Articles
We aim to give food for thought as well as inspiring your creativity and
providing practical ideas you can’t wait to implement in your own settings!
Need some last-minute inspiration
for Storytelling Week?
This year’s National Storytelling week runs from 2nd – 8th February.
For 2026, the National Literacy Trust have chosen the theme ‘Soundtrack Your Story’ with the idea of exploring how lyrics and music can enhance and enrich storytelling.
Research shows that more than 60% of children aged 8 – 18 regularly read song lyrics digitally, which surely demonstrates the huge potential to encourage reading for pleasure.
What a great idea!
The teachers at EuHu love this idea and share the experience of how powerful a tool this can be to really engage children in storytelling, reading and writing.
"In my year 5/6 classes we regularly used lyrics in different contexts. There are so many songs about any topic you care to think of, that you could almost plan a whole curriculum around them! My classes knew I was music-mad, and this encouraged them to share their favourite songs and artists with me. It sometime led to long-running debates about whose choice was best and what was the best song/singer/group etc."
Beverley Smalley
"As a passionate music-lover and gig-goer, I was always keen to find cross-curricular links between music and other areas of the curriculum - to enrich and enhance learning for the children.
Song lyrics can be very powerful and effective in guided reading sessions – and I found that whenever I used them the children would be more engaged and they seemed to make reading tasks more accessible to a wider range of abilities in the class – especially the more reluctant readers – and especially if I played the song to them first.
One example I used was Marvin Gaye’s ‘Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)’ in KS2, when we were learning about environmental issues.
I also used songs, and their lyrics, in other ways across KS1 and KS2. For example: using the first 50 seconds of ‘Fire’ by Kasabian to re-enact the Great Fire of London; the chorus to Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ to tell the story of Rama and Sita for Diwali; and ‘Space Oddity’ by David Bowie and ‘Spaceman’ by Babylon Zoo when learning about the first Moon landing and significant people in history (e.g. Neil Armstrong)."
Jacqui Dalton
Here are a few ideas children are sure to enjoy!
1. Delve into a great song
Here are a few tried and tested, great songs. We’ve put them into age brackets, but really, most could be adapted for any age!
KS1
Yellow Submarine – The Beatles
Octopus’s Garden – The Beatles
Puff the Magic Dragon – Peter, Paul and Mary
Tomorrow – from Annie
Let it Go – from Frozen
- LKS2
Any Dream Will Do – from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat
I Can See Clearly Now – Johnny Nash
Firework – Katy Perry
Space Oddity – David Bowie
- UKS2
Eleanor Rigby – The Beatles
Streets of London – Ralph McTell
Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell
Ironic – Alannis Morisette
· Listen to the song whilst reading the lyrics, and when familiar enough, encourage everyone to sing along.
· Talk about the meaning; what is the song trying to say?
· Ask children to choose their favourite line and explain why they like it.
· Highlight a few suitable words and, in pairs, ask children to come up with alternatives.
· Write a new verse to add to the song.
· Perform spoken-word versions of the song.
· If the song has characters, expand on them and give them even more of an identity.
2. Share the love!
· They might write it out or simply make a note of it.
· Each day, play one or more of the chosen songs to the class and get them to read the lyrics as it plays. A great way to include shared reading for the day!
3. Link music to oral storytelling
· Use instruments, body percussion or sound effects to add atmosphere and interest.
· Perform the pieces and evaluate.
"I wouldn’t be a songwriter if it wasn’t for books that I loved as a kid. I think that when you can escape into a book it trains your imagination to think big and to think that more can exist than what you see."
Taylor Swift
4. Compose your own lyrics
You might be surprised to know that according to research by the National Literacy Trust, almost 18% of children write their own lyrics monthly!
That’s approximately 1 in 6, which is a very encouraging statistic and shows the huge potential to engage children with reading and writing for pleasure.
· Take an inspiring theme from your curriculum topics as a starting point.
· Remember, it’s not necessary to write a whole song. Writing a chorus, for example, would be enough.
· Or if starting from scratch is too difficult, children might write an existing song from a different viewpoint.
· If it’s something you’ve never tried, give it a go! You might inspire the next Paul McCartney, Ed Sheeran or Taylor Swift!
About EuHu
EuHu is Findel’s digital learning platform designed to support teachers with high-quality resources, CPD, and curriculum content. Our mission is to make teaching easier by providing practical tools and ideas that reflect the realities of the classroom.
Want to stay up to date with new free articles, lesson ideas and educational content?
Register with EuHu today for expert insights, free resources, and updates on the new national curriculum and be the first to know what matters for your school.
