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Snow Song (from Snowy Sing-Along Adventure)| Kids Yoga, Music and Mindfulness with Yo Re Mi

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Sittin' on the Floor (Fun Seated Activities) | Kids Yoga, Music and Mindfulness with Yo Re Mi

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Slippery Fish (Children's Music) | Kids Music, Yoga and Mindfulness with Yo Re Mi

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Dragon Breath (Yogic Breathing) | Kids Yoga, Music and Mindfulness with Yo Re Mi

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Deep Breath In (Body Warm Up) | Kids Music, Yoga, and Mindfulness with Yo Re Mi

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Helicopter (Seated Twist) | Kids Yoga, Music and Mindfulness with Yo Re Mi

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Making A Pizza (Kids Sing-Along) | Kids Music, Yoga and Mindfulness with Yo Re Mi

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The Itsy Bitsy Spider | Kids Yoga, Music and Mindfulness with Yo Re Mi

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Trees and Birds (Tree Pose & Tracking) | Kids Yoga, Music and Mindfulness with Yo Re Mi

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Rainforest (Yoga Flow) | Kids Yoga, Music and Mindfulness with Yo Re Mi

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Warm Up (Musical Education & Mind/Body Connection) | Kids Yoga, Music and Mindfulness with Yo Re Mi

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There are many different types of emotions that have an influence on how we live and interact with others. At times, it may seem like we are ruled by these emotions. The choices we make, the actions we take, and the perceptions we have are all influenced by the emotions we are experiencing at any given moment.

Psychologists have also tried to identify the different types of emotions that people experience. A few different theories have emerged to categorize and explain the emotions that people feel.

Basic Emotions

During the 1970s, psychologist Paul Eckman identified six basic emotions that he suggested were universally experienced in all human cultures. The emotions he identified were happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise, and anger. He later expanded his list of basic emotions to include such things as pride, shame, embarrassment, and excitement.

Combining Emotions

Psychologist Robert Plutchik put forth a "wheel of emotions" that worked something like the color wheel. Emotions can be combined to form different feelings, much like colors can be mixed to create other shades.

According to this theory, the more basic emotions act something like building blocks. More complex, sometimes mixed emotions, are blendings of these more basic ones. For example, basic emotions such as joy and trust can be combined to create love.

A 2017 study suggests that there are far more basic emotions than previously believed.﻿﻿ In the study published in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, researchers identified 27 different categories of emotion.

Rather than being entirely distinct, however, the researchers found that people experience these emotions along a gradient.﻿﻿ Let's take a closer look at some of the basic types of emotions and explore the impact they have on human behavior.

Of all the different types of emotions, happiness tends to be the one that people strive for the most. Happiness is often defined as a pleasant emotional state that is characterized by feelings of contentment, joy, gratification, satisfaction, and well-being.

Research on happiness has increased significantly since the 1960s within a number of disciplines, including the branch of psychology known as positive psychology. This type of emotion is sometimes expressed through:

While happiness is considered one of the basic human emotions, the things we think will create happiness tend to be heavily influenced by culture. For example, pop culture influences tend to emphasize that attaining certain things such as buying a home or having a high-paying job will result in happiness.

The realities of what actually contributes to happiness are often much more complex and more highly individualized.﻿﻿ People have long believed that happiness and health were connected, and research has supported the idea that happiness can play a role in both physical and mental health.

Happiness has been linked to a variety of outcomes including increased longevity and increased marital satisfaction.﻿﻿ Conversely, unhappiness has been linked to a variety of poor health outcomes.

Stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness, for example, have been linked to things such as lowered immunity, increased inflammation, and decreased life expectancy.﻿﻿

Sadness is another type of emotion often defined as a transient emotional state characterized by feelings of disappointment, grief, hopelessness, disinterest, and dampened mood.

Like other emotions, sadness is something that all people experience from time to time. In some cases, people can experience prolonged and severe periods of sadness that can turn into depression. Sadness can be expressed in a number of ways including:

The type and severity of sadness can vary depending upon the root cause, and how people cope with such feelings can also differ.

Sadness can often lead people to engage in coping mechanisms such as avoiding other people, self-medicating, and ruminating on negative thoughts. Such behaviors can actually exacerbate feelings of sadness and prolong the duration of the emotion.

