Tag Archives: best songs for kids

Sing A Song For Earth Day!

whole world hands

Over a decade ago I wrote a song for Earth Day that has made it literally around the world.  Since it was recorded, it’s been used in programs and presentations in Taiwan, China, Singapore, Japan, Scotland, South America and across the entire United States, too!  It’s just a fact that honoring the Earth is a concept shared by everyone, everywhere, all around the globe!

“We’ve Got the Whole World In Our Hands” had very humble beginnings.  I was working with a group of elementary school students on an Earth Day project and they were excited about the many ways they could make a difference for the Earth.   To share what they learned, we decided to write a song to a melody that everyone recognized.  We chose the beautiful spiritual song  “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands” and changed the lyrics slightly to reflect the idea of being a good steward of the Earth.

earth day handsNext, we added the children’s ideas to the song.  Naturally, the first suggestion had to do with the three “R”s – reduce, reuse and recycle.  Then the kids got really creative.  They offered dozens of suggestions that encompassed not only being green and living simpler, but also being kind to everyone and everything around them.  It was truly inspiring to see their vision of a planet filled with peace, harmony and more thoughtful life choices!

The original song has over 10 verses filled with great ideas about caring for the Earth.  When we recorded the song, we had to limit it to 4, so the song would not be too long.  Here’s the words to our final version:

Chorus:      We’ve got the whole world, in our hands
                     We’ve got the whole world, in our hands
                     We’ve got the whole world in our hands
                     We’ve got the whole world in our hands

We should recycle now – all that we can
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – all that we can
We should recycle now – all that we can
We’ve got the whole world in our hands

Be kind to the plants and animals – of our land
Be kind to the plants and animals – of our land
Be kind to the plants and animals – of our land
We’ve got the whole world in our hands

Join hands with sisters and brothers – throughout the land
Join hands with sisters and brothers – throughout the land
Join hands with sisters and brothers – throughout the land
We’ve got the whole world in our hands

Dream your bright dream – then do all that you can
Dream your bright dream – then do all that you can
Dream your bright dream – then do all that you can
We’ve got the whole world in our hands

Here’s the video!

Lyrics and songsheet here:

http://www.dariamusic.com/wholeworld.php

An Earth Day Song Challenge!

Stay tuned.  Next week we’ll be asking you to write your own version of this song.  Cool prizes and more details to follow!

 

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Over In The Meadow – A Great Song For Welcoming Spring and Counting Baby Animals!

nting imageWhat’s more fun than animal babies?

One of my favorite children’s songs – Over In The Meadow – combines cute creatures and learning the skill of counting to ten.   I first heard the song from a friend of mine who was a folksinger in Appalachia, but later found out that this popular rhyme may date back as far as the 1600’s in England.  So it seems that some things are universal.  Parents love to teach their children with music and no one can resist a baby animal!

The songs starts in a pond in the sun with one mother frog and her “little froggy one”.  Then there are kittens, birds, worms, bees, dogs, owls, ducks, mice, and even ten spiders.  And, best of all, each of the animal babies know how to listen to their elders!  Since the song has an easy-to-follow formula, even the youngest kids get the idea of counting up one number each time and can easily follow or sing along.

Although the song was originally written with each animal and their mommy, I’ve added dads, grandmas and grandpas to the verses in my version.  In my travels I had met many kids that did not always have traditional families or a mom at home as a caregiver, so I changed the song a bit to help these children feel that their family was special and important, too.

You can see my version of Over In The Meadow here:

Over In The Meadow – Lyric Page
http://www.dariamusic.com/meadow.php

Over In The Meadow – Printable Lyric Page
http://www.dariamusic.com/docs/songs/Over%20in%20the%20Meadow%20Songbook.pdf

Over In The Meadow On Itunes (Track 13)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/this-little-light-of-mine/id292915765?i=292915774&ign-mpt=uo%3D6

Over In The Meadow On Amazon Mp3
http://amzn.com/B0024XB2FS