French folk songs and nursery rhymes for the classroom
For French-as-a-second-language, immersion and kindergarten teachers: traditional folk songs and nursery rhymes from Quebec and France, sorted by level and use. Every song has its video, full French lyrics and, where one exists, a printable songsheet or coloring book.
Kindergarten and beginners: rhymes, games and actions
Short, repetitive songs you act out with your whole body. Children learn them by doing them, with no reading required. (5 songs)
1.Promenons-nous dans les bois
Nursery rhyme / singing game
One of the best-known children's songs in the French-speaking world, and above all a singing game: children walk around while the wolf gets dressed piece by piece, until his "J'arrive !" starts the chase. Ideal for clothing vocabulary, with a printable songsheet and detailed game rules.
2.Mon merle
Cumulative children's song
A cumulative rhyme known in France and Quebec: in each verse the blackbird loses a body part (beak, eye, head…) and you recite every loss in reverse order. A playful memory exercise for body-part vocabulary.
3.Avoine, avoine
Mimed nursery rhyme / round
An action song published by Weckerlin as early as 1870: in a circle, children mime the sower, the reapers, the threshers and the winnowers, then the chorus repeats the gestures. Perfect for action verbs and a farm theme.
4.Alouette, gentille alouette
Call-and-response song / cumulative song
Documented in Montreal by 1879, "Alouette" is cumulative and call-and-response: head, beak, eyes… the group echoes every word. It has been a first doorway into French for generations, and its songsheet is printable.
5.Ah ! Si mon moine voulait danser
Dance song / round
An old playful song from French repertoire, carried into French North America for children and dancing. Each verse offers the monk an item (a hood, a belt…): the structure invites movement and pulls everyone in at once.
Elementary: refrain songs and story songs
Easy refrains and little stories to follow. Good for listening comprehension, repetition and first readings of lyrics. (8 songs)
6.J'entends le moulin
Call-and-response song
A classic popularized in Quebec by Hélène Baillargeon and Alan Mills in the 1950s: the words imitate the mill's wheel, wind and water. Students echo each line, then go "tique, tique, taque", which is why it lasted so well in schools.
8.En passant par la Lorraine
Children's song with refrain
A melody first printed in 1535, the song took its modern form in 1885 and entered French primary schools, then Quebec's. Its clogs and "avec mes sabots" refrain make it an ideal refrain song; printable songsheet.
9.Si tous les garçons du monde
Call-and-response round / children's song
A call-and-response round documented in Quebec by the 1920s. The group answers "Non, non, je n'en veux pas" after each verse: good practice for answering as a choir.
10.À Saint-Malo, beau port de mer
Sailors' song / round
A widely known sea song: three ships loaded with wheat, ladies haggling with a stubborn merchant and the refrain "Nous irons sur l'eau". A round carried to Quebec by oral tradition, it lends itself to a market role-play.
11.Marianne s'en va-t-au moulin
Comic song
A comic story song published by Ernest Gagnon in 1865: while Marianne's grain is milled, a wolf eats her donkey, and she later claims donkeys change their coats on St Michael's Day. A story to retell, illustrate and put back in order.
12.Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre
Satirical song
An 18th-century French song that tells, in a burlesque tone, of the Duke of Marlborough's supposed death. Its tune is the one used for "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow", an instant anchor for English-speaking immersion students.
13.V'là l'bon vent
Call-and-response song / voyageur song
One of the best-known voyageur songs, sung in Quebec and Acadia. Its answering refrain "V'là l'bon vent" makes it perfect for class: the group echoes each line of the three-ducks story.
Quebec culture and the classroom calendar
Songs for the right time of year or for a culture and history unit. The last two suit older students best. (7 songs)
14.Bonne fête à toé
Celebration song (original composition)Original song
An original Sunovia Noir song (2026), not an old folk song: a Quebec-flavoured birthday song with a direct chorus, written to be sung in a group. For celebrating classroom birthdays in French.
15.La cabane à sucre
Sugaring-off song
It celebrates sugaring season, when the whole family descends on the sugar shack: taffy on snow, paddles to lick and the refrain "En caravane allons à la cabane". For a spring and maple-syrup unit.
16.La guignolée
Begging song for New Year's Day
Tied to the New Year collection rounds, where people go house to house singing and asking for donations, a practice of Quebec intangible heritage. For December, or alongside a school food drive.
17.Dans le temps du jour de l'An
Holiday season song
New Year visits, the rigodon and a crowded house: more an atmosphere than a story. A simple way to introduce Quebec's New Year customs after the holidays.
18.C'est l'aviron
Voyageur song
One of the most recognizable paddling songs of the voyageurs: the canoe, the shared effort and the pulse of the oar. Students paddle in time on the refrain; printable songsheet, for a unit on voyageurs and the fur trade.
19.À la claire fontaine
Love song
An old French song that became one of the most deeply rooted airs in French Canada, sung as a love song, a memory song and almost as an emblem. A slow melody for pronunciation work.
20.Un Canadien errant
Patriotic lament
Written by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie in 1842, in the wake of the 1837–1838 rebellions and the exile of the Patriotes; Acadians reshaped it as "Un Acadien errant". For high school, alongside Quebec history.
How to use them in class
- Play the video once without lyrics, then a second time while students follow the printed words.
- For call-and-response songs, be the leader: students echo each line, which builds pronunciation without pressure.
- Add the actions or the game (Promenons-nous, Avoine, avoine, Mon merle): movement locks in vocabulary.
- After the song, have students retell the story, draw a scene or put the verses back in order.
- Print the lyrics from each song's Lyrics page; songsheets and coloring books are PDFs.
The old-school songs playlist ⚜️
Our old-school classroom songs, gathered in one YouTube playlist you can project in class.