Fear is a powerful emotion that can also play an important role in survival. When you face some sort of danger and experience fear, you go through what is known as the fight or flight response.

Your muscles become tense, your heart rate and respiration increase, and your mind becomes more alert, priming your body to either run from the danger or stand and fight.

This response helps ensure that you are prepared to effectively deal with threats in your environment. Expressions of this type of emotion can include:

Of course, not everyone experiences fear in the same way. Some people may be more sensitive to fear and certain situations or objects may be more likely to trigger this emotion.

Fear is the emotional response to an immediate threat. We can also develop a similar reaction to anticipated threats or even our thoughts about potential dangers, and this is what we generally think of as anxiety. Social anxiety, for example, involves an anticipated fear of social situations.

Some people, on the other hand, actually seek out fear-provoking situations. Extreme sports and other thrills can be fear-inducing, but some people seem to thrive and even enjoy such feelings.

Repeated exposure to a fear object or situation can lead to familiarity and acclimation, which can reduce feelings of fear and anxiety.﻿﻿

This is the idea behind exposure therapy, in which people are gradually exposed to the things that frighten them in a controlled and safe manner. Eventually, feelings of fear begin to decrease.

Disgust is another of the original six basic emotions described by Eckman. Disgust can be displayed in a number of ways including:

This sense of revulsion can originate from a number of things, including an unpleasant taste, sight, or smell. Researchers believe that this emotion evolved as a reaction to foods that might be harmful or fatal. When people smell or taste foods that have gone bad, for example, disgust is a typical reaction.

Poor hygiene, infection, blood, rot, and death can also trigger a disgust response. This may be the body's way of avoiding things that may carry transmittable diseases.﻿﻿

People can also experience moral disgust when they observe others engaging in behaviors that they find distasteful, immoral, or evil.

Anger can be a particularly powerful emotion characterized by feelings of hostility, agitation, frustration, and antagonism towards others. Like fear, anger can play a part in your body's fight or flight response.

When a threat generates feelings of anger, you may be inclined to fend off the danger and protect yourself. Anger is often displayed through:

Facial expressions: such as frowning or glaring

Body language: such as taking a strong stance or turning away

Tone of voice: such as speaking gruffly or yelling

Physiological responses: such as sweating or turning red

Aggressive behaviors: such as hitting, kicking, or throwing objects

While anger is often thought of as a negative emotion, it can sometimes be a good thing. It can be constructive in helping clarify your needs in a relationship, and it can also motivate you to take action and find solutions to things that are bothering you.

Anger can become a problem, however, when it is excessive or expressed in ways that are unhealthy, dangerous, or harmful to others. Uncontrolled anger can quickly turn to aggression, abuse, or violence.

This type of emotion can have both mental and physical consequences. Unchecked anger can make it difficult to make rational decisions and can even have an impact on your physical health.﻿﻿

Anger has been linked to coronary heart diseases and diabetes. It has also been linked to behaviors that pose health risks such as aggressive driving, alcohol consumption, and smoking.

Surprise is another one of the six basic types of human emotions originally described by Eckman. Surprise is usually quite brief and is characterized by a physiological startle response following something unexpected.

This type of emotion can be positive, negative, or neutral. An unpleasant surprise, for example, might involve someone jumping out from behind a tree and scaring you as you walk to your car at night.

An example of a pleasant surprise would be arriving home to find that your closest friends have gathered to celebrate your birthday. Surprise is often characterized by:

Surprise is another type of emotion that can trigger the fight or flight response. When startled, people may experience a burst of adrenaline that helps prepare the body to either fight or flee.﻿﻿

Surprise can have important effects on human behavior. For example, research has shown that people tend to disproportionately notice surprising events.

This is why surprising and unusual events in the news tend to stand out in memory more than others. Research has also found that people tend to be more swayed by surprising arguments and learn more from surprising information.

Other Types of Emotions

The six basic emotions described by Eckman are just a portion of the many different types of emotions that people are capable of experiencing. Eckman's theory suggests that these core emotions are universal throughout cultures all over the world.

However, other theories and new research continue to explore the many different types of emotions and how they are classified. Eckman later added a number of other emotions to his list but suggested that unlike his original six emotions, not all of these could necessarily be encoded through facial expressions. Some of the emotions he later identified included:

Other Theories of Emotion

As with many concepts in psychology, not all theorists agree on how to classify emotions or what the basic emotions actually are. While Eckman's theory is one of the best known, other theorists have proposed their own ideas about what emotions make up the core of the human experience.

