Friday, January 31, 2014

Sleeping Bunnies for the Ukulele

My resolution to learn and use a new ukulele song in my story times each month is off to a great start! I opted to begin 2014 with the song "Sleeping Bunnies," which I've heard recommended by many a librarian I admire. I've found it's an excellent song for most any story time group, both in the library and at outreach, as it incorporates fine motor play, soft and energetic music, and a great level of participation.

Start with sleeping bunnies--either the kids themselves are the bunnies, lying down and asleep, or the kids hold up two fingers for a snoozing bunny. Then, as the song progresses, those bunnies get up and hop, hop, hop! Every time I've shared this song, it has resulted in tons of smiles as well as hopping children and hands. A wonderful addition to my ukulele repertoire!

Here are the chords/strings I use in playing "Sleeping Bunnies":


Check out Miss Mary Liberry's video tutorial for playing this song on the ukulele:


sleeping bunnies from Mary K on Vimeo.


And don't forget to watch the Jbrary ladies sing the song a cappella:



Happy ukulele-ing!


1 comment:

  1. I played this song for the first time in storytime this week, and I can't wait to use it again. The kids had so much fun bouncing, and, like Mary said in her video, it's a good song for practicing self-regulation.
    One thing I changed from the original was that we sang "Hop, hop, STOP!...and go back to sleep" at the end instead of "Hop, hop, hop!" Then we hopped as froggies, grasshoppers, kangaroos and children.

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