Spring is the most musically rich season for young children. The natural world bursting back to life — flowers, baby animals, warmer days — provides an endless supply of joyful content for songs. Easter sits at the heart of spring, and whether you celebrate it for religious or secular reasons, there is beautiful music for the season.
Here are 12 Easter and spring songs perfect for children, along with some thoughts on building seasonal music traditions.
Classic Easter Songs Children Love
These songs have been part of children's Easter celebrations for generations. They're melodically accessible, thematically appropriate, and perfectly singable by young voices.
- •Here Comes Peter Cottontail — the undisputed anthem of secular Easter, beloved by all ages
- •Easter Parade — a classic with a gentle, march-like quality children enjoy
- •Little Peter Rabbit — the Easter spin on Little Peter Rabbit Had a Fly upon His Nose, fun for toddlers
- •The Easter Bunny Hop — action-based, perfect for movement activities
- •Hot Cross Buns — a traditional rhyme and recorder song tied to Good Friday in many traditions
Spring Songs That Complement Easter
Easter doesn't happen in isolation — it's embedded in spring. Spring songs that celebrate new life, flowers, baby animals, and warm weather create a rich seasonal music context that reinforces Easter themes without requiring religious or cultural specificity.
- •Spring Is Here — a simple, cheerful song about seasonal change
- •Baby Bumblebee — not strictly an Easter song, but a spring favourite that fits perfectly
- •Mary Had a Little Lamb — the pastoral imagery is very springlike
- •Itsy Bitsy Spider — traditionally a spring and summer song
- •Five Little Ducks — baby animals are an Easter staple; this classic works beautifully in season
- •Farmer in the Dell — a spring planting song with wonderful classroom action potential
- •Little Robin Redbreast — a traditional British rhyme celebrating a beloved spring bird
Easter Egg Hunt Songs and Games
Music can make the Easter egg hunt even more exciting. Try singing a treasure-hunt song while children search, or use a call-and-response format where parents give musical clues ('hotter and colder' set to a simple tune).
A fun Easter music game for young children: hide plastic eggs around the room, each containing a piece of paper with a song title. Children find an egg, open it, and the group sings that song together before hunting for the next one.
Religious Easter Songs for Children
For families who celebrate Easter as a religious holiday, there is a rich tradition of children's Easter hymns and worship songs that are age-appropriate and musically beautiful.
- •Jesus Loves Me — perhaps the most widely known children's Christian song, often used at Easter
- •Lord of the Dance — a joyful, movement-friendly Easter hymn
- •He Is Risen — simple worship song appropriate for young children
- •Hosanna (Palm Sunday) — appropriate for Holy Week
- •Low in the Grave He Lay / Up from the Grave He Arose — a classic Easter hymn many families sing together
Building an Easter Music Tradition
The most powerful thing you can do with seasonal music is make it a consistent annual tradition. A child who hears the same Easter playlist every year from age two to age ten builds a rich emotional archive associated with that music — one that will persist for the rest of their lives.
Consider: a 'first day of spring' playlist that starts in mid-March; an Easter Sunday morning song that plays while children search for eggs; a post-dinner family sing-along that becomes an expected part of the holiday.
Spring and Easter Songs for Classroom Use
In school settings, focus on secular spring content: baby animals, flowers, rain, growth, and new beginnings. These themes are universally accessible and connect to science curriculum (life cycles, weather, plant growth) while remaining appropriately inclusive for all families.
Spring and Easter craft activities pair beautifully with seasonal music: painting flowers while Spring Is Here plays, making cotton-ball chicks to the Five Little Ducks melody, or counting plastic eggs while singing a counting song.