Songs
about colour A-O
Blue
is the sea
Buck-eye
Jim
Colour
song
Down
came a lady
Down
on grandpa’s farm
Here
goes the red bird
Ida
Red
If
you are wearing red
Jenny
Jenkins
Little
Miss Etticoat
Mary
wore her red dress
Orange
is a carrot
Over
the rainbow bridge we go
There are also several songs
about colour in:
Leaves
are falling
Mrs
White had a fright
Yellow
the bracken
Cançó dels
colors / Green, green, green
Last updated: 9/20/2021
10:34 AM
The songs below are part of ‘Away we
go’ Round and about compiled, adapted and
illustrated by Dany Rosevear
Return to the ‘Singing games for
children’ home
page
To listen to music from these
songs click on 🔊
To watch the author
sing a song click on the title at:
© Dany Rosevear 2008 All rights reserved
You
are free to copy, distribute, display and perform these works under the
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you must give the original author credit
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|
Blue is the sea 🔊
Look around and find colour
here, there and everywhere. A colour hand play. Music by Dany Rosevear. 1. Move hands cross boby like
waves. 2. Upright fingers gently rustle. 3. Move cloud shaped hands above
head. 4. Open and close hand beak or flap elbow wings. 5. Hold up forearms
with fingers spread. 6. Finger tips touching rock hands gently back and
forth. |
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Blue
is the sea, Green
is the grass, White
are the clouds As
they slowly pass. Black
are the crows, Brown
are the trees, Red
are the sails Of
a ship in the breeze. |
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Buckeye Jim O
Make up your own colourful verses as there are already many versions
of this song from the U.S.A., the most well known by Burl Ives. Lomax
collected a version in the 1950s and you can find out more about its various
forms at: http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=53713
Roud number 10059. |
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Way up yonder above the
moon, A blue jay nests in a
silver spoon. Chorus Buckeye Jim, you can't go. Weave and spin, you can't
go, Buck-eyed Jim. Way up yonder above the
sky, Blue jay rests in a green
bird's eye. Way up yonder in the quiet
of night, A black bird sang in the
pink moonlight. Way down yonder in a
hollow log, A redbird danced with a
green bullfrog. Way up yonder on a
shooting star, A bullfrog jumped, but he
jumped too far. If you don’t have wings,
you can’t fly, But you can dream if you
darn well try. |
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Colour song 🔊
A circle game to encourage visual
awareness and concentration. From ‘Up, up and away’ by Derek Pearson
published 1987. You might recognise the traditional tune! Game by Dany Rosevear. Chidren walk or skip round in a cirle to the left.
One child skips round the outside and when the first verse finishes taps the
nearest child and sings, ‘Can you you think of something…(colour)?’ The
tapped child answers pointing to something in the room and sings the next
verse either with the help of the others or individually. That child then
skips round the outside and the game continues. |
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Red and yellow, green and blue, Red and yellow, green and blue, Red and yellow, green and blue, Listen to my song. Can you think of something red? Yes, I can think of something red, Of something red, of something red, Yes, I can think of something red, Let’s sing this song again. |
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This song is adapted from a
spiritual. You will need to change the words as below to accommodate the
gender of the child. Children join hands in a circle and move clockwise.
One chid stands in the middle as the others circle round. At the end of the song
this child points to another in the circle and substitutes the colour the
that child’s clothing for the word ‘blue’. The first child moves out of the
ring and circles anticlockwise while the chosen child stays in the centre as
the song begins again. Eventually all the children will be outside holding
hands and walking anticlockwise round the last child and shout out the colour
of his clothing. |
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Down came a lady, Down came two, Down came old Daniel's wife And she was dressed in blue. Down came a young man, Down came two, Down came old Daniel's friend And he was dressed in blue. |
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Down on grandpa’s farm O
This song has its roots in
the Argentinian song: ‘Mi
Chacra’ Pretend to drive during the
chorus and make animal noises for each of the verses. |
|
Chorus We're on our way, we're on our way, On our way to Grandpa's farm. We're on our way, we're on our way, On our way to Grandpa's farm. Down on Grandpa's farm there is a black and white
cow. Down on Grandpa's farm there is a black and white
cow. The cow, it makes a sound like this: Moo! Moo! The cow, it makes a sound like this: Moo! Moo! Down on Grandpa's farm there is a little red hen… The hen, it makes a sound like this: Cluck!
Cluck!... Down on Grandpa's farm there is a fat pink pig… The pig, it makes a sound like this: Oink! :
Oink!.. Down on Grandpa's farm there is a little white
sheep… The sheep, it makes a sound like this: Baa! Baa!… Down on Grandpa's farm there is a big brown horse… The horse, it makes a sound like this: Neigh!
Neigh!... Down on Grandpa's farm there is a little yellow
duck… The duck, it makes a sound like this: Quack!
Quack!… |
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A circle game from Illinois.
