Top Elementary Christmas Concert Songs as of December 2021

The annual Christmas concert at my little grade school is a pretty big deal. I want the experience to be the best possible for my students. I strive to find exciting, appropriate, and fun songs that my students will remember for years to come. At the time I write this, I have done 31 Christmas concerts, so I have quite a bit of experience picking songs, and finding out firsthand what does and doesn’t work. In this post, I will list some of my favorite songs for different ages. I will do my best to post links so you can check the music out yourself. Hopefully you will find some music that will be added to your favorite list at some point in the future.

Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and 2nd Grade Christmas Favorites

This age group is especially difficult to find performance songs. The lyrics need to be pretty short and very repetitive. Finding dance movements to accompany the songs are not only cute, but they help students learn to move artfully to the music, develop steady beat, and keep the students interested by moving while learning.

I have no shame about using tracks with singers on them during performances with this age group. There is no predicting how they will be when stuck on a stage with hundreds of people watching them. I personally do not need the pressure of relying on preschoolers to remember lyrics in unusual circumstances. Music k-8 tracks are great for this. They use children to create their tracks, so it’s not like parents hear adults singing at the concert if the students turn into statues on the big day.

Sometimes I do a musical with this age group. I have another blog post that talks about some of my favorite musicals: Elementary Christmas Program Ideas. This post focuses on single songs that I have had success with.

So, here are my favorite songs for this age group that I have encountered so far. Every song on this list is from Muisk K8. I have used songs from other resources, I just haven’t like them as much. If you click on the title, you will go to a link of where you can listen to and buy the song. I am not an affiliate of Music K8, I just really like their products.

1. Wiggleworm/Statue
2. Winter Wiggles
3. Snow Is Falling Today
4. Snowpants
5. Whacky Old St. Nicholas
6. Hip Hop Reindeer
7. Christmas Makes Me Sing
8. We Will Jingle
9. Mousie in the Snow
10. If I Could Fly Like A Snowflake
11. I’m A Little Snowflake
12. Friends All Around Us
13. I’ve Got A Hat for my Snowman
14. Snowman Jump
15. Baby Christmas Tree

3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Christmas Program Favorites

It’s easier for me to find songs for this age group than the younger grades. Since the students can read, I can project lyrics while they are learning the songs, and that seems to help tremendously. I usually make my own practice videos by making slides of the lyrics on a slideshow program like Keynote or Powerpoint, then record it as a movie with the song playing. I then make the same slideshow with the background track (with no vocals) so the students can practice without hearing the singers on the recording as they progress in their memorization. The last step is to practice with only the background track. I really look for songs that use some kind of band or orchestra accompaniment. A piano is nice, but I really like the extra flair the instruments bring and the students enjoy it too.

The main issue with this age group is finding songs they will actually want to sing. A lot of my 5th graders are way too interested in being cool than participating in music class.

I will list some of my students’ favorite songs and musicals that I have used. Most of the titles have a link to a website for you to either purchase, listen to, or do both for each song. I am not an affiliate of any of these businesses. I just know as a teacher, it is much more helpful to have a link so I don’t have to hunt it down myself.

1. The Incredible Reindeer-My grade school kids love this musical! There is an asteroid headed toward Earth and it’s a really foggy night on Christmas Eve. The reindeer with superpowers save the day. My students especially love the song Foggy, Foggy Night. It’s one that students will ask me about years later when they come visit from high school.
2. Jingle All the Way-Santa has lost the “jingle in his heart” in this musical. The elves and reindeer have to help Santa find it again so Christmas can be saved.
3. Let’s All Sing Holiday Songs-(JW Pepper link) If you want a lot of use out of one resource, this collection fits that perfectly. The sheet music websites don’t have very good samples of the songs included, so I’ll post a few more links so you can get a better idea of the songs in this collection. There are so many good arrangements in this book! I love the big band, jazzy take some of these have. There are 12 songs included in this book. This is a list of the ones I have used.
   1. Over The River– This version mixes classic and modern. There is a rap section in the middle!
   2. Silver Bells-Lots of words to learn in this one, but I love the instrumental background.
   3. Deck The Hall-Be ready to explain that “gay” used to mean happy.
   4. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
   5. Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town
4. Holiday Hits for Two-(JW Pepper link) This resource has five songs included. They are pretty straight forward, with not a ton of extra thrills. The students enjoy singing the familiar songs. The main issue with these is the lyrics. There are a lot lyrics in Frosty The Snowman and Jingle Bell Rock, but I have had success using both of those. Once again, the sheet music websites don’t have a great sample of this resource, so I’ll post some examples in the list below.
   1. The Chipmunk Song
   2. Frosty The Snowman
   3. Jingle Bell Rock
   4. Let It Snow
5. Antiphonal Deck The Hall-This arrangement is a unique version of Deck The Hall. It is in 6/8 time and has a really great echo during the verses. I use the 2 part arrangement and teach some classes the “call” and other classes the “response/echo”.
6. Have A Happy Happy Holiday-A very nice song with happy vibes.
7. Jolly Jingle Christmas Medley-This medley is a great 4 1/2 minutes of high energy Christmas cheer! It’s a great version of Up on the Housetop, Deck the Hall, O Christmas Tree, Jingle Bells, and Jolly Old St. Nicholas. I use the 2-part arrangement and just teach all of the students the melody.
8. Santa’s on HIs Way Medley-A fun take on Jolly Old St. Nicholas, Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, and Up on the Housetop. This medley has a big band, jazzy feel to it that makes it super fun to sing.
9. Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!-Another great opening medley….featuring kazzos.
10. Cartoon Christmas-This is a great medley of songs from the classic claymation Christmas movies. It’s 5 1/2 minutes long, so it’s quite a commitment to learn, with lots of lyrics and music to memorize.
11. Winter Fantasy-I love this one! A good partner song is gold. This piece introduces a melody, then goes through jingle bells, then puts both songs together. I usually teach one part to some classes and the other part to the other classes. When we all get together for the performance it usually works out pretty well to have both songs since that’s the way I practice with the classes.
12. The Polar Express Medley-6 minutes of Polar Express songs are included in this fun arrangement!
13. Frozen Choral Highlights-This 10 minute arrangement is difficult, but worth it! If you have students who really love Frozen, this is great. I will say that I had quite a bit of resistance from students who didn’t want to sing Let It Go, or anything from Frozen. Make sure your students want to sing these songs before you add this to your program list.
14. A Marshmallow World-A sweet arrangement of a Christmas classic.
15. We’re Goin’ on a Sleigh Ride-Another fun partner song with Jingle Bells.
16. Sights of Christmas-A short and sweet song that can be challenging with lots of lyrics packed into a small space, with some opportunitites for 2 parts, but not too hard to turn it into a one part song if needed.
17. iJingle Jingle-If you want audience participation, this song is perfect! There is a part at the end to cue parents to join in with a sleigh bells sound on their cell phone. (Parents are invited to download a sleigh bells app.)
18. Holiday Lights-A guaranteed audience favorite! The tune is super fun, and there is flashlight choreography included in the arrangement! Turn off the lights while students turn on flashlights covered in red and green tissue paper to add some extra sparkle to the program.