On, in, under, in front of, behind. Prepositions can sometimes be hard for children to learn. However, they are really useful for them to be able to talk about everyday life. So if you can find a fun way to teach them, that will be a big help for your classes. A song or two is a great way to do that, especially for younger children and if you combine your songs with lots of TPR, that will really help to get those tricky prepositions fixed in their memory. My Top 10 EFL ESL Prepositions songs for children has a good mixture of songs, suitable for all ages and levels of English. Use them either as a lesson dedicated to prepositions or as part of a completely different lesson, about places or people or animals. So get ready to move, these are my favorite EFL ESL Prepositions songs for children.
Preposition Song for Children | Movement Song by Patty Shukla Kids TV
A really energetic song to start off with and really get the kids moving. If you can get the kids climbing up and down and in and out in the classsroom, this would be a great way to use this song. Build an obstacle course with cardboard boxes or even better, get outside and sing it there. If you haven’t got the space to do this, you could draw an obstacle course on the board and get the kids to move around that with flashcards or toy figures as you sing the song. If they’re older, ask them to design an obstacle course or a playground and describe how to use it and how it works. This would be a great way of learning and practicing lots of useful new vocabulary.
Preposition by The Bazillions
What exactly is a preposition? For those who aren’t sure and for classes of older kids, this is a great way to find out. The song and accompanying video will explain exactly what a preposition is and how to use it. Ask your class to make a list of all the prepositions they know and see if they know how and when to use them.
On In Under by Maple Leaf Learning
A silly but effective song that kids of all ages will love and will happily sing along with. It’s one of those songs that you’ll hear them singing to themselves as they leave the classroom or between classes, so make the most of this. You can change the prepositions you use to adapt it to what you’re learning. Play a game where one of the kids has to hide a small object and the kids have to guess where it is. “Is it in your shoe?” “In your bag?” “Under your hair?”. Children love games like this and it will really help them remember the prepositions.
The Prepositions Song by Scratch Garden
There are actually three different prepositions songs by Scratch Garden, so choose whichever suits your lesson requirements best. These are really simple and easy to learn songs which use simple everyday vocabulary. Maybe your class could write their own version of the song using different vocabulary and changing the positions. They could make flashcards of characters or animals to move around as they sing it. Or they could write a story about what the animals are doing and why.
Pets | Prepositions of Place by eslclassics.com
Where is my brown dog? There is a very cute dog in the video to this song and it’s having lots of adventures. This would be a fun activity for smaller kids and you could hide a brown dog toy (or any other animal) around the class and then sing the song together before going to look for it. What exciting places can the dog find to hide in? Let the kids take turns hiding it while the others close their eyes or wait outside the door for a minute. If you want to sing this with older children, you could use the song as a starting point for a story about the dog and all the places he goes to hide. Let the class tell the story or act it out together.
Prepositions of Time Song by Rockin’ English
Another song for older kids who are finding prepositions of time tricky to learn. This song and its accompanying video clearly show how they are used and give useful examples. You could use it as the base of an activity making sentences about different events that have happened. Get the kids to write a story about something that happened describing exactly when it took place. Alternatively, you could give them a list of famous events and get them to find out when they each happened. For example, the first man landed on the moon in 1969 on the 20th July. You could have a lot of fun with this.
On In Under By by Maple Leaf Learning
This is probably the song I use most often when teaching prepositions to small children. As you sing it, you can demonstrate exactly what the different prepositions are with a box and a small toy. I like to use a toy red London bus. Then change the position of the toy and ask the children where it is. Let them have a go at doing it too as the others sing the song and they will get the hang of it really quickly. You can use this song in loads of different types of lessons by changing the objects and where they are. Adapt the prepositions too if you need to in order to make them fit your theme.
Preposition Rap by Whitt Spurlock
If the kids in your class like to rap, this is an easy song for them to do. It’s by a 5th grader and is a list of different prepositions that is easy to learn and rap along with. Could your class make up a rap using these prepositions and giving examples of how they are used?
Where’s the Monkey? by KidsTV123
This is a great song if you are learning about furniture and rooms in the house. The little monkey is hiding around various pieces of furniture and the kids have to find it. You could hide a monkey in different objects in your classroom and let the kids find him. Then let them hide it too. Alternatively, draw a big house and furniture on the board and hide a picture of a monkey in different places and let the class look for him. Get them to cut out pieces of furniture and make a house collage with a hiding monkey somewhere in it.
Learn English Around Town – Prepositions Song by Hili Zavaro Quantum Teaching Kids EFL
Last of all, a song that would be useful when you’re learning about different places in a town and where they are situated. If you have got a map or can draw one on the board, the kids will have lots of fun finding different places and describing where they are. Pretend to be tourists in a new town asking for directions and do a roleplay together. Or, if you’re feeling really adventurous, go and explore your own town or city with your class and see how many different places they can find just by telling them where places are in relation to others. Then get them to draw a map of the town and describe where everything is.
I hope you have enjoyed this Top 10 of EFL ESL Prepositions Songs for children. I think they show that even quite a tricky subject to learn doesn’t need to be just boring exercises and can be a lot of fun. If you would like to see other collections of my favorite songs to use in class, you can find them here. Keep up to date with new articles on GoogooEnglish by following our Facebook page or, alternatively, sign up below for email updates. And don’t forget, if you have any more teaching ideas about prepositions or any other subject, please share them in the comments.