There are a bazillion children’s songs to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” I even created one with the counting numbers from 1 to 20.
I was pondering what an arithmetic song would be like to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Here’s my first go at it.
One plus one is two you see.
One plus two is three like me.
One plus three is four I know.
One plus four is five lets go!
One plus five is surely six.
We can see these all with sticks!
Or perhaps something with bigger numbers…
Three plus one is, let’s see…four!
Three plus two is five, no more!
Three plus three is six in heaven.
Three and four make a nice round seven.
Three plus five is clearly eight.
I can add ’cause I’m so great!
What do you think?
Can you come up with some cheesy lyrics to add (pardon the pun) so moms everywhere can sing these to their toddlers instead of just Baa Baa Black sheep?
Post your lyrics (or a link to them on your site) in the comments. Encourage others to participate on twitter/x too!
I’m on a counting roll. I’m not sure, but it could be because this song is stuck in my head. It plays all the time on Sprout TV, the channel where my other addiction is – Lazy Town.
Don’t press play unless you want it in your head. It’s very catchy.
I’ve been wanting to write about all the cool math songs out there for quite some time. I’ve been somewhat collecting them in hopes that I’ll have the world’s biggest collection of math songs.
Alas, I’m fairly confident that I’ve only managed to round up about 10%. They range in educational value, music quality and catchiness. Songs that I love, Daughter isn’t quite interested in. The one she loves I sometimes find slightly boring (especially after 3,000 times of replay).
Not all math songs are good.
Math and music are very similar in that everybody has their preference. I’m not a fan of calculus. And I’m not a fan of rap music. (Not that calculus is the mathematical equivalent of rap music, but for me it’s just as annoying.)
If you’re searching for math songs, make sure you give them a listen before you buy. There’s a lot of garbage out there (sometimes that’s an opinion and sometimes that’s a technical fact).
There’s also some NSFW stuff too – which can be fun for grownups, but you don’t want to inadvertently play something nasty for your parrot two year old (I’m speaking from experience here, #jussaying).
Here’s my collection of songs and albums.
Do The Math by Ralph’s World is a song about friends… who happen to be shapes: Sanderson the Square, Tony the Triangle, Poly the polyhedron (non-Euclidean) mass. So fun!
Schoolhouse Rock: Multiplication Rock – the best ever. I’ve been singing this to Daughter since she was born! “Three is a Magic Number” still makes me tear up.
The Math Song by Scott Perry – I just downloaded this off iTunes and I’m excited about listening to it – over and over!
Another I grabbed this morning is I, Pythagoras (The Math Song) by Nikki Shultz. This is more of a grown up song, but she’s got an amazing voice.
You can even make your own!
Like I did (and had Husband sing it) with The 1-2-3 Song.
Or have your students do it! This song was recorded about ten years ago for me by Sidney & Dale, two Art Institute students in my Fundamentals of Math class:
So how about it – what math song is your favorite? And what math song would you like to hear, sing or write? Share it in the comments (and include a link to the audio or YouTube video).
by Nikki Shultz. This is more of a grown up song, but she’s got an amazing voice.