[Music Play] Children’s Recreational Music: Rec Songs You Can Sing and Play
We’re introducing playful songs and recreation songs that you can enjoy with children!
We’ve gathered a wide variety—from classic folk dance and campfire songs to rounds, hand-play songs, and playful tunes perfect for bus activities.
They’re all songs that everyone will say, “I’ve heard this before!” so you can use them for recreation with confidence.
The folk dance songs also come with choreography tutorial videos, so please use them as a reference.
Let’s sing together and have a wonderful time!
- [Partner Song] Singing two different songs simultaneously! Nursery rhymes & the latest hits
- Let's sing together! A collection of nursery rhymes everyone knows
- Collection of winter nursery rhymes, folk songs, and children's songs. Includes fun winter hand-play songs too.
- Recommended children's songs and hand play songs for October! Music time in childcare that feels like autumn.
- Recommended for sports days and recreational events! Easy-to-dance Disney classics and popular dance songs
- [Parenting] Parent-child bonding! Hand-play songs and traditional nursery rhymes collection
- Nursery rhymes and play songs to enjoy with your baby. Gentle children's songs.
- Sing and dance along to popular songs! Recommended hits from kids’ TV shows.
- A collection of cheerful nursery rhymes—songs that make you feel happy when you sing them.
- [For 0-year-olds] Recommended songs for babies: A special feature on bonding play and traditional nursery rhymes
- [Camp Songs] Classic camping songs. Campfire songs you can play along with
- [Childcare] Summer songs: Full of fun! Summer nursery rhymes & finger-play songs
- [Children's Songs] Cute songs recommended for childcare. List of popular nursery rhymes.
[Music Play] Recreational Music for Children: Rec Songs You Can Sing and Play (1–10)
Korobushka
Korobeiniki, a Russian folk song famous as a folk dance tune, is also well known in Japan for being used as the background music for Tetris.
Dancers form two concentric circles and face each other as they dance.
It’s a very active folk dance: you hold hands and move forward and back, step in rhythm, turn to the side while moving, and switch front-and-back positions.
As the music gradually speeds up, it becomes even more thrilling.
Since the choreography can be a bit tricky and there’s a lot of moving around, it’s best to practice before you dance.
It’s great fun when everyone moves in perfect sync, so give it a try and make some wonderful memories!
Mayim Mayim
“Mayim Mayim” is a staple of folk dance that many people have enjoyed dancing.
Composed by Emanuel Amiran, it is known as an Israeli folk song.
Dancers join hands to form a single circle, then dance by tightening and widening the circle and moving sideways.
“Mayim” means “water” in Hebrew, and the dance expresses the joy of discovering a water source in a dry region.
Therefore, the basic rule when dancing to this song is to have fun! Try expressing through the dance the joy of playing harmoniously with everyone and the joy of spending a happy time together.
Where are you from?
“Antagata Dokosa,” beloved as a temari (handball) song, is a simple game you can enjoy during free time on field trips or at camp.
You bounce a ball to the rhythm, and whenever the syllable “sa” appears in the lyrics, you pass the ball under your leg.
別バージョンもあって、地面に「田」の漢字（米の田んぼ）を書き、下の2マスをリズミカルに行き来して、「さ」が来たら前のマスにジャンプするやり方です。
It’s nice that you can enjoy it in two ways, with or without a ball.
Give it a try in whichever style you prefer!
[Music Play] Children's Recreational Music: Sing-and-Play Rec Songs (11–20)
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands
“If You’re Happy and You Know It” is a song that uses different parts of the body to make sounds and express happy feelings.
Based on the American folk song “If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands,” it became popular in Japan after Kyu Sakamoto sang it in 1964.
Using the body parts mentioned in the lyrics, you clap your hands like applause, stomp your feet loudly, and make various sounds.
By making big, bold sounds, you can energetically show just how happy you are right now!
Burn, burn.
Moero yo Moero is perfect for a roaring campfire with big flames.
It’s based on the French folk songs Clair de la lune and Au clair de la lune (Star Light, Gently and The End of the Day).
Set to a gentle melody, it expresses the wish for the campfire to blaze brightly and light up the dark night.
Opportunities to see large flames like a campfire up close are rare, so take it in with your eyes and engrave it as a page in your memories.
And be sure to include the memory of everyone singing this song together right alongside it!
A quiet lakeside
This song was created in 1936 at the YMCA Nojiri Lake campsite, with lyrics by Takihiko Yamakita.
The melody is said to come either from the Swiss German children’s song “Auf der Mauer, auf der Lauer” or the American nursery rhyme “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” In addition to being sung normally, it can be enjoyed in various ways, such as as a round.
Because this song is often used with parody lyrics in commercials and the like, many different words may spring to mind just from hearing the melody.
Camp da Hoi
Camp Dahoi is a perfect song for camping, written and composed by Mike Maki, who is active as a folk singer and actor.
The lyrics portray the joy of fully enjoying the sights and creatures you see for the first time at a campsite together with new friends.
There’s also a hand-play choreography to match the music, where you move both hands side to side like a big “banzai,” and use your hands to depict the scenery mentioned in the lyrics.
In the latter half of the song, it’s nice to hold hands with your friends, too! It’s the perfect song to deepen bonds with new friends while saying, “Looking forward to being friends from here on out.”