Today I decided to focus on the little ones, and I will write about Portuguese Songs For Kids.
Many of my students have children or grandchildren that also want to learn this beautiful language, and I understand that there are not a lot of resources.
With these songs, I hope that I can bring the language to children, in an easy and fun way. But adults, sing along too! Never underestimate the power that Portuguese children’s songs can have in your language learning process!
All of the following songs are traditional Portuguese songs, that have been passed from generation to generation and when I was a little girl I used to sing them all the time. In the car, going on trips, at school, at home, with my parents. All times seemed to be good to pull one out of the bag and start singing!
You can check the videos, where you will hear me singing and playing (do not judge me, I am not a professional player – I just wanted to give you a sense of how the music goes) and you can also check out the lyrics.
So, shall we start?
Portuguese Songs for Children
Doidas, doidas, andam as galinhas
Lyrics in Portuguese:
Doidas, doidas, doidas, andam as galinhas
Para pôr o ovo lá no buraquinho
Raspam, raspam, raspam
P’ra alisar a terra
Bicam, bicam, bicam
Para fazer o ninho
Lyrics in English:
Crazy, crazy, crazy the chickens go around
To put the egg in the hole
They scratch, scratch, scratch
To smooth the earth
They hit the ground with their beak
To build the nest
Era uma vez um cavalo
Lyrics in Portuguese:
Era uma vez um cavalo
Que vivia num lindo carrossel
Tinha as orelhas de burro
E a cabeça era feita de papel
A galope xalalá Sem parar xalalá
Cavalinho nunca sai do seu lugar Xalalá (BIS)
Lyrics in English:
Once upon a time there was a horse
Who lived on a beautiful carousel
It had donkey ears
And the head was made of paper
Galloping Xalalá
Nonstop Xalalá
The little horse never leaves his seat Xalalá (BIS)
Papagaio Loiro
Lyrics in Portuguese:
Papagaio loiro
De bico doirado
Leva-me esta carta
Ao meu namorado
Lyrics in English:
Blond Parrot
With a golden beak
Take this letter
To my boyfriend
Brilha, Brilha Estrelinha
Lyrics in Portuguese:
Brilha, brilha lá no céu
A estrelinha que nasceu
E logo outra surge ao lado
E o céu fica iluminado
Brilha, brilha lá no céu
A estrelinha que nasceu =)
Lyrics in English (literally translated):
It shines, shines in the sky
The little star that was born
And suddenly another one appears next to it
And the sky is illuminated
It shines, shines up there in the sky
The little star that was born
English version of the song:
Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
I hope you enjoy listening to these songs and that you share it with the children and adults of your life! To get a better insight on the lyrics, please select CC when looking at the videos 
It will make it easier to sing along, I reckon!
Also, if you enjoyed this post, please let me know in the comments either on the comment section below or on the comment section in youtube! Likes are always welcome too!
Finally, don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube Channel and stay up-to-date with new videos.
If you want to learn Portuguese in a structured and fun way you should check out my Online Course here.
I will continue singing now (or maybe I will stop..people may start to complain if I don’t aha
See you later!
Hi there, my parents grew up near Fatima in the 1940s and they have a rhyme they taught me that seems nonsensical but I am curious about it. It goes something like Sol e sapato, rei reina, foi o mar pescar sardinhas por o feilho do Luis, que ta preso por ou nariz, nou porta do xerife. Do you know it? have you any idea what to might relate to? a historical story perhaps?
Olá, Dan
I actually didn’t know or remember this song. This was apparently used when playing hide and seek. The child that was to find the other people would sing:
1. Sola, sapato
Sola, sapato
Rei, rainha
Foi ao mar buscar sardinha
Para a mulher do juiz
Que está presa pelo nariz.
Salta a pulga na balança
Dá um pulo e põe-se em França.
Os cavalos a correr
As meninas a aprender.
Qual será a mais bonita
Que se vai esconder?
