"Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature can not do without." ~Confucius

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Throw it out the Window


Well, life is starting to swing into gear around here with Christmas and New Year's behind us. Sometimes there is a little reluctance to get started (What?! No! Never!), and, as is the case in our house, laughter is usually the best medicine. Our #2 is especially grumpy lately, and nothing changes his mood like us getting him to start laughing.
One way to help cure some grumpies is.... Silly Songs!  And one of my favorites is "Throw it out the Window."

This song was first introduced to me by a dear friend (Hi, Cynthia!), who told me that her family used to sing this song on the road together as a family. I thought it was hilarious and immediately made her sing to me all the rhymes that went with it.

I'll have a recording of it a little later, but the words of the song could be any rhyme that you in your vocal ability can make fit into the time and pulse of the song.
Then, after about 2 lines of the song, you complete it with "she/he threw it out the window...."

Like so -

Let's take.... Jack and Jill.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
to fetch a pail of water,
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
Jill threw him out the window,
the window, the window,
she threw him out the window.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
Jill threw him out the window.

Or, "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

Mary had a little lamb
whose fleece was white as snow,
and everywhere that Mary went,
she threw him out the window,
the window, the window,
she threw him out the window,
Everywhere that Mary went,
she threw him out the window.

Some of you are horrified right now (What? Throw him out the window? It sounds so violent!), but really, it's great fun. Try it!

This song can be done with oh-so-many Mother Goose rhymes that we know and love... Little Boy Blue, Little Miss Muffett, Cobbler, Cobbler, Mend My Shoe, Humpty Dumpty, Little Bo Peep, Old King Cole, Simple Simon Met A Pieman, etc....

It's a great (and silly) way to get some more rhymes in kids' heads, but what is educationally advantageous about it (yes, there has to be SOMETHING educational!), is the way it gets your brain to conform the words to the pattern of the song. Taking something long and drawn out, like "Little Miss Muffet" and speeding it up into a song is brilliant work for the brain's organizational music and rhyming abilities. My 5-year old can sort of keep up and my 3-year old listens and sings when he can. I think they'll be better at this as they get older, but it's been lots of fun already. :-)

This is great for car rides, transition times at school, singing while working/doing chores with your kids, while you get dinner ready and they are starving and hanging around your ankles.... Whenever!

So, without further ado, if you have not had the privilege of hearing this little tune already, here it is, being sung by a favorite crew of my husband's, "Trout Fishing In America"
Go Here!

Get some giggles and creativity going to start off the year! :-)


Did your family have a favorite song to sing in the car on long car rides?

6 comments:

  1. Hi Marji. Good idea. Thanks for the reminder that this sort of thing is, in fact, stimulating to the brain. My favorite has always been "Old Mother Hubbard she went to the cupboard to get her poor doggie a bone. But when she bent over the doggie took over and THREW HER OUT THE WINDOW, etc." Haha!

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  2. Baahaahaaa!! When I saw the title of the post, I thought, "Hey, I love that game!" Then I saw your shout out to me.

    Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater
    Had a wife and couldn't keep her
    Put her is a pumpkin shell
    And threw her out the window.

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  3. Ha!! Awesome. See all the positive effects you've had on me?
    Women flying from windows seems to be a popular theme... :-)

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  4. My kids would love something like this, as they are always changing up the words to songs. Right now they ask me to sing "Baa baa black sheep have you any pears? Yes sir, yes sir, three apples full." Brings a smile to their face every time. I can imagine how much fun your son has with "throw it out the window" too. :)

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  5. Yes, Katie! It's so fun to see what sparks their silly sides. :-)
    And, we just found another rhyme that we think works well and is also very silly, in their estimation.
    Purple Cow
    I never saw a purple cow,
    I hope I never see one,
    But I could tell you anyhow,
    I'd throw her out the window!

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