It has been adapted from ‘Take a little girl’ to ‘Take a little friend’ and
‘hip-sip-si-da’ to ‘hip-si-dip-sa’ to make it easier to sing! Make a circle, join raised
hands to make ‘windows’; a ‘red bird’ stands in the centre. The ‘red bird’
weaves in and out of the circle’s windows as it moves round in the opposite
direction. On ‘Take a little friend…’
this The game continues with the new child as the ‘red bird’. The colour of the bird could
match the dominant colour of the child’s clothing. |
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Here goes the red bird
thru the window, Thru the window, thru the
window. Here goes the red bird
thru the window, Hilum, diddle-um dee. Take a little friend go,
hip-si-dip-sa, Hip-si-dip-sa,
hip-si-dip-sa, Take a little friend go,
hip-si-dip-sa, Hilum, diddle-um dee. |
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Ida Red 🔊
A Kentucky folk song and often
played as a fiddle tune. A song you can easily adaptet to include other colours. |
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Chorus: Down
the road and across the creek, Can't
get a letter but once a week. Ida
Red, Ida Blue, I
got stuck on Ida too. Ida
Red, Ida Green, Prettiest
girl you've ever seen. Ida
Red, Ida Gold, She
is somethin' to behold. Ida
Red, Ida Red, That
girl's sweeter than gingerbread. Bought
me a horse and made me a sled, Nobody
can't ride but Ida Red, Ida
Red, Ida Blue, I
got stuck on Ida too. |
|
If you are wearing red 🔊
Look carefully at and
recognise the colours of items of clothing. Remember to identify and
help those that might be colour blind. Actions should be obvious
but younger children might need to be shown a picture of / or a cello and how
it is played. Those not wearing white will be unable to resist joining in the
last verse! |
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If you are wearing red,
shake your head, If you are wearing red,
shake your head, If you are wearing red, Then please shake your
head, If you are wearing red, shake
your head. …..blue, touch your
shoe... …..black, pat your back... …..brown, turn around... …..yellow, play a cello….. ……pink, give me a wink…. ……green, bow to the
queen…. ……white, give me a
fright…. |
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A classic
American child’s folk song and a lovely song to sing when learning colour
names. Find
fascinating notes about the traditional significance of certain colours at: http://www.alabamafolklife.org/content/history-behind-songs white for death, green for grief, red for joy, black for mourning,
blue for sailors and constancy. Find info on
this as a game at: http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=48821 and http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/R453.html Traditionally
it is played as a line song with two lines facing each other. The lines take
turns to move forward then back singing the first couplet. The other line
thinks of a rhyme and moves forward and back with the reply. It also works
well as a car game on a long journey – there are an infinite number of
colours! |
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Oh, will you wear red, oh
my dear, oh my dear? Will you wear red Jenny
Jenkins? I won’t wear red, it’s the
colour of my head, I’ll buy me a twirly
whirly, sooky looky, Sally Katy, Double lolly,
roll-the-find-me. Roll, Jenny Jenkins roll. Oh, will you wear blue... I won’t wear blue, it’s
the colour of my shoe... Oh, will you wear
yellow... I won’t wear yellow, my
fine young fellow... Oh, will you wear green... I won’t wear green, I’m
ashamed to be seen... Oh, will you wear
orange... Orange I won’t wear, and
it rhymes so there! ... Oh, what will you wear... Now what do you care if I
just go bare... More ideas Pink – I’d rather drink
ink Brown – it’s all around
the town Grey – on such a sunny day White – for the colour is
too bright |
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Little Miss Etticoat 🔊
A riddle, a little teaser of
a rhyme – what could it be? In her white petticoat And her red nose. The longer she stands, The shorter she grows. Not so easy for modern
children to identify if their only experience of candles is the coloured ones
on the birthday cake. In the past it was the safe way to take you up to bed
making wonderful shadows on the wall. This song based on the
traditional Mother Goose rhyme can be found in ‘Songs of childhood’ published
in 1923. I chanted the original rhyme
regularly when candle dipping with the class walking around the table singing
candle and Christmas songs as they waited their turn to dip the wick in a
saucepan of hot liquid wax and watch their candle slowly growing over the
week. |
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Little Miss Etticote In a white petticoat, Shorter and shorter she
grows. Oh, how she suffers while
we with the snuffers Are nipping her little red
nose! |
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Encourage each child to name
a colour and item of clothing they are wearing. It is also a great way to
learn the names of other children in the group. |
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Mary wore her red dress, Red dress, red dress, Mary wore her red dress, All day long. Ethan wore his blue jumper, Blue jumper, blue jumper, Ethan wore his blue jumper, All day long. Daisy wore her purple wellies, Purple wellies, purple wellies, Daisy wore her purple wellies, All day long. |
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Orange is a carrot O
A song that is easy to adapt
to your topic of the day. I have added a last verse to draw the ideas
together. There are lots of lovely
ideas for bookmaking to be found online. I love this video of a master
bookmaker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHiY0iwPJQE
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Orange is a carrot, Yellow is a pear, Purple is a plum, Brown is a bear, Green is the grass, Blue is the sky, Black is a witch’s cat, And red is cherry pie! Grey is a rain cloud, Pink is a rose, White is a snowman With a long carrot nose! Open up your eyes, Look around with me; The world is rainbow
coloured For everyone to see! |
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Over the rainbow bridge we
go 🔊
There are rainbows
everywhere at present to cheer us up in difficult times. Music by Dany Rosevear. |
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Here we go, to and fro, over the rainbow bridge we
go. Treading softly, treading
slow, over the rainbow bridge we
go. Gathering light from sun
and star, gathering light from
heaven afar, Down to earth all things
to greet, sharing the light with all
we meet. Here we go, to and fro, over the rainbow bridge we
go. Treading softly, treading
slow, over the rainbow bridge we
go. |
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