For example, some researchers have suggested that there are only two or three basic emotions. Others have suggested that emotions exist in something of a hierarchy. Primary emotions such as love, joy, surprise, anger, and sadness can then be further broken down into secondary emotions. Love, for example, consists of secondary emotions, such as affection and longing.

These secondary emotions might then be broken down still further into what are known as tertiary emotions. The secondary emotion of affection includes tertiary emotions, such as liking, caring, compassion, and tenderness.

A more recent study suggests that there are at least 27 distinct emotions, all of which are highly interconnected. After analyzing the responses of more than 800 men to more than 2,000 video clips, researchers created an interactive map to demonstrate how these emotions are related to one another.

"We found that 27 distinct dimensions, not six, were necessary to account for the way hundreds of people reliably reported feeling in response to each video," explained the senior researcher Dacher Keltner, faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center.

In other words, emotions are not states that occur in isolation. Instead, the study suggests that there are gradients of emotion and that these different feelings are deeply inter-related.

Alan Cowen, the study's lead author and doctoral student in neuroscience at UC Berkeley, suggests that better clarifying the nature of our emotions can play an important role in helping scientists, psychologists, and physicians learn more about how emotions underlie brain activity, behavior, and mood. By building a better understanding of these states, he hopes that researchers can develop improved treatments for psychiatric conditions.

A Word From Verywell

Emotions play a critical role in how we live our lives, from influencing how we engage with others in our day to day lives to affecting the decisions we make. By understanding some of the different types of emotions, you can gain a deeper understanding of how these emotions are expressed and the impact they have on your behavior.

It is important to remember, however, that no emotion is an island. Instead, the many emotions you experience are nuanced and complex, working together to create the rich and varied fabric of your emotional life.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

1. Cowen AS, Keltner D. Self-report captures 27 distinct categories of emotion bridged by continuous gradients. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2017;114(38):E7900-E7909. doi:10.1073/pnas.1702247114

2. Gruber J, Moskowitz JT, eds. Positive Emotion, Integrating the Light Sides and Dark Sides. OUP USA; 2014. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199926725.001.0001

3. Gottlieb MM. The Angry Self: a Comprehensive Approach to Anger Management. Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker & Co.; 1999.

4. Anwar Y. Emoji fans take heart: Scientists pinpoint 27 states of emotion. Berkeley News. 2017.

Additional Reading

Cowen, AS & Keltner, D. Self-report captures 27 distinct categories of emotion bridged by continuous gradients. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. 2017. doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702247114.

Mellers, B, Fincher, K, Drummond, C, Bigony, M. Surprise: A belief or an emotion? In V.S. Chandrasekhar Pammi and Narayanan Srinivasan (Eds.)., Progress in Brain Research, Vol. 202, Amsterdam: The Netherlands, 2013, pp. 3-19.

Shirai, M & Suzuki, N. Is sadness only one emotion? Psychological and physiological responses to sadnesss induced by two different situations: "Loss of someone" and "failure to achieve a goal." Frontiers in Psychology. 2017;8:288. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00288.

Staicu, ML & Cutov, M. Anger and health risk behaviors. Journal of Medicine and Life. 2010;3(4):372-375.

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The 6 Types of Basic Emotions and Their Effect on Human Behavior

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Learn about six types of basic human emotions, plus find out how emotions influence our behavior and reactions.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC3SQnoggjM

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📖🔍 A Little Spot of Feelings - Emotion Detective By Diane Alber READ ALOUD

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http://www.cemindful.com/square-breathing-2/

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That Belly Button Breathing thing? That is your base for all mindful breathing and coping skills. Whenever you are in crisis or just "need a moment" and someone says "are you breathing?" That is exactly what they are talking about.

Square Breathing uses the same process as Diaphragmatic Breathing with the addition of two additional 4-counts added in as breaks in between the inhale and exhale. The pattern is: breathe in for 4 counts, hold that breath in for 4 counts, breathe out for 4 counts, then hold for 4 counts before taking your next breath. Repeat. The purpose of this technique is just to provide another way to calm breathing down. I use this one more because I routinely take a lot of shallow quick breaths and try to fake that I am taking deep ones, so the break in between makes me stop and focus on what I am actually doing.

