Lining up is the transition that goes wrong most often in a preschool room. Eighteen children, one door, and a teacher trying to be heard over all of it. A line up song fixes most of that because it replaces the instruction with a cue. Children hear the first line and start moving before you have said a word.
This page collects 8 line up songs for preschool with full lyrics, all sung to tunes you already know: London Bridge, If You’re Happy and You Know It, and Are You Sleeping. Two were sent in by working teachers with notes on how they use them. You will also find 4 videos to play on the classroom screen, a plain method for getting a class into a line without raising your voice, and answers to the questions teachers ask most about lining up. Pick one song, use it every time, and give it two weeks. That is usually all it takes.
On this page
- How to get a preschool class into a line without shouting
- Classic line up songs
- Songs that call children to the line in small groups
- Songs for walking in the hallway
- More transition songs
- Line up questions teachers ask
How to get a preschool class into a line without shouting
The song does the work, not your voice. Here is what that looks like with 3 to 5 year olds.
Start the song before you need the line. Begin singing about thirty seconds before you want children at the door, while they are still finishing what they are doing. After a few weeks the first line of the song becomes the signal, the same way a clean up song means toys go back on the shelf. Children hear it and start moving without being told. If you only sing it once the room is already loud and late, it becomes a command with a tune, and it stops working within a month.
Call children in small groups. Never move eighteen bodies at once. Call four or five at a time by something they share: anyone wearing red, anyone whose name starts with the /m/ sound, everyone at the blue table, anyone with a brother. The children still seated get a moment of listening practice, and the ones moving have space to find a spot. The Line up Rhyme below is written for exactly this. Vary the attribute so the same child is not always last.
Teach what a line looks like on day one. Do it when nobody is in a hurry, not at the moment you need to leave for the playground. Show the children a line: one behind another, facing the same way, an arm’s length apart, hands to yourself. Then practise it going nowhere. Line up, sing the song, walk to the sink and back, sit down. Three or four short practices in the first week save you months of correcting.
Mark the front of the line. Put a taped X or a laminated footprint on the floor where the line starts, and give out a line leader job so there is never a question about who stands there. Without a marker, the front of the line is wherever the fastest child stops, and that is where most of the pushing comes from.
Rotate the line leader. Post a helper chart and move through the class in order, one child a day. When every child knows their turn is coming, nobody has to race for it. The child at the back can be the caboose, which is a job in its own right, and the door holder is a third job for a child who needs one.
Sing quieter, not louder. When the group gets loud, drop your voice and sing the next verse almost in a whisper. Children have to quiet themselves to hear where you are in the song. Raising your voice tells them the volume in the room is fine.
Plan for the child who bolts or pushes. There is one in every group. Give that child a job that keeps them next to you: door holder, clipboard carrier, your walking partner at the front. Call them to the line first or last, never in the middle of the crowd. If they push, step them out of the line, say what the line needs in a few words (“hands to yourself, then you can come back”), and let them rejoin as soon as they are ready. Keep it short and keep it boring. The song keeps going for everyone else.
Classic line up songs
These four use tunes every child already knows, so there is nothing to teach except the words. Two are versions of the same London Bridge song with a different blank to fill; pick one and keep it.
Line Up (now it’s bathroom time)
Original Author: Unknown
Sung to: “London Bridge”
Everybody make a line, make a line, make a line
Everybody make a line, make a line, make a line
For now it’s (Bathroom) time.
Substitute ( ) for appropriate word.
The easiest one for threes because the words never change; sing the two long lines slowly and hold the last one until the last child is standing.
Line Up (fill in the activity)
Original Author: Unknown
Sung to: “London Bridge”
Everybody make a line, make a line, make a line
Everybody make a line, make a line, make a line
For now it’s_______________ time.
(playground, music, bathroom, etc.)
Same tune and words as the version above with a blank to fill; learn one of the two and use it every time so the cue stays constant.
A Line up Song (if you’re ready and you know it)
Original Author: Unknown
Sung to: “If you are happy and you know it”
If you’re ready and you know it, face the door.
If you’re ready and you know it, face the door.
If you’re ready and you know it
Then it’s the time to show it
If you’re ready and you know it, face the door (or say no more).
Good for mixed ages because it tells children what to do with their bodies; every child faces the door and stops talking, which is half of a line already.
Lining up 3579
Original Author: Unknown
3 5 7 9 Show me how to make a line
Please come quickly so we’ll be on time
3 5 7 9
A chant rather than a song, so it works when your voice is gone; count the numbers on your fingers and hold the last one up until the line is straight.
Songs that call children to the line in small groups
These two solve the crowd at the door. The rhyme calls children by what they are wearing, and the footprint song gives every child a spot on the floor to aim for.
Line up Rhyme
Submitted by: Tonya Pryor
Whenever I want the children in my Pre-K class to line up I
first tell them that when I call them, they are supposed to line
up. Then, I recite this clever little rhyme that I made up:
If you have on red, then you heard what I said.
