Elementary Music · PreK & Preschool · Ages 3–5
80+ songs specifically chosen for your youngest students — fingerplays, circle games, cumulative songs, and singing games that build steady beat, singing voice, and musical exploration through pure play. Every song demonstrated on video.
Why start in preschool
The preschool years are the most musically receptive period of a child's life. The singing voice is forming, steady beat is developing, and musical memory is being built — all through play, not instruction. What you do in these years lays the foundation for everything that comes later.
The challenge is that most music curricula are designed for kindergarten and up. PreK teachers — whether they're music specialists visiting once a week or classroom teachers integrating music into the day — often cobble together activities from Pinterest and YouTube. The Singing Classroom is built to give them what they actually need: a complete, sequenced library of songs proven to work with 3–5 year olds, with Deborah demonstrating every single one.
"With PreK, everything has to happen through the game. They're not sitting and watching — they're doing. If the song doesn't have an activity built into it, you've lost them."
— Deborah Skydell Pasternack, The Singing ClassroomThe Singing Classroom's PreK library is built around exactly this principle: every song has something to do. Fingerplays keep little hands busy. Circle games keep bodies moving. Cumulative songs keep minds engaged as the verse grows. The music and the activity are one thing, not two.
How it works
No more Sunday night searching. Find the right song for your sequence, watch how it's taught, and walk in Monday ready.
Looking for a fingerplay on sol-mi for 3-year-olds? A circle game for the first week of school? A cumulative song for steady beat? Filter by grade level, musical concept, and activity type simultaneously. Every song is tagged — you find what fits your sequence in seconds, not hours.
Every song in the library is demonstrated by Deborah Skydell Pasternack — Kodály-certified, with decades of experience teaching PreK through 6th grade — with real students in a real classroom. You don't just see the song, you see the game, the teaching moment, and how children at this age actually respond to it.
Every song comes with printable sheet music, a classroom poster, and any manipulatives the activity requires. Print and go, or project on your smartboard. Everything is formatted for the classroom.
Each song page lists the musical concepts it teaches, the grade levels it serves, and the activity type — making standards documentation fast. If your district requires alignment to the National Core Arts Standards, it's there.
Sample songs from the PreK library
The full library has 80+ songs for PreK and preschool. Here's a sample — every one demonstrated on video with teaching notes.
A play-acting counting song where the ducks disappear one by one. The drama of each duck's absence keeps children completely focused — and the return of all five at the end is deeply satisfying.
See teaching guide →A cumulative Irish folk song that holds even the youngest students in its grip — they're so busy keeping track of the growing verse that steady beat and pentatonic melody become effortless.
See teaching guide →A sol-la-sol-mi singing game that doubles as a counting-out chant. One of the most beloved games in the library from PreK all the way through 6th grade.
See teaching guide →A beloved nursery rhyme with a play-acting element that keeps young children engaged. Major scale, steady beat, and simple question-and-answer form.
See teaching guide →A railroad counting-out chant with multiple game versions. Children love the train imagery and the rhythmic chug of the words — ideal for steady beat and quarter notes.
See teaching guide →A classic counting-out chant with a guessing element. Perfect for tiri-tiri rhythm, solo singing confidence, and — for older students — layered rhythm activities.
See teaching guide →The full PreK library has 80+ songs — all searchable by concept, activity type, and grade level inside your subscription.
What teachers say
"I teach PreK through 5th and the PreK library is what sold me. There's nothing else out there that has this many songs for 3 and 4 year olds with actual video demonstrations. I can see exactly how Deborah handles the chaos — and it's not chaos, it's organized play."
"The PreK sequencing is exactly right. Fingerplays to circle games to cumulative songs — the progression mirrors how young children actually develop musically. I've used a lot of resources over the years, and nothing else organizes the PreK repertoire this intelligently."
"The fingerplays for PreK are perfect. My 3-year-olds need something to do with their hands or you've lost them. Every fingerplay in this library works exactly the way it should — I can see the kids' engagement in the video before I even try it."
Common questions
Both. Music specialists use The Singing Classroom as their primary repertoire resource — searching by concept, solfège syllable, or activity type to find exactly what fits their sequence. The video demonstrations show Deborah's full pedagogical approach, including how she introduces musical concepts and manages the game, so you see not just the song but the teaching. Classroom teachers integrating music into the day also use it, but the depth of content — solfège tagging, rhythm notation, concept alignment — is designed with the trained music teacher in mind.
Most preschool music curricula give you a set sequence of activities to follow in order. The Singing Classroom is a searchable library — 150+ songs searchable by grade level, musical concept, activity type, and more. You bring your own sequence (or build one from the library) and use the songs that fit. Every song comes with Deborah's video demonstration showing how to teach it, plus sheet music, posters, and teaching notes. It's a repertoire resource, not a prescription.
The PreK and preschool content is designed for ages 3–5, with many songs extending into kindergarten and first grade. Songs are tagged by grade level, so you can filter for PreK specifically or see which songs work across the PreK–K range. Deborah's teaching notes address how to adapt activities for the youngest children in the group.
Yes — fingerplays are a core part of the PreK library. Young children need something to do with their hands to stay engaged, and fingerplays provide exactly that. The library includes fingerplays across a range of musical concepts — sol-mi pitch awareness, steady beat, counting, and more. Every fingerplay is demonstrated on video so you can see exactly what the hand movements look like before teaching them.
Yes. Deborah Skydell Pasternack, who created every video demonstration in the library, holds complete Kodály certification and has Orff and Dalcroze training. The repertoire is built with Kodály sequencing in mind — every song is tagged with solfège syllables, rhythm patterns, and musical concepts so teachers using a Kodály sequence can find exactly what fits. The library works with any approach, but it's especially well-suited to Kodály-trained teachers.
Absolutely. The Singing Classroom is designed to work alongside any preschool program — whether you're using a published music series, a Kodály sequence, or your own unit plans. It's a repertoire resource, not a replacement for your curriculum framework. Most teachers use it to fill gaps, find new songs that fit their sequence, or replace YouTube clips and random internet songs with something pedagogically grounded.
One subscription gives you the complete Singing Classroom library — 150+ folk songs and singing games for PreK through 6th grade, every one with Deborah's full video demonstration, teaching guide, sheet music, and classroom poster.
$19.95/month · $219.95/year
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Explore by grade
Circle games, sol-mi songs, cumulative songs, and movement activities for K. Every song demonstrated on video.
See kindergarten songs →Partner songs, pentatonic games, and rhythm activities for 1st grade. Builds on PreK and kindergarten foundations.
See 1st grade songs →The complete library — PreK through 6th grade, searchable by grade, concept, and activity type.
Explore the full library →