This in English means:
Sole, shoe
Sole, shoe
King, queen
Went to the sea to fetch sardine
For the judge’s wife
Who is caught by the nose.
The flea jumps on the scale
Takes a leap and lands in France.
The horses running
The girls learning.
Which one will be the prettiest
That will go hide?
I hope this helps! It’s nice to see that your parents sang this to you
It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s just to rhyme, because kids (and me, I guess I am also a kid still eheh) tend to like rhymes.
Beijinhos,
Mia
Hi Mia. Thanks for this great page. I have been learning Portuguese for 18 months now, but I live in London and I don’t have any Portuguese people living here to try to have spoken conversations with.
I am scared if maybe my learning is not improving and maybe even getting worse because of this.
Can you advice how I can improve?
Thanks
Dermot
Olá Dermot
Thank you for your comment. I am glad you have decided to reach out
If you want to learn the best practices to become fluent in Portuguese, I would advise you check out the following webinar that I host:
https://event.webinarjam.com/register/11/40v5ot6
In this webinar, I teach you all the best methods, techniques and also courses and how to follow them, so that you can become fluent in Portuguese faster and effectively.
Please let me know if this is helpful
If you still have any questions, please let me know!
Beijinhos,
Mia
Thank you. Sorry for late reply. I had not seen your comment until now. I will have a look at your link. Thanks very much.
You’re welcome
This is so great for me as an adult to learn some Portuguese. It’s very helpful. Thanks for posting it!
Hi Linda,
I am glad you enjoyed it.
thank you so much for your comment
Beijinhos,
Mia
There is a song with palmingash, palmingush , palmingush…….I don’t remember the rest. My Mom used to sing it to the babies in the family before she past. I would love to carry on the tradition. Can anyone help? I thought it was like a clapping game.
Olá, Candida!
I think the song you are mentioning is one we sing when kids first start to clap. The word is actually written as “Palminhas, palminhas!”, which means “clap, clap”. But in Portuguese the word for “a clap” is “palma”, so “palminhas” is the diminutive of “palma” in the plural. I only knew the beginning, like you, but I found out now that there is more to the song, and it goes like this:
Palminhas, Palminhas, nós vamos bater
Depois as mãozinhas pra trás esconder
De um lado e do outro nós vamos bater
Depois as mãozinhas pra trás esconder
Para cima e para baixo, nós vamos bater
Depois as mãozinhas pra trás esconder
In English, translated literally it’s something like this:
Clap, clap, we’re going to clap
Then the little hands we’ll hide behind.
From one side to the other, we’re going to clap,
Then the little hands we’ll hide behind.
Up and down, we’re going to clap,
Then the little hands we’ll hide behind.
If you want to hear a version of this song, you can listen to it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhd2Y5WSPm0
So, yes, it is a clapping song. So nice of you to wanting to pass on the tradition!
I hope this helps!
Beijinhos,
Mia
Can you maybe put the chords somewhere so I can teach myself the songs while playing?
Hey Maria!
I will try to do this in the near future. Thank you for the suggestion!
Mia
Hi Mia,
love your lessons. I have been using childrens’ books to help my Portuguese reading ability. I bought a book of Portuguese songs from Pingo Doce (they have a lot of great books for kids in Portuguese) which I and my friends use to try and learn Portuguese. The best songbook I have found is ‘cantar Portugal’ para miudas e miudos. It has a free CD and the words and music for the songs.
I live in a small village, ‘Almegue’ near Cernache do Bonjardim, 6 houses, 10 people. My neighbours seem to speak a dialect, not the grammatical Portuguese that we learn in class. Have you any ideas on how to pick up dialects?
Cheers
Tony Charlton
Hey Tony!
I am glad you enjoy learning Portuguese this way. I really think it’s a good way for adults too
About the dialects, I think the only effective way is by speaking and listening as much as you can!
That’s more a less how I learnt (a bit, at least) how to speak in the dialect in Bavaria, south of German…
I am sorry that I don’t have any magical ways, but i really believe immersion is the best way
Muito obrigada,
Mia.