Yesterday morning, I walked the land I live in, Williams Treaty Territory and of the Anishinaabe, and the frost was heavy. The early morning hours felt magical. Everywhere, all the beings were glistening with their first touch of sunlight.
I’ve also been noticing the changing colours in the land, which means we are at the perfect time of year for some of my favourite songs! I’ll share with you here two of my favourites to sing at this time of the year, with some ideas as to how to use them to engage children and families in building their relationships with the land.
GREEN LEAF (“Feuille verte” in French)
This is a giggly and imaginative sing along song to play with children. I find this song is a great one to get children attuned to looking closely in the land, and for us, as adults, to understand how they see the land, in their words. As we sing the song, we can consider… What kind of leaves do we see at this time of year, and how might we describe them? By their colour? Shape? Size? We can put all of their ideas into song! I have sung about red leaves, rainbow leaves, maple leaves and pancake leaves! Using children’s language in this song is very supportive of nurturing the relationship they are building with the land, by celebrating it and singing it loud! This song can also open the door to an inquiry into leaves, and it can be a touchstone throughout the inquiry, bringing joy, community and fun into your learning journey! In my community, we have been having some fun with this song, making leaf puppets. It is interesting to hear what the leaves have to say about what happened to Mr. Green!
This is a soft song that invites children to consider similarities between their experiences going back to school and geese’s experiences migrating south. This is a song to invite children to have a quiet moment, close their eyes and imagine what it might be like to take that long journey south, and to work together as a community to make sure everyone’s journey is successful. This can be a good provocation to discuss our own roles within our community or our family, and how we are also fluid in how we show up in these relationships. For example, sometimes we take the lead, and sometimes we step back and let others lead us. A wonderful activity that this song can inspire is to invite children to work together to cross an area in V formation. I learned this idea from The Big Book of Nature Activities by Drew Monkman and Jacob Rodenburg, and I love it! I have found that this activity inspires a lot of giggles and requests to ‘do it again’!
I hope you have some good fun with these songs. I am always delighted to hear about how you and the children you spend time with relate to these tunes and what you do with them. Please leave a comment or send an email to share your story!
Have fun singing!
Land Heart Song 