"Squares" are not the only shapes that can be used for breathing practices. Thanks to copingskillsforkids.com for their breathing activities that include the square, triangle, and star. On a piece of paper draw a multi-sided shape (triangle, square, star). Start on one side labeling it "breathe in" then continue around the shape for each side, or for more complex shapes you can use the points too, adding in "hold" and "breathe out". When you have finished, use your finger to trace the shape as you use a 4-count to practice breathing and go around your shape.

Click on an image below to see the full size.

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That Belly Button Breathing thing? That is your base for all mindful breathing and coping skills. Whenever you are in crisis or just "need a moment" and someone says "are you breathing?" That is exactly what they are talking about.

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Improving the health and happiness of the world, one educator at a time.

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Breathe Unwind Let go of stress Find your focus

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Breathe Unwind Let go of stress Find your focus

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Headspace has collaborated with partners and educators to inform, create, and curate an introduction to help integrate mindfulness into the classroom. This course provides suggestions on how to integrate mindfulness into the classroom with accessible and digestible videos.

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The Listening Game  | Cosmic Kids Zen Den - Mindfulness for kids

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Kids Yoga Stories | Yoga and mindfulness resources for kids

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I'm on a mission.

I'm determined to help my daughter learn self-regulation skills to feel successful in her life. After years of struggle trying to figure out how to help us both manage our big emotions, we're turning mainly to the simplest practice: our breath. We're practicing various breathing exercises for kids together to help her to calm and focus her mind and body.

Below you'll find five breathing exercises that you can try with your children in your home, classroom, or studio. Use these breathing techniques as a springboard to encourage your child's creativity. My daughter teaches me new breaths all the time, using her imagination. This includes the Eagle Breath, which you'll find in our Breathing Cards for Kids.

5 Kid-Friendly Breathing Exercises to Bring Calm and Focus to your Child's Busy Life

#1: Loving Kindness Breath

Choose a standing or comfortable upright position such as sitting in a chair, sitting cross-legged, or sitting on your heels. Close your eyes if that is comfortable and begin to tune in to the sound of your breathing. Take a deep breath in then slowly exhale for five counts. On your next exhale, think of filling yourself with love. Imagine the color red enveloping your body. On the next exhale, think of sending love and kindness to someone close to you. Then as you exhale, send loving kindness to someone you are having a difficult relationship with at the moment. Then send love and kindness out to the world around you: the animals, the trees, your neighbors, and your city. Lastly, send out love and kindness to the world. Finish your loving kindness breath by coming back to breathing naturally. When you are ready, open your eyes. This breath is great for Valentine's Day celebrations or when you need to slow down to express more love to yourself and those around you.

#2: Flower Breath

Choose a standing or comfortable upright sitting position such as sitting in a chair, sitting cross-legged, or sitting on your heels. Close your eyes if that is comfortable and begin to tune in to the sound of your breath. Imagine you are holding a flower. Imagine the color and smell of that flower. Then take in a deep breath, pretending to smell that flower. Then exhale and pretend to blow the flower petals. Repeat the cycle of a strong inhale and gentle exhale for a couple of minutes, if possible. You could pretend to smell a different flower each time you inhale. You could also imagine yourself sitting in a meadow of fresh flowers. This flower breath is an easy way to help children become aware of their breath. You could also pretend to smell hot chocolate then blow the hot chocolate to cool it down. During fall, you could pretend to smell the fall air (inhale) and then blow leaves (exhale).

#3: Woodchopper Breath

Stand tall in Mountain Pose and take a few deep breaths. Then take your feet mat-width apart (a little wider than hip-width). Clasp your hands together in front of your body. Take a long breath in while raising your hands above your head. Then, on a vigorous exhale with your mouth open, forcefully take your hands down between your legs. Hang your head and completely let go of all the tension in your body. Close your eyes, if that feels comfortable, and repeat the steps: long exhale with hands overhead, followed by vigorous exhale while bringing your hands down between your legs. Pretend to be a woodchopper cutting a log for a campfire. Repeat this breathing technique a few times, allowing the children to find their own rhythm and become aware of their breath. Stand tall in Mountain Pose again and come back to breathing naturally. Let the children feel the effects of this energizing breathing technique. Instead of a woodchopper, you could pretend to be an elephant drinking water from a lake with your trunk (clasped hands) then swinging your trunk over your head to spray water over your back. This is a great breathing exercise for releasing stress and extra energy.

