Piggyback songs are songs that use a familiar tune but have an alternate set of lyrics. Piggyback songs are a key component of teaching music to preschoolers because they are easy to learn and memorable.
Piggyback songs are also easy for adults to remember and it’s a good idea to know many piggyback songs off-hand so that you’re ready to go with a song at any time.
One of the main advantages of piggyback songs is that they give you a wide variety of songs to work with within any theme. If you’re having trouble finding songs to suit a particular theme, you can just make up a piggyback song using a familiar tune.
An example of a piggyback song is Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light, sung to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Twinkle twinkle traffic light,
standing on the corner bright.
Red means stop, green means go.
Yellow means go very, very slow.
Twinkle twinkle traffic light,
standing on the corner bright.
A song like this one is an excellent choice to use with young children.
- It is short and simple
- It lends itself to repetition
- It is easy to incorporate movement (Hold out a hand on “stop”, run in place on “go” and run slowly in place on “slow”. Or, pretend to drive around the room and stop, go and move slowly at the appropriate times.)
- Parents can use this song in the car to occupy kids at stoplights
- Teachers can use this song to fill extra time or expand a class in a pinch
While it’s important to continually introduce new music to young children, it’s equally important to include a lot of familiar music. Both parents and children thrive on simple and memorable music. It makes it easy for them to participate and to replicate activities in other settings.
Piggyback songs are especially useful as hello and goodbye songs. While there are a number of great hello and goodbye songs with original tunes, piggyback songs will help you have great variety in your selection of opening and closing songs.
Here’s an example of a hello song, to the tune of The Farmer In The Dell:
Paul is here today, Paul is here today.
Let’s give a cheer, let’s give a cheer,
‘Cause Paul is here today!
Piggyback songs are frequently recommended in Teach Preschool Music lesson plans. Don’t dismiss them as “too easy” or “boring” as they hold a lot of value for young children and often become favorite songs.
