Ten Little Pigs in a Pen

This is a song that teaches little ones how to count, how to subtract, how to take turns, how to listen to directions and how to listen to the words and instructions in a song being sung to them. That is a lot of things isn’t it? Yet the song is so simple.

You will see from my photo that I was lucky enough to find a lot of little pigs for a very good price. I have them in a little crate or a pen. That pen sitting on my table for a week is what inspired me to write this song. I just had to figure out what I was going to put in this pen, and when I found these cute little pigs I knew.

I wrote this song in a very soothing lullaby style which allows the children to relax, slow down and listen as I am singing. This was quite different from my normally very energetic songs. I instruct the children to listen to the part in the song where I say, “one ran away” before they can remove a little pig. One child at a time passes the crate around until all of the pigs are gone.

I used the number ten for the song. I can personally sing any number when I do it live with the children. There are other ways to illustrate and interact. You could create a felt activity where the children one at a time come up to remove a little pig.

This song is on my CD, How Do You Walk Like a Dinosaur? and on my lullaby CD as well. With the little stuffed pigs the little ones adore this activity. This is a great counting activity for little ones.