The Origin Story
I am very excited to be sharing my new, "Rainbow Carrots" song with you all as well as some fun, free printables. But first, I'm going to share the original song that inspired it all. It started in the summer of 2022 when I heard "Five Little Carrots" by Miss Gina. I instantly knew it would be a hit with my music class families and I wasn't disappointed. It was so quick to learn and I had instant buy-in from the kids.
This led to a hunt for the perfect visuals to accompany the song. But first, the original song as recorded by Miss Gina: "Five Little Carrots" YouTube Video
The Visuals
It was easy to find some orange carrot clipart for a visual. It also worked well to just use our fingers. But, the real magic happened when I finished making five crocheted carrots using the tutorial in this video. The front pocket in my music class cart from Bear Paw Creek worked perfectly for "planting" the carrots and holding them vertical. It also worked with a simple fabric drawstring bags, especially for 1:1 sessions.
In the process of making the carrots while watching movies with my family—it's the only way I can stay awake!—I started thinking about how much fun it would be to have colored carrots. This prompted the seeds of a new song. The original draft was born on my 49th birthday and then got put on the back burner. As it turned out, the draft unearthed itself from my knitting bag exactly one year later. Happy 50th birthday to me!
In the meantime, I asked my talented niece to make some rainbow carrots because I knew I would never get them done in time for the summer session of "Learning through Song" music classes. This was a huge blessing and they turned out great!
Magical Music
At the first debut of the "Rainbow Carrots" song with kids, it was magical and I knew the song would be a big hit. After testing the song over three weeks with over 150 kids, it never failed. It's easily modifiable but even when sung full length, it held the attention of every single child ages birth to 6! It was interesting to watch the 18-24 month kids just staring at the carrots as if trying to correlate their knowledge of the world with what they were seeing.
Without further ado, here is the full length version of "Rainbow Carrots":
The Literacy & Communication Connection
- Left to Right Directionality
As always, there is a literacy connection in almost all of my resources. By adding carrots one at a time, we are strengthening the foundational skill of tracking from left to right.
- Word Substitution
Once the song is in print, it will be a great way to target word substitution. By starting with the phrase "red carrot" then removing red and replacing it with blue, we changes the meaning. This seems very basic to us, but it a great way for emerging readers to start understanding that the scribbles they see on the page represent words with a little white space in between.
- Letter Sound Correspondence
A little further along the developmental continuum, they will see the "c" in carrot many, many times and start making the connection between that shape and the /k/ sound.
- Communication Skills
A bonus is that the song cue is strategically written to help kids who have a speech delay string two words together. That part of the song is very repetitive which makes it easy for kids to learn. To expand sentence length and prompt speech rhythmically, I will often write the full sentence as a visual prompt. This is the same concept that is targeted in my Dot to Dot Drumming resource. You can click here to see a video showing a portion of that process in action.
Free Printable for You!
For those of you who don't have someone in your life to crochet you six rainbow carrots, I have you covered.
Click here for a pdf lead sheet of the music, a printable garden theme, six colorful carrots and five orange carrots for the original "Five Little Carrots" by Miss Gina. You can simply use the same garden printable!
Future Plans
My dream for this song is for it to become a children's book. I know there are quite a few of my followers who have been down that path, so I will likely be contacting you to gather information. If you think this song would make a great children's book, please reach out and let me hear your thoughts!