10 Tu Bishvat Songs for Kiddos: Jewish Music for Educators

This outrageously engaging tune is always a big hit with kids and their grown ups. It features  a call & response chorus, a kid-friendly video with hand movements, demonstrating intergenerational stewardship. PS I love to pair sharing this song with sharing the story of Honi the Circlemaker.

This is a classic kids tune so famous that it made it to The Muppets. Especially for those of us with some crunchy hippie influence in our musical identity. I share it using a David Mallet’s storybook, Inch By Inch, singing the lyrics instead of speaking them while sharing a readaloud. 

A seriously silly song. Join the kiddos and pretend play and imagine their experience if they were a tree. It matches movements with parts of the tree that offers a silly and simple way to learn serious stuff as participants use their bodies to explore balance, shape, and express. The imaginative framing supports creativity and self-expression while reinforcing themes of growth, stability, and connection through embodied play.

Kids love to identify animals and Tu B’shevat is a great time to focus on particular types of animals- the ones that live in trees!
My personal favorite is the “sloth” because kids going “in slow motion” is a super fun challenge.
Visit my Super Silly Tree Animals Song Leader’s Guide for more content and context for sharing.
You can also use this free Printable Prop to add some fun animal visuals to this song. 

The gross motor movement Ellen suggests adds enormous delight and anticipation to this terrific tune. Pay close attention to how Ellen models using the entire body in a rhythmic way during the chorus.

This adaptable movement song supports grounding and body awareness through music and intentional motion. I pair each verse with simple yoga poses, inviting children to embody ideas of growth, strength, and flexibility as they sing.

I learned this song from Barney about a million years ago. It is a terrific tune that creates opportunities for children to practice sequencing.

I use the singable storybook There Was a Tree by Rachel Isadora with groups of all ages. When I share this song, I encourage my learners to take more and more leadership of the tune as we progress through the parts as they become more familiar…by the end, I’m allowing kids to ‘finish the line’ while I point to the last word of each line (even if the kids can’t yet read) in order to support and reinforce their developing literary skills. 

Highlight all the ways people rely on trees as you explore Tu Bishvat with kids. 

I point out that my guitar is made out of wood, and then we brainstorm what other objects we use often that are made from wood. I then point out that trees allow our entire classroom to become musicians, and pass out rhythm sticks so that the kids can play percussion with a tree! Check out the Happy Birthday, Trees! Songleader’s Guide for more tips and tricks to rock this tune.

This song is pure fun and the gross motor movements are a real workout! I highly suggest that you sing this song in front of a mirror to help you gauge how to move!

When I share this song, I like to distribute green scarves and encourage kids to move like the branches of trees, moving our arms above our heads during the chorus to demonstrate what it might look like if we were indeed “trees blowing in the wind”.