(This means that you heard me say that it’s time to line up)
If you have on blue, then you heard what to do.
(This means that you know that you’re supposed to get in line.)
If you have on green, then you know what I mean.
(This means that I mean for you to get in line when I call you.)
If you have on white, then you know what’s right.
(This means that it’s right to get in the back of the line instead
of in front of someone else.)
If you have on black, then your name must be Jack.
(I ran out of things to say for this part and I didn’t want to
keep repeating “get in the back of the line.”)
If you have on yellow, then you’re a nice fellow.
(This is another case of when I ran out of things to say.)
If you have on purple, then you like to eat slurple.
(This is supposed to be a drink like the 7-Eleven Slurpee.)
If you have on pink, then you know what I think.
(This means that I think that you should get in line.)
(End of the poem)
If I have to call on a person who is wearing blue again because
they didn’t hear me or they weren’t listening, then I say, “If you
have on blue, then you should have known what to do.
I have been using this rhyme with my class since I started
teaching (about 8 months ago) and it has been effective in
teaching them their colors and in sharpening their listening skills!
Use this exactly as written to move four or five children at a time; skip any colour nobody is wearing and add one for a child who is still sitting.
A Line Up Song (footprints on the floor)
Submitted by: Tish Hathaway
Tape colorful, laminated footprints leading out the door of our classroom.
Sung to: “If you’re Happy and you know it”
It’s time for us to line up at the door,
It’s time to find the footprints on the floor,
So stop what you are doing,
find the footprints on the floor
and line up at the door, at the door.
Best for threes who need to see where the line goes; tape the footprints from the door outward so the first footprint is always the front of the line.
Songs for walking in the hallway
The line is only half the job. These two keep it together once it starts moving, and both set a walking pace on their own.
Partners
Original Author: Unknown
Sung to: “London Bridges”
Partners, partners stay in line,
Stay in line, stay in line.
Partners, partners stay in line.
Walk together.
For fours and fives walking in pairs; sing it on the move once the line is formed, and use it to keep partners together rather than to start the line.
Hands on Shoulders
Submitted by: Georgette Hinrichs
In the center I observe at, they sing a song while walking
down the hallway. The children put their hands on the
shoulders of the person in front of them.
Sung to: “Are You Sleeping”
Hands on shoulders, hands on shoulders
Here we go, here we go
Walking down the hallway, walking down the hallway
Nice and slow, nice and slow
Hands on shoulders sets the spacing for you and the slow tune sets the pace; teach the hand position standing still before you try it in the hallway.
More transition songs
Lining up is one transition of about a dozen in a preschool day. These collections cover the others.
- 21 Transition Songs for Preschool for every changeover in the day
- Circle Time Songs for Preschool for the gathering after the line arrives at the carpet
- Hello Songs for Preschool for the start of the morning
Line up questions teachers ask
How do I teach preschoolers to line up?
Teach it as a lesson, not in the moment you need it. Show what a line looks like, name the parts (one behind another, facing the door, hands to yourself), then practise going nowhere two or three times on the first day. Add the song from the first practice so the tune and the behaviour are learned together. Expect it to take about two weeks of daily use before most of the class does it on the first line.
What is a good line up song for preschool?
The best one is short, sung to a tune the children already know, and used every single time. For threes, the London Bridge version above works because the words barely change. For fours and fives, the If You’re Happy and You Know It version gives them an action to do while they wait, which cuts the fidgeting.
How do I stop children pushing in line?
Most pushing is about the front spot, so remove the contest: mark the front of the line on the floor and assign the line leader from a rota rather than letting the first child there take it. Space the line with a visual cue such as hands on shoulders or one footprint per child. When a child pushes, step them out, say what the line needs, and let them back in as soon as they are ready. A good manners song on waiting and taking turns backs this up at circle time.
Should I use the same line up song every time?
Yes. The song only works as a cue if it is the same cue. Change the tune and you are back to giving instructions. If you get bored, change the fill-in word or the group you call first, not the song. The one exception is September, when a back to school song routine is still being built and you can trial two and keep the one the children respond to.
What is a line leader and how do I rotate the job?
The line leader is the child who stands on the front marker and sets the pace when the line walks. Put every name on a helper chart in a fixed order and move one place each day, so a child can see when their turn is coming. Pair it with a caboose job at the back and a door holder so three children have a role each day, and never take a turn away as a punishment.
How long should lining up take?
About the length of the song, so under a minute for a class that has practised. If it regularly takes longer, the problem is usually that the cue came too late or too many children were called at once. Start the song earlier and call smaller groups before you change anything else. Transitions to lunch tend to run longest because children are hungry, so start those a minute earlier still.
Pick one song from this page, put a marker on the floor, and sing it every time for two weeks. The line will start forming before you finish the first line. When it does, the same method carries over to every other changeover in the day, and the transition songs collection has a song for each of them.