Collection of winter nursery rhymes, folk songs, and children's songs. Includes fun winter hand-play songs too.
Do you like winter?
Winter is very cold, but you can enjoy the beautiful silvery world created by pure white snow and feel the special warmth unique to winter—like hot pot dishes and igloos.
There are so many ways to have fun that you can only experience in winter.
Winter also brings lots of fun events, such as Christmas and New Year’s!
Children are probably looking forward to making snowmen, having snowball fights, and enjoying Christmas presents and cake.
In this article, we’ll introduce nursery rhymes, folk songs, traditional children’s songs, and hand-play songs with various winter themes.
There are many songs that can turn a winter that’s just cold into wonderful memories, so be sure to give them a listen!
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Collection of Winter Children's Songs, Folk Songs, and Nursery Rhymes: Fun Winter Hand-Play Songs Too (11–20)
Winter nightMonbushō Shōka (Ministry of Education Songs)
This is a Ministry of Education song published in the Third-Year Edition of Elementary School Songs.
The lyricist and composer are unknown.
It depicts a harsh winter with blizzards raging and everything covered in snow.
In an era when there wasn’t even radio, let alone television, it portrays the scene of a family gathering closely around the hearth, enjoying time together.
Winter Constellation
Here is a song with lyrics set to the popular song “Annie Laurie,” composed by William Hayes in 1871.
The lyrics were written by Keizo Horiuchi and published in 1947 as one of the pieces in the national textbook Chuto Ongaku (Middle School Music).
The original song features sweet lyrics professing love for Annie Laurie and is completely different in content from these lyrics for “Fuyu no Seiza” (Winter Constellations), yet the melody is so beautiful that it feels as if it were made for these words.
It was also selected in 2007 as one of Japan’s 100 Best Songs.
I recommend listening to it alongside the original and comparing the two—it’s both fun and enlightening.
Brr, it's so cold.
The children’s song “Oosamu Kosamu” evokes the harsh cold of winter.
It depicts a child coming down from the mountain saying, “It’s cold.” If you take the lyrics literally, you might think the child is crying from the cold, but it actually expresses that the child has come down from the mountain while saying it’s cold.
Outdoors in winter feels cold no matter where you are, but it makes you wonder just how frigid that mountain must be if the child came down because of the cold! Although the lyrics don’t say the child is crying, in reality they might have been so cold and chilled that they did shed tears.
You can also enjoy it as a round, so give it a try!
Santa Claus the ScatterbrainLyrics by Osamu Yoshioka / Music by Asei Kobayashi
A lively, snappy duple-time Japanese Christmas song with a fun “zun-cha, zun-cha” rhythm.
It was created by a powerhouse duo: composer Asei Kobayashi, who produced numerous long-running hits for commercials and TV themes that everyone has heard, and lyricist Osamu Yoshioka, known for many children’s songs and anime theme lyrics.
It’s a wonderful Christmas song that makes a joyful Christmas even more fun.
January 1st
This song was published in 1893 as part of the Ministry of Education’s “Lyrics and Scores for Elementary School Holidays and Grand Festivals.” The lyrics were written by Sonpu Senke, and the music was composed by Shingyo Ue.
It used to be commonly sung in schools.
For people of a slightly younger generation, it may be better known as the theme song of the “New Year’s Kakushi Gei Tournament.” Because the lyrics use an old-fashioned style, today’s children might find it unfamiliar.
Even so, I hope it will continue to be sung for years to come.
A Town Where It SnowsComposer: Yoshinao Nakada
Yuki no Furu Machi o is a song whose lyrics were written by imagining oneself walking alone through a snow-covered town.
The melody, which quietly moves forward over an accompaniment that evokes steadily falling snow, conveys the chill of winter, yet in the final section it hints at the coming of spring.
It is a classic of the Showa era, where the words woven by playwright Naoya Uchimura and the melody composed by Yoshinao Nakada are beautifully matched.
Collection of winter children’s songs, folk songs, and nursery rhymes. Fun winter hand-play songs too (21–30)
Hymn to the Snowy Mountains
This song sets lyrics to the American folk tune “Oh My Darling, Clementine” and turns it into a mountaineering anthem.
It is said that in 1926, while visiting Kazawa Onsen in the snowy mountains with fellow members of the Kyoto Imperial University Mountaineering Club, Eizaburo Nishibori created it to pass the time.
The lyrics wonderfully convey a love for the mountains, don’t they? At Kazawa Onsen, there is a monument to the song “Yukiyama Sanka” (Hymn to the Snowy Mountains).
Many artists have recorded this piece, but the version by the Dark Ducks is probably the best known.