Easy kalimba songs for kids

A kalimba is one of the best first instruments for a child: it is small, it always sounds nice, and there is nothing to tune or to hold in the right place. With numbers instead of notes, a child who can read 1 to 7 can play a song the same day. These are the songs children already know: nursery rhymes, rounds and lullabies, with the words under the numbers so they can sing along.

They are sorted from the easiest. The first ones stay on four to six tines around the middle and have no dots, so little hands do not have to look for the short tines at the ends. Each tab has a video that plays the song once, then slowly with the numbers falling onto the tines, then at its real speed: let your child watch it once, then play the first line alone, and add a line at a time.

Two tips for parents and teachers. The free PDF has colour stickers to cut out and put on the tines, in the same colours as the tabs: matching colours is easier than reading engraved numbers. And a song that fits the 8-key kalimba (marked on its page) also works on the small kalimbas sold for children.