Animals are always a good way to introduce new vocabulary and grammar to children. A lot of kids in your class will probably have a pet so songs about pets are a way for them to learn everyday, useful vocabulary that means something for them personally. Maybe you even have a pet in your school! In this collection of songs we’re going to look at lots of activities that you can do to learn all about pets and how to look after them. So let’s learn all about our favorite animal friends with my Top 10 EFL ESL Pets songs for children.
Pet Song For Kids by Dream English Kids
If you want a simple song to teach names of pets and the noises they make to smaller children, this is a great choice. It’s easy to learn and sing and the video of the strange pets is funny too. Put the kids in pairs and get them to ask each other if they have a dog or a cat or a bird then they can answer yes or no. Do they have an elephant?
I Have a Pet by Super Simple Songs
You could do a similar game with older children with this song which is one of my favorites. Does anyone have a really strange pet? If they could have any animal as a pet, what would they choose? You could also play a Pictionary game on the board where one child starts drawing his or her pet and the others have to guess what it is. “It has a long tail, is it a cat?” etc.
Have You Got a Pet? by Azorin Monovar
This is another good simple song for learning the names of different pets. You can adapt it to the pets that the children in your class have. Once you have learned all the different names of the animals you could play Pets Bingo, either with pictures for smaller learners or words for older kids. Alternatively play a pets version of Who am I where the kids have to ask questions to guess the pet: “Do you have a tail?”, “do you run fast?”
The Pet Song by Samsung Kids
This song is all about the responsibility of owning a pet. What do you need to do for your pets? You could work this into a lesson on daily routines and make a timetable for your pet and what you need to do at each time for different pets.
Pet Finger Family by PinkFong
A pets version of the finger family song which is perfect for little children to learn the name of pets. Hide flashcards or soft animal toys around the classroom and sing the song and look for them together. Change the song to use different animals if you want and use finger puppets or draw a face on each finger. You could also use it as part of a lesson about families and the different family members.
Ten Little Pets by Easy Cheesy English
If you need a counting song about pets, this is simple but effective. Adapt the animal to what you’re learning and draw on the board or use flashcards so the kids can count along with the song. You could also let the children pretend to be the animals and count them. So have a group of cats or dogs or hamsters depending on how many are in your class. Then ask the other children to count them and sing the song while they do animal actions.
Let’s Go Walk The Dog by Treehouse Direct
Get the kids moving with this song about walking dogs and other animals. Give them all a pretend dog and go for an imaginary walk in the park. Left, right, forward and backwards. What would it be like to walk different animals? Let them try and imagine. Can you walk a crocodile? Or a rabbit?
Veterinarian by Storybot by Netflix Jr
Not one of the most obvious EFL ESL pets songs for children but vets are important figures when we are talking about animals. You could use this song in a lesson about different jobs and what they do or when you are talking about the responsibilities of having a pet. What does a vet do? What will different animals need?
Christmas Pet by Maple Leaf Learning
A bit of a niche one but I think you could probably adapt this so it could be used at different times of the year too. Change Santa to Mummy or Grandma and make it a birthday song instead. Tell it as a story with lots of TPR and let the kids try and remember what comes next and all the different animals. Add some more if you want and use it as a storytelling exercise.
I hope you enjoy using this collection of EFL ESL pets songs for children. If you have any other ideas of how to use them in your class, please leave a comment below. If you’ve enjoyed this post and would like to see more, you can find lots more collections of songs and teaching ideas here. To stay up to date with GoogooEnglish, please follow our Facebook page or sign up for email updates below.