Hop, Hop Went the Little Green Frogs

U.S.A.

HISTORY AND SONG NOTES

Hop, Hop Went the Little Green Frogs is an American folksong. This tune works well as a movement game for young children, and also as a singing activity.

Group Circle Game

This game works well with preschool aged children, who are working on starting and stopping their movements with the music. For this, it works well for the children to move in a circle; however, you can have them move in a line around the room if that works better for your space. When the song begins, the children move, and then at the “stop” freeze wherever they are, until the music resumes. They can hop, or they can move in many other ways: walk, walk, went the little green frogs… bounce, bounce went the little green frogs…tiptoe went the little green frogs, etc.

Singing

The children may enjoy replacing the “hop, hop” words with frog sounds, like “glumph, glumph” or “ribbit, ribbit.” Exploring different sounds is a wonderful way for the children to explore and get to know their voices. They may also enjoy adapting the text of the song to include other animals, and other animal sounds, such as “moo, moo, went the little brown cow one day” or “meow, went the little grey cat one day.” Once they are familiar with the song, they will likely have many animal ideas to volunteer!