Today’s Friday Favorite is a piggyback version (same melody, different lyrics) of the song “In the Jungle”. I got this song writing idea from my fabulous internship supervisor at The Family Partnership, Sarah Woolever. You can use this song to meet goals of choice making, turn taking, sight words (names and foods), food identification, and if the kids are older you can even talk about healthy vs. less healthy food choices as well.
You will want to find or print off a variety of foods, include the names of the foods on the cards so you can work on sight letters/words. You may want to print out a few more than the clients you have in the group in case they all hate green beans 🙂 If clients are old enough to read, you can write out the lyrics on a large notepad or have it on a powerpoint. If not, just have a felt board for them to place food pictures on to with their names on it.
Start singing/playing the chorus of the song…
In the summer, the hot, hot, summer
We like to have fun in the sun
In the summer, the hot, hot summer
We like to eat lots of yummy food
Now the children get to make a choice during the verse and put their food next to their name on the board
In the summer, the hot, hot summer
__(name)__ likes to eat yummy __(food__
In the summer, the hot, hot summer
__(name)__ likes to eat yummy __(food)__
Then everyone can join back in for the “a-wim-o-weh” part
Here’s a link to a lead sheet for The Lion Sleeps Tonight so you can see the melody and chords from Wikifonia! We hope you enjoy song writing all about food with your kiddos!