#4: Bee Breath

To practice bee breath, come to sitting comfortably with a tall spine and your shoulders back. Close your eyes or gaze gently down in front of you. Take a few deep breaths to calm your mind and body. Come to the present moment. Breathe in and out through your nose with your mouth closed.

As you exhale, keep your mouth closed and make a long "mmm" sound, pretending to buzz like a bee around the garden. Then inhale through your nose, keeping your mouth closed. Repeat the bee humming sound on the next exhale. Continue in this way with an extended inhale, followed by a humming exhale for a few minutes or as long as it feels comfortable. When you are ready, open your eyes and breathe naturally. Notice if you feel any differently after practicing bee breath. You could also cup your hands over your ears to intensify the "mmm" sound.

#5: Deep Belly Breath

This one is also known as "yogic breathing." To practice this deep belly breath, choose a comfortable upright position such as sitting in a chair, sitting cross-legged, or sitting on your heels. Or come to lying on your back in a resting position. Place your right hand on your belly and your left hand on your chest. Take a deep breath in for four counts then exhale through your nose for four counts, with your lips closed. Feel the rise and fall of your chest and belly. If you're on your back, you could place an object, like a stuffed animal, on your belly to help feel (and see) the rise and fall of your belly.

Do this deep belly breathing for a few minutes. Give your child a few times to get comfortable with this style of breathing. You could use a Hoberman sphere as a visual cue to show your children the inhaling and exhaling action. Children can think of different things that they are grateful for during each inhale and exhale.

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5 Breathing Exercises for Kids for Calm and Focus (+ Free Poster)

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I'm on a mission. I'm determined to help my daughter learn self-regulation skills to feel successful in her life. After years of struggle trying to figure out how to help us both manage our big emotions, we're turning mainly to the simplest practice: our breath.

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If you are considering the benefits of a deep breathing practice or want to learn more about breathing exercise for kids that can promote calm and reduce anxiety, you're at the right place!

In Yo Re Mi we use our breath for all sorts of things: shouting, hissing like snakes, roaring like lions, whispering like leaves. We practice deep belly breathing exercises with our Hoberman Sphere, also known as our trusty "breathing ball," and we modulate our breaths to gust feathers and to float flowers.

We also sing...a lot. Through singing, we learn to control and manipulate our breathing. When we hold a long note, we exhale slowly and completely. Then our body automatically takes a long, deep breath in.

Try this simple breathing exercise:

Place one hand on your belly and one on your chest. Experiment with which hand feels best in which place. Once you've figured that out, come to stillness.

Allow your eyes to drift shut...and take a deep breath, in through your nose, filling up your lungs and feeling your belly and ribs expand. Exhale, emptying everything out.

Now, do that again....and again.

How do you feel?

Breathing exercises are a powerful way to teach social emotional learning (SEL), incorporate calming activities into your child's daily routine, and support a healthy immune system!

Learn more about the best (and fun) breathing exercises we use with children - that are effective enough to use with adults too, so the whole family can benefit! Here are 7 breathing exercises for kids that will promote calm, energize, and reduce anxiety.

The key is to practice breathing techniques when things are calm so we are already familiar enough to use them we are stressed, emotional or overwhelmed.

1. Deep Breath Exercise for Calming

Children as young as 18 months are able to notice and begin to name emotions. By two years they are able to self regulate and learn to control their emotions by connecting to their breath. Has your toddler ever had a meltdown in Trader Joe's? Try some deep breathing exercises together.I've had a meltdown myself in that line.

If you want to exhale tension and negative energy, deep breathing is one of the best exercises to try.

In yogic thinking, energy or "prana" travels on the breath. When we take a deep belly breath, we are inviting new, healthy energy into our bodies, and when we exhale, we are removing old, stale energy. For this reason there is an entire arm of yoga dedicated to breathing practices, also known as Pranayama.

Try deep belly breathing in the video below:

Who knew Dragon's Breath could be the key to releasing tension and getting our blow flowing?

