Top 10 best movement songs for toddlers & preschoolers

There’s nothing quite like a spontaneous dance party with your kids to induce giggles and smiles.

We love music around here. So today I thought I’d share our top 10 favorite movement and action songs for toddlers (although babies and older kids will love them, too!)

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Music time supplies

Create a fun environment where dance parties with your toddler can break out at any moment! We have a basket in our “listening library” filled with all of our music supplies. When we are ready for some music time, it’s great to have everything all in one place.

Here are the things that we use the most often:

Product	Price
AIVIAI Dance Scarves Music Scarves for…	$6.95	Buy on Amazon
Melissa & Doug Band-in-a-Box Clap!…	$23.97	Buy on Amazon
Plain Rhythm stick 14″ Blue 1 Pair	$11.90	Buy on Amazon
Augshy 14 PCS Plastic Egg Shakers…	$9.99	Buy on Amazon
Super Z Outlet Nylon Cornhole Bean Bags…	$16.99	Buy on Amazon

Our Favorite Movement Songs for Toddlers:

1. We are the Dinosaurs by The Laurie Berkner Band

This song encourages kids to march around the room like big, hungry dinosaurs. They also stop to eat their food, take a rest, and roar! It’s really easy to follow along, and even the littlest kids can figure out how to stomp.

2. The Goldfish by The Laurie Berkner Band

This is a silly song that is especially fun with scarves. Kids pretend they are little fish sleeping on their rocks. They then wake up to take a shower, brush their teeth, ride their bikes, etc. before they remember that they are fish, and fish don’t do those things- so they run around the room and pretend to go swimming instead. This is a favorite with both of my daughters- and a good workout for mom and dad if you play along!

3. The Airplane Song by The Laurie Berkner Band

Can you tell that we are fans of The Laurie Berkner Band? It’s easy to catch on to the movements that go with this one. Kids pretend to be an airplane, and run around the room with their arms out, until it’s time to slow down and land on the ground. Then when you get up, you jump (or dance, or gallop) all around. Simple and high action.

4. Count to 100 Workout Song by Jack Hartmann

Jack Hartmann has a bunch of different versions of this song, with different simple exercises for each set of 10 numbers. For example, as he sings 1-10, you are instructed to reach your arms up and criss cross. For little toddlers, they’ll need you to do this one with them, but Emma was doing it by herself by the time she turned two.

5. The Bean Bag by Hap Palmer

This song is great to practice balancing, throwing, and catching (or not!) a bean bag. Kids think it’s hilarious to try to balance the bean bag on different parts of their body, like their back or their elbow. Careful! This is one of those songs that will get stuck in your head all day long.

6. Tap Your Sticks by Hap Palmer

All kids need for this song is two sticks and a wide berth! It may take them a while to catch on to all of the movements. (Passing both sticks behind you is tough for the littlest ones!) but they’ll still love hitting their sticks together and tapping them on the ground.

7. Let’s All Shake Our Shaker Eggs by Miss Jamie

This is our favorite shaker egg songs. Kids practice their opposites by shaking high vs. low, quiet vs. loud, etc. Even babies will love shaking their shaker eggs, regardless of whether they can follow the exact directions of this song or not.

8. Alphabet Soup by Tom Chapin

Tom Chapin was a big favorite in my house when I was growing up, and I couldn’t wait to introduce my daughters to his music. This song has catchy motions that go along with the chorus. Check out this youtube video to learn them yourself.

9. Dancing Robots by the Learning Station

This link is to a youtube video. Kids love to follow along and dance stiffly, like a robot. Plus, it’s a good way to practice body parts, as the robots only move one body part at a time- just a little bit, then they stop!

10. GoNoodle Songs

GoNoodle is a website with a lot of great song and dance videos. I signed up for a free home account, and spent some time searching through the videos. While many of the videos are geared towards older kids, I found 2 “channels” that have some great options for toddlers. All of these songs are very silly and high energy.