Five Little Ducks is not as popular as other nursery rhymes, such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Old MacDonald but it’s definitely a great song for young children. It teaches some basic counting and it has a simple melody, which makes it a perfect nursery rhyme to learn on the piano. Let’s learn a little more about the background of Five Little in this free piano tutorial and how to play it on the piano. We also provide you a version with simple piano letter notes as well as the sheet music that you can download as PDF.
Background of Five Little Ducks
Five Little Ducks is a traditional children’s song that has been passed down through generations, although its exact origins remain unclear. It is believed to have originated in the early to mid-20th century and became popular in English-speaking countries as a playful and educational nursery rhyme. It tells the story of five little ducks who go out to play and gradually disappear, only to return when their mother calls them. The song’s repetitive and simple structure, along with its catchy melody, make it easy for children to learn and sing along, often accompanied by hand gestures to enhance the interactive experience.
Piano Letter Notes for Five Little Ducks
Five Little Ducks is a nice song for beginning piano players. However, children often lack a deep understanding of music theory when they begin to learn how to play piano, which is absolutely normal. Typically, piano songs are played from sheet music, which can be overwhelming for young students. For an easier introduction, it’s helpful to have the piano notes written over the lyrics. However, children should at first learn the location of each note on the piano that they are using for the song. Please note, that we need two different C notes for this song. ‘C is referring to the lower C note to make the distinction.
Labeling the keys of piano can help beginners to identify the correct keys and make the learning process more accessible. However, in order to reduce the student’s dependence on the piano key labels, you should remove them after the child can confidently play a few songs.
And be sure to check out our article on how to read piano notes, where we explain how to easily remember and find the piano keys on the keyboard, and how they correspond to the notes on the sheet music.
Here are the keys on the keyboard that you have to use for the song Five Little Ducks
The following chart with the lyrics and the letter notes enables you to learn and play Five Little Ducks in an easy way:
Listen to the recording below to play along or to check if you got it right on the piano!
Each song can be played with either one or two hands. While playing with one hand is easier than playing with both hands at the same time, playing single notes with one hand is also easier than playing chords. Young beginners should always start by playing the melody one note at a time with one hand. As they progress, they can begin to combine the right and left hands.
Piano Sheet Music for Five Little Ducks
When we play a song on the piano, we usually use sheet music. But for young beginners, reading music can be quite a challenge. But short and simple nursery rhymes are the perfect introduction to music notation. And if you already know how to read music, try using it to play Five Little Ducks. Since we are using two different C notes in this song, it’s also much easier to identify the different pitches in sheet music.
Here are the music notes for Five Little Ducks:
Free PDF Printables for Five Little Ducks
Feel free to download our PDF printables of the easy version with the piano letter notes and sheet music. This allows you to print them out and to use them for your lessons or at home for practicing.
Interested in instruments other than the piano? You can also find a free lesson on how to play Five Little Ducks on the guitar and ukulele.
