Sleeping Bunnies

Sleeping Bunnies is one of my favourite action songs for toddlers and preschoolers, and here’s why: The kids love it so it focuses their attention better than anything (other than Zoom Zoom Zoom or The Elevator Song). It helps them practice self-regulation and instructional listening skills (now we sleep, now we hop, now we stop). The song is adaptable, and encourages discussion. My preschoolers yell out requests (Cat! Dinosaur! Robot!), and we decide what action they should perform when they wake up. There are several minor variations on the lyrics, and many of my storytime kids have sung it elsewhere, so we also talk about how there can be different ways to sing the same song.

My chords are largely indebted to Miss Mary Liberry who includes a very useful instructional video for the song and some beautifully simple finger picking in the middle, and to The Show Me Librarian for including Mary’s transcript. The version I sing is slightly different so I’ve adjusted it accordingly. I’ve also omitted the finger picking for simplicity’s sake (but I highly recommend you head over to Mary’s page and try it out). And for once, I’m including two different keys. C is definitely the simplest ukulele key, but I prefer to sing Sleeping Bunnies in G.

Not sure how the song sounds? Listen to Mary, Jbrary, or KCLS’ Tell Me a Story.


Sleeping Bunnies (C)
C              [G7]               F               C
See the little bunnies sleeping, till it's nearly noon
G7        C         G7           C
Shall we wake them with a merry tune

C
Oh, so still. Are they ill?
G7   C
Wake up... and

C
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop
C                   G7        C
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop
C
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop, and
C                     G7         C
Stop little bunnies, stop, stop, STOP!


Sleeping Bunnies (G)
G               [D]               C                G
See the little bunnies sleeping, till it's nearly noon
D         G         D            G
Shall we wake them with a merry tune

G
Oh, so still. Are they ill?
D    G
Wake up... and

G
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop
G                    D         G
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop
G
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop, and
G                     D           G
Stop little bunnies, stop, stop, STOP!