Listen to the Water

Long ago, a preschool dance teacher introduced me to the song "Listen to the Water" (we like Charlotte Diamond's version from the "My Bear Gruff" album).  We incorporated sign language into this song during our water week last week to make a really fun circle time activity! I used this website to learn the signs for the words:

listen

water

saw (like 'see')

fish

bird

duck

flower

river

The children like the song so much that they ask for it as well as sing it together outside regularly during their play.  Of course the most natural movement is the swaying back and forth to the rhythm of the song that we all do together in unison.  Seeing them love this song makes me love it even more!

Signing the words fast enough to keep up with the song (even though we do very few signs) is challenging enough for them to feel really, really good about themselves when they can actually do it. I always comment on how beautifully they do it because there are often children who give up if they think they cannot succeed.  I think this acknowledgment has made it so that we get 100% participation during the song, which in our group is rare.  There are always a few listeners.

Here's a fun version of the song, and it's always fun to incorporate the children's ideas into the lyrics: