Musical Sing-alongs

Let’s keep building that musical partnership by introducing other engaging songs. A big favorite is Old MacDonald had a Farm. This traditional song has repeating verses and animal noises within its lyrics. Toddlers love to make these noises! This song teaches them the names of different farm animals and the sounds they use to communicate with each other and people.  The young brain is activated through its engagement with this song especially when it develops into a family’s sing-along time. 

This familiar song is in the public domain, meaning it’s not protected by copyright and may be used freely. Many musicians have altered the original words or added new verses. This is something anyone can do at home or in their car, too.

Guess what! A family sing-along turns into a karaoke session in the car—fun for all. Toddlers love to use microphones—have one available for them on those long rides. Real metal microphones can be harmful to their teeth, plastic toy ones with soft foam is recommended for those traveling singing adventures. Lisa Huisman Koops, a Professor of music education researched this topic and presented her findings in a study titled Songs From the Car Seat: Exploring Childhood Music-Making Place of the Family Vehicle. She discovered the following benefits when families participated in a shared musical car experience:

1. distraction free environment — focused music time was minus daily responsibilities or interruptions
2. freedom to experiment — less eye contact helped toddlers feel more comfortable
3. sibling interaction —  small confined space expanded positive singing interactions
4. increased family bonding —  joint music time activities brought closer relationships 

Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Old MacDonald had a farm,
Ee-I-Ee-I-Oh!
And on this farm, he had a duck,
Ee-I-Ee-I-Oh!
With a quack, quack here,
And a quack, quack there.

Here a quack, there a quack
Everywhere a quack, quack.
Old McDonald had a farm,
Ee-I-Ee-I-Oh!

Here are six photos of farm animals that one may refer to when singing this familiar song. 

Just continue singing the song by adding more verses of different farm animal names with their sounds. Here are more to add after the duck (quack, quack), –sheep (“baa, baa”). hen/chicken (“cluck, cluck”) cow (moo, moo”), pig (“oink, oink”) and horse (“neigh, neigh”). 

Later on, after many repetitions of these farm animals, one may add, or substitute these animals: dog (“woof, woof”), cat (“meow, meow”), turkey (“gobble, gobble”), goose (“honk, honk”), or  donkey – (hee-haw, hee-haw).

Sing it in the car—sing it everywhere!

Find FREE Downloads Here

NOTE: Enlarged animal photo cards are available in the FREE download for use when singing these verses. The photos will help to provide visual information for the toddler. (More supportive farm materials, activities, and songs are found with the photo cards, too.)

Old MacDonald had a Farm has been around for along long time. It’s been sung around the campfires, in buses, on field trips, family outings and continuously in homes. There are supporting books one can purchase presenting the song words & visuals within the book format. Other books are musical that present each of the animal noises for listening pleasure and imitation. Also, various videos, apps, and children’s programs are readily available to watch on a range of media selections. This leads to a hard question for parents – What is the role of screen time for a toddler?

Toddler Screen Time Considerations

There are many important questions regarding usage of screen time. What is the recommended amount of screen time for younger children? How should it be used on an on-going basis? What are the best age-appropriate screen time selections? What type of interaction occurs between the toddler and parent? 

Mayo Clinic, a top-rated hospital states, “The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages media use, except for video chatting, by children younger than 18 months. If you introduce digital media to children ages 18 to 24 months, make sure it’s high quality and avoid solo media use. For children ages 2 to 5, limit screen time to one hour a day of high-quality programming.” These virtual exceptions — Face Time, Zoom and Video Chats are beneficial. A toddler making visual connections and being part of a live conversation with family members and friends helps to broaden their understanding of loving interactions and assist with their language development. 

Toddlers want to copy what adults do, always. Here comes the – but—it’s up to each parent to decide how to guide their exposure to screens. Parenting is a demanding job which comes with tough decisions throughout their child’s early learning. Monitoring the actual amount of screen time viewed by a child was not a huge problem faced by previous generations—certainly not as it is today.

Technology is expanding daily! Mobile phones, tablets, desktop computers, television viewing along with streaming, podcasts, YouTubes, apps etc. are readily available. Plus, there’s an increase of more devices and social network extensions being created at a rapid pace— incredible! In other words, by SCREENS are everywhere! Requiring a parent to manage and assist in their toddlers’ brain development establishing limits for time spent watching screens. Here are just a few top digital media musical choices to use with older toddlers: Ms. Rachel, Sesame Street, Blues Clues & You, Bluey, and Daniel’s Tiger Neighborhood.

Screens should not be a replacement for a child’s daily face to face time or hands-on learning experiences.  Screens are now an aspect of daily life that requires parents to continually evaluate and implement guidelines for toddler use. The visual below summarizes three key areas parents need to consider on screen time and their child.

Screen Time—Ideal vs Realistic

Parenting is a hard job and at times it’s tempting to use a screen in an independent manner to provide a few minutes for one to complete a task or even take a breather-rest. When to begin independent screen time is always a difficult choice. However, it’s hard to revert back to an always “no” once a lessening of screen time limits occurs. Especially if it’s done in the spur of the moment. The transition needs to be done in a thoughtful way—not at time of stress. 

A suggestion for making the shift easier would be to share with an older toddler that today for 5 minutes (or even a smaller amount of time), they may watch a program by themselves from previously viewed choices without parent participation. A recommendation would be to set a timer – as a toddler has no idea what 5 minutes means. Explain once the timer rings their screen time will be over and it will be put away until another time. This process of accepting—the end– is hard for them to understand. Remind them of the saying—”Time flies when you’re having fun”. Distract them even by flapping arms as if wings-sing an ending time song together-(Tune: Are You Sleeping?) “Screen time is over, screen time is over, It’s flying up high, It’s flying up high, There it goes, There it goes, Up, up, bye– Up, up bye! (may even wave hands as screen is put up high and away).

Taking this  parent action is just a part of helping them understand time limits. Of course, pushing boundaries is the nature of the game for control. Luckily as the parent sticking to a decision is all part of the long list of responsibilities contained in the package called—raising a child. Daily challenges will increase in this department of – “Who’s in control?” Remember each parent is the leader and at this early age the child is the follower—which is easier said than done. Negotiations may sometimes occur, but the choices presented to a toddler should be selected by the parent making the outcome a win-win for both the toddler and parent.

Musical sing-alongs boost a family’s closeness and happiness, no matter where it happens– in the car or at home. True the brain loves the social connectiveness of music–but wait there’s more—it ignites language learning, expands memory skills and builds physical skills, too. Fantastic, it’s all rolled up into one great big ball of engaging fun!

Happy days to you,

Kylene

Resources & References

Divya, 2025, Why Music Is Important for Early Childhood Development, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ww__gVTA0

Goodwin, Cara, Ph. (2022), Does FaceTime “Count” as Screen Time for Young Children?, Psychology Today, Time. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/parenting-translator/202202/does-facetime-count-screen-time-young-children

Kids Academy, (2018), Old MacDonald Had A Farm, https://youtu.be/tmocNb8CYLk?si=qAxFa3oLZK_BxUix

Koops, Lisa Huisman, Professor, (2014), Songs From the Car Seat: Exploring the Early Childhood Music-Making Place of the Family Vehicle, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022429413520007

Mayo Clinic Staff, (2024), Screen time and children: How to Guide Your Child, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/childrens-health/in-depth/screen-time/art-20047952#

Takahashi, Ippel, MMSc, Obrara, Taku, PHD, Ishikuro, Mami, PHD, (2023), Screen time at Age 1 Year and Communication and Problem-Solving Developmental Delay at 2 and 4 Years, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2808593

Today Show, (2025), Ground-breaking look at the impact of screen time on kids’ brains,  https://youtu.be/kaDdqjZumZw?si=Dc9CnvetMMYuqnoY