Friends in the Garden

How to Use

How to use Friends in the Garden music

You can use the songs to introduce a lesson in any learning environment.

They are fact-based and intended to supplement curriculum. I used them in the classroom like this: I would give the students a prompt such as “I want to know everything you can tell me about the body of a worm”, then I’d play the Worm Squirm (hyperlink MP3) song and they would listen and write down the answers as they came up in the song. They could tell me to pause if they needed to finish writing but no one could speak. I would give points for finding all of the responses that were in the song.

Then we could talk about what they heard and I’d ask “so what do worms do”? I’d play the song again if needed but usually they already knew from listening the first time. This is something I came up with when I taught students 9-11 years old. They LOVED this game! It was also a way to sharpen their listening skills. I’m interested to know what other ideas you have for how to teach with the songs.

Some parents tell me they play the songs while they garden with their kids. It sets a fun tone and makes work more like play.

Some parents play the songs in the car and everybody sings along. You learn a lot from just listening and singing along.