May 2025 – Music Moments
We LOVE transportation! Many little kiddos are fascinated, interested in and – dare I say – obsessed – with all things transportation! When I had to be on hospital bed rest while pregnant with kid #2, my parents would often take kid #1 to watch the construction site that was right next to the hospital. (In fact, I could lay in my bed and practically wave to the construction workers as they added each new floor as I laid there for 7 weeks…yeah, it was a strange time!) Anyway, our eldest would’ve happily spent hours there watching the diggers, dump trucks, and cranes…oh my! He also loved a good “fun-jun-jun.” (Fire engine, obviously!) Well, even if not all kids are as into transportation as my firstborn was, they do all love the transportation-themed-tunes we rock and roll to during the month of May.
May Music Activities
Seeing as May starts off with May the Fourth Be With You! (a.k.a. Star Wars Day), we start off the month with air-travel transportation things. I’m a Little Helicopter is an especially fun one. (And a workout for the teachers using the curriculum and doing it several times a day!) We eventually move on to cover a variety – cars, trucks, garbage trucks, boats and trains. We include a lot of the classics like The Wheels on the Bus and Row, Row, Row Your Boat (made more fun with egg shakers as they increase the tempo each time.) A few other favorites are I’m a Great Big Garbage Truck, Five Big Green Garbage Trucks, and the Rhythm Stick Train.
When teaching elementary music classes, we have a little more time and freedom to explore some of the other special days in May such as Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, National Tap Dancing Day and Armed Forces/Memorial Day. I pay tribute to some of these in this month’s recommended listening suggestions.
FOR EARS OF ALL AGES:
Destination Moon – I L-O-V-E Dinah Washington with every fiber within me. This adorable, swingy tune fits perfectly into our air-themed transportation lesson and makes you want to hop aboard a rocket ship if it means hearing her velvety voice!
Star Wars – obviously. John Williams is one of the most magnificent and prolific composers of our time. His scores have been included in some of the biggest blockbuster movies ever – Star Wars, ET, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Parks, Home Alone, Harry Potter – the list goes on and on. Featuring the U.S. Army Field Band, this video pays homage to both the Star Wars Main Theme and the Armed Forces. I also love this video of John Williams, himself, conducting The Imperial March.
I have to share this one! The fourth track on the soundtrack for the Disney movie Planes is honestly incredible. It’s uplifting, inspiring and beautiful. It’s one of my very favorites to put on when we’re moving with scarves in a music class (or, if I’m being a super grumpy-pants and need some music to lift me out of it.)
Now, a fun and festive listen in honor of Cinco de Mayo. We’re all pretty familiar with La Bamba, I imagine, but did you know it is the perfect song to help illustrate one of the Fancy Pants Music Words that I love to teach kids? An Ostinato – a repeated rhythmic pattern – can be heard throughout Ritchie Valen’s version of this song. I bring around a pair of claves and let each kiddo tap along with the two quarter note, double-eighth note, quarter note repeated pattern. (Fun fact the La Bamba movie soundtrack was one of the first cassette tapes I ever had as a kid.)
The following could be aptly called for Eyes of All Ages. These two movie clips featuring Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Shirley Temple and pair perfectly with the fantastically rhythmical read aloud Rap a Tap Tap – Here’s Bojangles – Think of That by Leo and Diane Dillon (affiliate link). I love reading the book with the kids keeping a steady beat and then showing these clips from the 1935 film The Little Colonel. Shirley Temple and Bojangles made history and remained friends for life. I highly encourage you to read this article by Elizabeth Blair Shirley Temple and Bojangles Two Stars One Lifelong Friendship.
EXTENSION ACTIVITIES:
How about several transportation-themed STEM activities for little ones? I couldn’t possibly pick a favorite although crafting nature boats would be a perfect sunny, spring day activity. Making a clothespin car looks fun if you’re feeling crafty, and train chain reactions looks fun with items you might already have at home!
If your little ones love to dance, maybe try these DIY tap shoes! (Warning, they could potentially scuff up certain floors…tap away at your own risk! I personally enjoy tap dancing in grocery stores and, on one occasion experienced my dream come true: My life became an actual musical when, while tap dancing in the produce section, I was met with the sounds of tap dancing coming from the next aisle over. We continued to tap towards one another until I met my tapping partner – an elderly gentleman with white hair and a huge grin on his face.)
