
What’s special about these number songs?
- They promote “simultaneous multi-sensory learning,” meaning children see, hear, sing, and act out the number all at once. For any of you exercise buffs, this is like HIITs, or interval training for the brain. hehe Activating these various pathways to the brain is what makes these number songs so successful at making the material stick.
- Children LOVE them. As in, my three-year-olds beg to watch them even when our “school” time is over.
- There are many listening options (CDs, mP3s, DVDS) to suite your teaching situation.
Note: I used commercial clip art to create our Number Song pages. The illustrations used in the HeidiSongs number DVDs and flashcards have the characters forming the actual numbers as seen in the video above, taking it even one step further.
How We Have Used the Number Songs in a Bilingual Environment
The videos are only in English, and the CDs/Mp3s come in either English or Spanish. Since our target language with my Preschool and Kinders is Spanish, I would put the Spanish Number Songs on an iPod connected to our favorite portable speaker) as background music to their math arrival activities. The songs are only about 30 seconds each, so they would easily listen to all the songs daily.
As part of our preschool curriculum, we would focus on a number every week. On the day they did their number song page, I would put that song on repeat while they colored the illustration and dot painted the number. Then we would add it to our Math Song Book. (This is our absolute favorite binding machine for creating books like this.)
After we finished our Math Song Books, (and they could sing the Spanish version in their sleep, hehe) I began to play the DVD for them in English every Friday. They thought dancing along to HeidiSongs for “Fun Friday” was great fun. They also learned the English version in just a couple viewings. Now, even months after we finished their books, if I turn on the music they immediately grab their book, sit down and sing along. hehe
Do I really need to buy the music?
If you are familiar with the tunes and love to sing every song at least 127 times until you lose you voice…no. hehe Sarcasm aside, I would definitely recommend buying the music. The level of enthusiasm my children have when listening to a song with background music vs. me singing a cappella (as animated as I try to be), is significantly higher with a recording.
I know HeidiSongs have many different versions available, and new products have come out since we originally purchased our number songs. If I were starting all over in a bilingual environment, here is what I would personally recommend.
- Download the Spanish album on iTunes that includes numbers 0-10 and shapes
- Buy the Number Jumble DVD on Amazon that includes number songs, number writing songs, our favorite counting 1-100 song, and number word songs like Zero the Hero! This is a goldmine of a DVD. (If international shipping is a problem, you can rent Number Jumble 0-30 for a year on Vimeo)
These Spanish number songs are an integral part of our bilingual preschool curriculum. I contacted Heidi, and she graciously gave us permission to share them with you!
Note: In the download, we have included two different versions of the number eight and number ten in Spanish. Here in Colombia, the preferred word is “mono” rather than “chango” for the number eight song. For the number ten song, we changed “granitos” to “deditos” to match the context of the picture. Even though the printables have different words than the music, I sang louder when teaching them the songs…and they have never noticed the difference. HA!
I am having trouble finding the Spanish music on iTunes. Is it only available on Youtube?
You’re right! I don’t see the Spanish version anymore. 😱 Let me contact Heidi, and I will let you know.
Do you have the lyrics for 11-20? I just purchased the songs in Spanish via Heidi’s website. Thanks so much!
We currently only have songs for numbers 0-10. Let me check into it Ina, and I’ll see if we can create some for you!