Different breathing techniques offer different benefits. For example, on a frigid winter's day I may use heating Dragon Breaths with a class to warm up and get our blood flowing.

Try Dragon Breathing:

Sit comfortably on the ground or on a chair. The key here is to have a nice long spine. Take a deep breath in through your nose. Open your eyes and mouth wide, stick out your tongue, and breath out through your mouth. Is it hot in here?

3. Taco Breath Cool Down

When energy is very high and it's time to cool down and relax our bodies, I may have children practice cooling sitali, or as I like to call it, taco breathing.

Find a comfortable seated position with a nice long spine. Relax your shoulders. Curl the edges of your tongue together like a little taco.

Take a deep breath in through your taco or straw. Hold the breath for a second, then gently breathe out through your nose. I feel calmer already.

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Join our acclaimed 30-hour children's yoga training certification! We teach parents, educators, and childcare professionals how to incorporate movement and mindfulnes into their program and daily routine through our unique musical yoga method.

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4. Partner Breaths

We love partner yoga poses, and partner breathing exercises just as much! Breathing with a partner fosters teamwork and communication and enhances little learner's SEL skills. Why not take a breathing break together?

Try Partner Breathing Exercises:

Sit back to back with your child and see if you can feel each-other's backs and ribs expanding with each breath. To take it up a notch, try this breath work in partner pose, "lizard on a rock."

Sit back to back and begin to notice your breathing. Then have one partner lean forward while the other leans back, opening their chest and expanding their ribs. Take a few breaths and then switch.

5. Ch-ch-ch Train Breaths!

Breathing exercises for children can be fun and silly too. At Yo Re Mi, we love to make rhythmic sounds with our breath.

The ch-ch-ch of a train closely resembles the sharp, staccato exhales in a yoga breathing called "breath of fire" and is a great breathing technique for kids! ALL ABOARD!

Kids Yoga Poses to Try:

If your child loves creating a train with these rhythmic breaths and forward fold stretches, try these awesome transportation yoga poses next.

6. Rising Breathing Buddies

Breathing buddies are a great tool to help your child connect with their breath and wind down after a long day. Place a favorite stuffed animal on their belly. Have them take a deep breath in and watch their buddy rise up, up, up and then down, down, down as they breathe.

7. Breathing Ball Visualization (Hoberman Sphere)

We use breath with the children to connect with our emotional lives and to create clarity of mind. We learn to name different emotions and then self-regulate. When it's time to cool down, or if we are upset in class we pass around our breathing ball and everyone has a turn to lead the breath.

Take a few breaths along with this awesome breathing ball... Just 3-5 minutes of conscious breathing can shift our energy, mood and outlook.

visualize your breaths with the breathing ball:

Regular mindful breathing practice teaches emotional awareness and introspection from an early developmental stage. That, in turn, strengthens social and emotional intelligence and helps our children grow to be strong, healthy, compassionate people.

Do you have a favorite breathing practice that always works for you?

Save this article for later and don't forget to download the Yo Re Mi app for children's mindfulness and musical yoga videos.

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7 Fun Breathing Exercises for Kids That Actually WORK! - Yo Re Mi

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Looking for the best breathing exercises for kids? Create calm, reduce anxiety, release tension, and promote good health with this list of fun breathing exercises and activities!

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It's so much fun to tell a story through music and movement. One of our favorite ways to share stories with children is through story songs. They are engaging, allow for social and emotional exploration, and are easy to expand to include children's ideas.

What is a Story Song?

A story song is a song that tells a story. A character takes a journey, and the journey is sung. Either a character goes somewhere, or something happens. You know a story song because there's a beginning, middle, and end to the journey.

For example, check out our song "The Bird And The Worm." Simple story: The Bird looks for a worm. The worm dives and hides. The bird flies away. Curtain.

Can You Identify the Story Song?

Here's a list of four children's songs. Can you identify which one is a story song?

Did you choose A? If you did, you are correct! "Itsy Bitsy Spider" is a whole story in four lines.

Old MacDonald is more of a list; nothing really happens, just a list of animals and noises. But "Itsy Bitsy Spider literally has rising and falling action.
Spider climbing.
Rain falling. Spider falling.
Sun comes out. Everything is dry.
Spider climbs again.
What a saga.

