Education Songs)
A Ministry of Education school song depicting warm moments spent with family on a cold winter night with falling snow.
Released in 1912, this piece richly expresses family togetherness around the irori hearth.
Though a blizzard rages outside, the house is cozy and warm.
You can picture the mother sewing clothes and the father telling old stories.
Featured on NHK’s “Minna no Uta,” it has become a classic that lingers in many hearts.
Listening to it in the cold season is sure to warm your spirit.
A song that evokes a Japanese winter scene, beloved across generations.
In conclusion
There turned out to be quite a lot of nursery rhymes and children’s songs perfect for December, didn’t there? I imagine many of them were familiar to you.
Try singing or listening to them while recalling the quiet atmosphere of winter and the excitement of the season’s events, and enjoy yourself.