The Best Animal Songs for Kids

Animal songs for kids are always a win!

We’ve put together our favorites that children love to sing time and time again and that you’ll enjoy too. These animal songs are just some of the hundreds of songs we have in our list of best songs for kids!

Whether you’re singing about pets, farm animals, ocean animals, or any other kind of animal, you are sure to capture the attention and heart of a child!

Songs like “Five Little Ducks” help teach children to learn to count and to rhyme.

Fingerplays such as “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” help children with important fine motor skills and learning about sequencing.

There are so many concepts children learn through songs, but to them, they’re just having fun! That’s why songs are a perfect addition to any circle time.

We’ve made it super easy for you to bring songs to life by creating these song cards and song sticks from our store!

Animal Songs for Kids

We’ve picked out some of our absolute favorite animal songs for kids, and we hope you love them. We even included our invertebrate animal friends: insects and bugs!

Farm Animal Songs

Animal Farm by Nancy Kopman

I can’t get enough of this sweet little song about farm animals! Nancy introduces you to all the friends on her farm, including the sound each one makes. The melody is very catchy and repetitive, meaning kids will learn it quickly and be able to join right in! You’ll get a kick out of the clever animations, too.

Old MacDonald by Patty Shukla

The original farm animal song! Patty keeps everyone engaged as she has kids call out the animal names and walks you through all the animal noises. It’s a great song for a farm theme!

Pig On Her Head by Laurie Berkner

One of my favorites about animals and the sounds they make, presented in a way you’ve probably not seen before! It includes farm animals, a few other animals like elephants, and some fun directed movements.

Mary Had a Little Lamb by Patty Shukla

Another classic! This is a great version: any kid’s song that includes a key change is a winner in my book! It helps keep children (and adults!) engaged and actively listening. Watch how the teacher turns the lamb’s presence at school into a teaching moment about the power of love.

Baa Baa Black Sheep by Raffi

You can never have too much Raffi!! This live performance is so engaging and fun. He adds additional animals and has the audience guess the new rhyming lyrics, keeping those brains working!

Forest Animal Songs

Going On a Bear Hunt by Greg and Steve

This is the most requested children’s song that I have ever had in my preschool classes. Even though it’s a bit longer, it’s so engaging, so the children love it! Greg and Steve have some of our all-time favorite songs. We can’t get enough of the Kids In Motion and Kids in Action CDs! We also adore the book!

Gray Squirrel by Dr. Jean

Somehow this preschool song became a classic when I wasn’t looking! My own kids even knew it before I did. It’s a good one – rhyming words to build literacy, great vocabulary words like “swish” and “bushy,” and a sweet lesson about friendship.

Pond Animal Songs

The Goldfish by Laurie Berkner

Laurie Berkner just never disappoints! Your kids might already know and love this fun kids’ song with the fun things that fish do (or don’t, really!) Bonus: it inspires kids to get up and moving!

Five Little Ducks by Bounce Patrol Kids

There’s a lot to love here with this beloved toddler and preschool song! They hold up fingers to count and put up the numerals big and clear so your children can develop their number recognition skills. They also include harmonies around the melody, which keeps it interesting and helps develop critical listening skills.

Mmmm Ahh Went the Little Green Frog by Jbrary

I am IN LOVE with Jbrary right now – they have so many awesome songs, chants, and fingerplays!

As any good music educator will tell you, each good music session starts with a warmup! This one is great for getting little mouths moving in all different directions and warming up to sing.

Five Green & Speckled Frogs by The Kiboomers

Kids can’t get enough of this counting song! Use your fingers to help count down from 5, rub your tummy for “yum yum,” and to make the “frog” jump into the pool. The music is well done and the animations are adorable, making this a great animal song for kids!

Herman the Worm by The Learning Station

One of the most classic songs for kids – you may remember the chant from your own childhood! The song builds and builds until the hilarious reveal at the end.

5 Little Monkeys by Jbrary

This fingerplay is a classic, and soooo much fun! No puppets needed even (but they are super exciting!). Sing about the monkeys swinging in the tree and the crocodile (or we like to do the alligator) who snatches them.

Bugs and Insect Songs

Butterfly Driving a Truck by Caspar Babypants

Caspar Babypants makes some of the best songs, and this silly butterfly song for kids is one of our absolute favorites.

Itsy Bitsy Spider by Patty Shukla

The original spider song! I always love using this song in the classroom or with my own kids because it never failed to grab their attention. I love seeing little brains work as they try to figure out the spider’s movement on their fingers. Patty uses her whole hands for the spider, which may be easier for young kids than the traditional finger-and-thumb spider motion.

Bumblebee (Buzz Buzz) by Laurie Berkner

Laurie Berkner’s silly bumblebee song includes lots of fun dancing and patterns. “Buzz buzz buzz ba buzz!”

Two Little Butterflies by Jbrary

This super educational fingerplay teaches opposites and also works fine motor skills. As they say at the end, you can make up an endless amount of your own verses, too! Try hot and cold, near and far, mean and nice, or any other opposites you’d like. The chant can also be done with blackbirds, bees, or another animal of your choice!

Here is the Beehive by Alina Celeste

Alina Celeste’s charming interpretation of Here is the Beehive is another great fingerplay! Follow along with the motions to re-tell this fun story.

Pet Songs

The Cat Came Back by Laurie Berkner

Kids love sharing about their pets, and will also love singing about them! This song is so catchy. That silly cat just can’t stay away. Meow!

B-I-N-G-O by The Learning Station

This classic dog song for kids definitely gets their brains working! Clapping on the beat and keeping track of which letters you’re replacing is a great mental workout. The Learning Station uses adorable animations with easy to read letters, so even the earliest readers will be able to follow along!

Three Little Kittens by The Wiggles

I love this adorable take on the classic nursery rhyme! I appreciate how the mother cat has a sweet smile, even when scolding her kittens.

Bunny Hop by Patty Shukla

Patty Shukla and her brilliant “musical PE” have done it again with this adorable song! It’s a great music and movement song where kids hop around like bunnies. She throws in some early literacy too, by spelling out the word h-o-p.

Ocean Animal Songs

Baby Beluga by Raffi

A classic from many of our childhoods! This song helped the world fall in love with the sweet beluga whale, and it is loved by all generations!

Slippery Fish by Charlotte Diamond and performed by Jbrary

This ocean song for kids is easy to fall in love with! There’s a slippery fish, a tuna fish, a great white shark, and the star of the show — the octopus!

Baby Shark Dance by Pinkfong

You can’t talk about animal songs without including Baby Shark!! It’s been around awhile as a “campfire song,” one of those catchy tunes that everyone knows and no one really knows who wrote. Our friends from The Learning Station included it on their album #1 Best Kid’s Songs in 2011. I remember singing it at library storytimes with my own kids long before it was the craze it is today! However – this 2016 YouTube video was the spark that caught fire!

Penguin Song by Jack Hartmann

This is a great animal song to work on following directions! My kids ask to do it over and over again. You’ll see why!

Need even more ideas for learning about animals? We’ve got you covered with an entire animal lesson plan! It’s packed with hands-on learning activities, games, printables, and more for preschool!

Or if you need more amazing songs, check out our whole musical library!

Educational Songs

Music and Movement Songs

Circle Time Songs

Start and End your Day with Music!

Seasonal Songs

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Karalee Sartin

Karalee is the blog manager and resident "music education expert" for Preschool Inspirations. She has two girls who attend 1st and 2nd grade at the same school, and loves being "room mom" there!

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