Song and Play Book

As some of you know, it´s been hypothesized and highly correlated that kids learn best when they´re having fun or when they´re not aware that they´re learning. I´m a huge supporter of this oppinion, given my own experiences learning and teaching, and so my educational efforts in Guatemala so far have made heavy use of play (obras de teatro) and song (cancion) . I´d like to share the songs and the plays with anyone who feels that they would be helpful in their own educational efforts, so feel free to ´borrow´them.

We´ve tried to use common, well known tunes, so that the songs will stick in the kids´ heads and unconciously or conciously make their way into the kids´ daily habbits. For this reason, we´ve also got hand motions, but of course, that´s a little harder to demonstrate over the Internt. Keep in mind that these songs were geared to kids from age 1 to 7, so they´re a bit simple:

Al ritmo de ´Ring Around the Rosie,´ jugando el juego
Sepiar el pelo largo/
Desde los raises/
Piojos, Piojos!/
Todo el mundeo caye

To the tune of ´Ring Around the Rosie,´ while playing the game
Brush long hair/
Starting at the roots/
Lice, Lice!
We all fall down

Al Ritmo de ´Ten Little Inidans´
Sepiar, sepiar, sepiar los dientes (X3)
Trez veces cada día

To the tune of ´Ten Little Indians´
Brush, brush, brush your teeth (X3)
Three times each day

Al Ritmo de ´Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star´
¿Por qué sepiamos los dientes bastante?/
Porque necesitamos evitar las carrias/
Comida puede ocultar allá/
Y hace nuestros bocas sucias/
¿Por qué sepiamos los dientes bastante?/
Porque necesitamos evitar las carrias!

To the tune of ´Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star´
Why do we brush our teeth so much?/
Because we need to avoid cavities/
Food can hide there/
And make our mouthes dirty/
Why do we brush our teeth so much?/
Because we need to avoid cavities!

Al Ritmo de ´Row, Row, Row Your Booat
Lavar, lavar, lavar los manos antes de comer/
Limpia, limpia, limpia, limpia, no nos vamos a enfermar!

To the tune of ´Row, Row, Row Your Boat´
Wash, Wash, Wash your hands before you eat/
Clean, clean, clean, clean, we´re not going to get sick!

Al ritmo de ´Frére Jacque´
Lavare el cuerpo, lavar el cuerpo, cada día, cada día/
Es muy importante, por ser felíz/
Lavar el cuerpo, lavar el cuerpo!

To the tune of ´Frére Jacque´
Wash your body, wash your body, every day, every day/
It´s very important, to be happy/
Wash your body, wash your body!

Al ritmo de ´Cumpleaños felíz´ (Courtesy de Brandon Hayas)
Limpiar el o-ido/
Con tu propio dedito/
Una vez cada semana/
No usen algodón.

Al ritmo de ´Happy Birthday to You´ (Courtesy of Brandon Hayas)
Clean your ear/
with your own pinkey/
One time a weel/
Don´t use a Q-Tip.