How could your children "play" this song? Using creative movement they could be spiders, then pretend to be falling drops of rain, then the powerful sun sending that rain into the clouds, and finally the spider again.

Adding Movements to Story Songs

Sometimes a story song tell us what movement to make while we sing. Our song "Jump in the Water" does just that:

Let's break it down.

Simple, and very catchy. Children love the simplicity of the story, the arc of action. In our classes, children from toddlers through elementary ask for this song repeatedly.

How to Extend a Story Song to Include Children's Ideas

A teacher or parent can extend the journey in a number of ways. Repeating the song, ask children probing questions such as, "How are you feeling about jumping in the water?" "Do you like being all wet or not?" "What about drying off, how can we do it besides shaking?"

Incorporate their ideas... OR, maybe it's not water. Maybe next time we're jumping in the ice cream...you're all sticky!

How to Use Counting Songs as Kids Story Songs

We tell so many stories through song - and children's counting songs are a great example. There's a group of songs I affectionately call the "Five Littles": Five Little Ducks, Five Little Fishies, Five Little Apples, Five Little Pumpkins, and Five Green and Speckled Frogs.

You probably know others as well. They are great for acting out!

Need more inspiration?

Here are 5 of Yo Re Mi's popular original story song videos.

1. Caterpillar, Chrysalis, Butterfly (Kids Yoga Flow)

Who says learning can't be fun? The story of becoming a butterfly is one of nature's classics. Be sure to use this song to explore science units like transformation, seasons, and insects!

2. Making A Pizza (Kids Sing-Along)

Yum! The steps of pizza making are perfect story song material. Feel free to adapt this one to a food you know and like.

In collaboration with children in pre-K and kindergarten classrooms I've created versions for cookies, burritos, and a sandwich. Try your hand at a new one!

3. Go With The Flow

"Go With The Flow" incorporates Yo Re Mi's trifecta: music, movement, and mindfulness while encouraging a growth mindset in children. Each verse along our journey brings us a new complication, a new resolution, and a new way to travel.

This song explores important SEL concepts like collaboration, self determination, and flexibility.

4. Surf's Up (Warrior 2, Sphinx, Locust Flow)

Waiting for your perfect wave takes patience, and balancing on that board sure is tricky!

By including confidence-boosting warrior two pose, sphinx and locust, "Surf's Up" creates an opportunity to strengthen our bodies with a story song and kids water-themed activity!

5. Grow (Chair Pose and Tree Pose)

Like "The Bird and the Worm" and "Caterpillar, Chrysalis, Butterfly", this song is a great science and STEM activity. The added wonder of "what will I be?" really resonates with older children in our classrooms.

We love story songs. We've been inspired by the greatest writers in the Folk Music and World Music traditions to incorporate story songs into our work with children, and we hope you do too! Here's some of our favorite inspiration.

Further Listening: Pete Seeger Story Song Classics

Far and away the greatest story song influencer at Yo Re Mi is Pete Seeger.

Perhaps the most famous story song by Pete Seeger is "Abiyoyo" - developed from an African folk tune, expanded to tell the story of a brave boy, his father, and their village which hadn't seen the big giants for a hundred years...until now.

There are countless ways to incorporate movement!

Another Pete Seeger classic is "Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase," here recorded wonderfully by Michael Cooney.

This one is particularly interesting because all of the different themes on the banjo become recognizable as the song progresses. Imagine children acting it out - or better yet, have them try it!

There was a terrific animation of Pete Seeger's "The Foolish Frog" (based on a story his father would tell him) which was released by Scholastic in the 1970's.

I can't find a link to an official version of the animation anywhere, but here is the full song recording. Just imagine the ways this one can be expanded to include music and movement! So many great possibilities.

Story Songs are an Essential Part of Every Child's Development

Maybe there are story songs from different cultures which can help us all understand each other better. The Reggio Emilia approach talks about 100 languages of children - perhaps storytelling through music and movement is uniquely suited to some children you know. Let's find out. Keep singing!

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How to Create Engaging Kids Story Songs (Plus Fun Examples) - Yo Re Mi

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It's so much fun to tell a story through music and movement. One of our favorite ways to share stories with children is through story songs. They are engaging, allow for social and emotional exploration, and are easy to expand to include children's ideas. A story song is a song that tells a story.