Storytelling through Song

Do you sing to you children? What kind of songs do you sing? Are they typical kid songs? Are they songs from your childhood? Do you ever sing songs that you listen to on the radio? What about hymns? Do you make up songs your own songs, too? Have you ever thought about storytelling through song? That’s right. A song is really just a story being told, and the story is set to music or at least some sort of sing song tune.

My husband and I have sung to Aiden since he was a baby {and really even before he was born}. When he was little, I took him to choir practice with me at church. He would be in my wrap or on a blanket on the floor. I think he loves music just as much as I do. About a year ago, he started requesting songs at bedtime. Some nights, we would have to sing seven or more songs! Currently, he requests that I sing Amazing Grace. Sometimes I sing just two verses. Other nights, I’ll sing Chris Tomlin’s My Chains are Gone. Each night, he also requests that Patrick and I sing These Thousand Hills by Third Day. Some nights, he asks us to sing Third Day’s Sing a Song. {Love this song.}

I want to sing a song for you Lord. Lord for You I want to sing a song. And I want to lift my voice to Heaven. And listen to the angels sing along. A song of Your faithfulness. A song of Your grace. And of Your loving kindness to the glory of Your name…

I also get requests for more typical bedtime songs like Hush Little Baby {I used to sing this one to Aiden when he would wake up crying up at night.}, You are My Sunshine, the ABC song, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Frère Jacques, and Rock-a-Bye Baby. Then, you can add in the random songs like the Dinosaur Train theme song.

All of these songs have their own stories behind them. But have you ever just made up your own songs? The wall in Aiden’s room has Alphabet Zoo decals {repositionable btw}.

After I sing the ABC song in English to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle; in French to the same tune; and in English to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb {listen to me sing it here}, I sing a song about the animals on the wall. A is for aardvark, B is for bird, and so on. Or I make up things about the animals. The aardvark is an animal that walks along the ground. Birds can fly in the air. A cow says moo. Yeah, totally random, but it’s a fun little story, and Aiden loves it.

I also make up songs about is toys. He’ll choose a toy, and I make up a story about it in song. I ask him to help me add to the story, too. All the while singing, of course! Here’s a song I made up about these little toy mice.

Here is little blue mouse. Do you see he’s covered in spots? Those are called polka dots! Little blue mouse squeaks and jumps and runs around. This little mouse should be sleeping sound. Little blue mouse sees his friend. Little green mouse is wide awake. He wants to play pretend…

I think you get the idea. The songs are very random and free form. They don’t usually even rhyme unless I can think of something on the fly. And the tune? Well, it’s whatever pops into my head – mostly made up and not easily replicated.

If you enjoy singing and telling stories, I encourage you to combine the two and try storytelling through song!

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