![[Children’s Songs for June] Fun finger-play songs and traditional nursery rhymes perfect for the rainy season](https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/k8qwDdpLGjs/maxresdefault.webp)
[Children’s Songs for June] Fun finger-play songs and traditional nursery rhymes perfect for the rainy season
The rainy season makes you long for summer.
When it rains day after day, many children make teru-teru bozu and wish, “Please be sunny!”
Precisely because it’s a time when it’s hard to play outside as much as you’d like, why not have fun by singing children’s songs and hand-play songs together?
In this article, we’ll introduce children’s songs and hand-play songs that are perfect for June, the month of the rainy season.
We’ve selected a wide range, from famous songs like “Katatatsumuri” (Snail) to hand-play favorites popular with children in nursery schools and kindergartens.
Let’s change our perspective and turn a rainy day into a fun one!
[June Nursery Rhymes] Fun Hand-Play Songs and Traditional Children’s Songs Perfect for the Rainy Season (1–10)
A Little Bear in the Rain
First broadcast on Uta no Ehon, the predecessor to NHK’s hugely popular children’s program Okaasan to Issho, this song is one of the pieces often sung at kindergartens and nurseries during the rainy season.
The lyrics tell of a little bear who mistakes a rain puddle for a river and waits, wondering if any fish might come.
It’s an adorably written song that vividly conjures the image of the little bear.
The Clock Song
A song that every adult probably knows and has sung at least once: “The Clock Song.” June 10 is Time Day in Japan.
This short and cute tune is a very famous children’s song that you can sing without a hitch; the lyrics are by Keisuke Tsutsui and the music is by Taro Murakami.
Although the title is “The Clock Song,” in the lyrics the clock is affectionately called “O-tokei-san,” sung from a child’s perspective, which makes it feel friendly and endearing.
It refers to the minute hand as the “grown-up hand” and the hour hand as the “child hand,” making it a recommended song for children who are just starting to take an interest in clocks and time.
rainfall
When you were a child, didn’t you ever feel somehow happy even when it rained? As an adult, you might often feel down… but this cheerful piece reminds you that songs and games you can only enjoy on rainy days can be nice once in a while.
Each short story-like song always ends with a part where the sound of rain and a joyful feeling are expressed in words and sung, and it seems like singing together as a parent and child would make the mood even brighter.
Rubber Boots March
Puddles that always form during the rainy season.
Normally we’d avoid them, but do you remember ever putting on rain boots and jumping in out of curiosity when you were a child? This is a recommended song that lets you enjoy that exciting, childlike puddle play as a hand game.
In the song, there’s a call-and-response part for the moment you step into a puddle, so it seems fun to play it as a back-and-forth between pairs like teacher and child, or parent and child.
Whale ClockLyrics by Kazuo Seki / Music by Takeshi Shibuya
A fantastical song that fills children with excitement.
Its soft, warm, and beautiful melody blends perfectly with lyrics rich in storytelling.
First broadcast on NHK’s “Minna no Uta” in 1983, it has remained popular, with reruns and inclusion on related albums.
The piece is also used in school music materials as a song that teaches the importance of time.
Listening to it during the rainy tsuyu season or on June 10th, Time Day, will surely put you in a gentle mood.
Singing it with choreography will further spark children’s imaginations.
PitchanponYuki-chan, Wanwan, U-tan, Kukku
A cute song that rhythmically expresses the sound of falling rain.
It captures the excitement of a rainy day—going for a walk in rain boots and twirling colorful umbrellas—set to a lively tempo.
It was included on the March 2018 album “NHK Inai Inai Baa! Homerarechatta,” with a DVD released around the same time.
Perfect for the rainy season, it’s a tune you can enjoy singing and moving to indoors on those restless, can’t-go-out rainy days.
Grandfather's ClockHenry Clay Work
A timeless ballad passed down across generations to the sound of a ticking clock.
Set to a simple, familiar melody, it unfolds a moving story that portrays the bond between a grandfather and his old clock.
First broadcast on NHK’s “Minna no Uta” in 1962, it continues to be cherished by people of all ages to this day.
Ken Hirai’s cover also became a major hit.
It’s a song to savor during the rainy season—gathered with family around the piano as you listen to the patter of the rain, or lending an ear to your grandmother’s reminiscences.