For the first 2 weeks back from our winter break, we went virtual. I was excited for the opportunity to sing with my kids, as I haven’t been able to thus far, and to break out my ukulele. I often hear how easy the uke is to play and use in the classroom, but I hadn’t had a chance to take it out for a spin. Although I know Zoom isn’t great for sing-a-longs, I did it anyway. I don’t know when I will be able to sing with my kids again and wasn’t about to pass this opportunity up!

As I was preparing for my classes, I looked online for resources. First of all, there is a tremendous amount of information out there on this subject and second, a lot of it isn’t good. The chosen chords in certain places are weird and don’t really sound all that great and it was hard finding songs with simple chords that are elementary school age appropriate.

Here are 5 songs that are simple and fun:

  1. “The Wheels on the Bus” (C and G7 chords) ~ kids can choose other things on the bus
  2. “Skip to My Lou” (C and G7) ~ kids can choose where else the flies are located
  3. “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” (C and G7) ~ kids can choose what else He has in his hands
  4. “Itsy Bitsy Spider” (C and G) ~ add “Great Big Hairy Spider” sung in a very low voice and “Teensy Weensy Spider” in a very high voice
  5. “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” ~ (C, F, G7) hum the melody and ask kids what other songs have this same melody (“Baa Baa Black Sheep” and the “Alphabet Song”) This link will give you the chord placement, but it shows guitar chords rather than uke chords: TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR UKULELE by Misc Children @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com (ultimate-guitar.com)

BONUS: “This Old Man” ~ (C, G and Am) Just for fun!! Here is the link I think works the best: THIS OLD MAN CHORDS by Bob Dylan @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com (ultimate-guitar.com)

Here are the chords:

Here is a helpful website ~ this is for the guitar, but it has a list of songs and their chords:

If you know of helpful ukulele websites, please share them in the comments below! Thank you!!