The Song Planner

Animal Songs

tagStarted traditional nursery and folk songsPeak evergreen; viral peaks in the 2010sLast big hit "Baby Shark" era and continuing preschool-video use

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Family / Children's → Novelty Kids / Fun

Animal Songs use animals to teach sound, movement, empathy, counting, humor and story. The animal gives the child an immediate action: roar, hop, moo, swim, march, pretend or answer a call. Some are old folk songs; others are modern preschool pop. Because animals are one of the first shared vocabularies between adults and children, these songs travel easily across homes, classrooms and languages.

History

"Old MacDonald," "B-I-N-G-O" and animal nursery songs predate recording, but records and television gave the form new characters and hooks. Raffi's "Baby Beluga," Laurie Berkner's animal songs, The Wiggles' dances, Sesame Street bits and Pinkfong's "Baby Shark" show the range from gentle folk to global viral chant. Video platforms amplified animal songs because gesture, costume and animation make the premise instantly readable.

Defining artists

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Essential listening

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Sources

  • Nursery rhyme collections
  • children's artist catalogs
  • preschool video catalogs
  • folk-song references