Carol Sing Along Sheet: Free Printable Card Set for Year 2

Carol Sing Along Sheet is a free printable card set for Year 2 (ages 6 to 7), in Key Stage 1. Large print words to sing together. It comes from the Mini Minds Hub, a growing library of free printables from Jaques of London, the British games and toy company that has been making games for families since 1795.

It is two A4 pages. Page 1 is the activity for children. Page 2 is for the grown-up: it has notes on how to use the sheet, help for children who find it hard, and a stretch idea. Print it at home or in the classroom. Black and white printing works well.

What is on the sheet

This card set includes cards to cut out and use.

A look at what children will meet:

• Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
• Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.
• We wish you a merry Christmas,
• We wish you a merry Christmas
• and a happy new year.

Who this is for

Year 2 (ages 6 to 7) in Key Stage 1.

Key Stage 1 covers Years 1 and 2, ages 5 to 7. Children are building secure foundations in reading, writing and number, and short playful practice at home helps those foundations stick. Use it at home, in class, on a rainy afternoon or at a family gathering.

What children practise

• Reading aloud
• Rhythm
• Singing

Reading familiar words aloud and keeping time while singing together.

Learning focus and curriculum link

Subject: Music. Key stage: Key Stage 1. It supports the subject at this level through short, focused practice.

This sheet is a practice and play activity. It supports classroom learning and is not a replacement for it.

How to use it

1. Print both pages. Page 1 is for the child. Keep page 2 for the grown-up.
2. Groups or a whole class, about 10 minutes. Cut the cards out and put them on a table. Children sing the song and point to the line as it comes.
3. Work through the activity together the first time. Talk about each choice.
4. Check against the notes on page 2.
5. Come back to it another day. Repeating a familiar activity builds confidence.

If it feels too hard

Sing the line first, then ask the child to copy it. Clap one clap for each word before you sing it.

To stretch confident children

Mix up the cards and ask children to put the lines of one song back in order from memory, then sing it through.

Make it a game

Hold up one card at a time. Children sing that line in a loud voice, a quiet voice or a whisper, as you choose.

Tips for parents and teachers

• Print on plain A4 paper. Black and white printing works too.
• Work through it together the first time, then let children try alone.
• Praise effort and thinking, not only correct answers.

A screen-free music activity for Year 2

Children spend a lot of time on screens. This is a screen-free music activity that needs only paper and a pencil. It works as quiet time after school, a rainy day activity, a holiday boredom buster or a calm moment before bed. Screen-free learning gives eyes a rest and gets children talking, thinking and writing by hand.

Free music resources for teachers

Teachers can use this card set as a starter, a plenary, an early finisher task, a supply teacher resource, a homework task or a table activity. It needs no preparation beyond printing. The learning focus and skills are listed above so you can match it to your planning, and page 2 gives support and stretch ideas for mixed ability groups.

Music ideas for parents at home

You do not need to be a teacher to use this. Read the sheet through, sit with your child for the first go and let them lead. Short bursts of ten to fifteen minutes work better than long sessions. If you are looking for free music worksheets for Year 2, or simple home learning for the weekend or school holidays, this is a good place to start.

Home education and tutoring

Home educators and tutors can print this as part of a wider music plan. It pairs well with books, outdoor play and everyday talk. Because the sheet is free and printable, you can use it again for brothers and sisters or for revision a few weeks later.

Why it helps children learn

Hands-on, paper based activities slow learning down in a good way. Children read carefully, think before they answer and see their own progress on the page. Games and challenges add a reason to keep going. That mix of play and practice is why printable activities like this are popular with parents, teachers and home educators.

Why singing carols together matters

Carols are songs that whole rooms can sing. A sing along sheet puts the words in front of a child, so they can follow along with a finger and join in with the rest of the room.

The sheet has large print lines from two songs: "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". They are cut out as cards. A child can sing a line, point to it, and put it back in order.

We have kept this page to what we could check. We did not find a source we could open for the history of either song on the sheet, so we say nothing about when or where they began. The section on carol history below uses one carol service we do have a source for.

What the research says about singing

We looked for research on young children singing from a printed lyric sheet. We did not find a study of that exact activity that we could open and check, so we have not made up any figures. What we can say comes from the Ofsted music research review on gov.uk.

• Singing is a way in. The Ofsted review says young children can encounter the joy of music through singing and playing in the early years.
• Group singing and pitch. It says that in the early years, pupils may be gaining a simple understanding of pitch in terms of high or low. It calls this knowledge a crucial by-product of group singing.
• Singing before notation. The review says pupils should be familiar with music and musical activities, such as singing, before they are introduced to reading music notation. The sheet shows words, not notes, so it fits that order.
• Practice makes music. The review says that learning music is good for becoming more musical, and that singing in a choir supports becoming a good choral singer.

The Ofsted review is about music education in general. It does not test a lyric sheet, and it does not say that singing carols improves reading. We do not claim that either.

What Year 2 children are expected to learn

The national curriculum for England sets out a Key Stage 1 programme of study for music. It says pupils should be taught to:

• "use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes"
• "play tuned and untuned instruments musically"
• "listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music"
• "experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the interrelated dimensions of music"

The curriculum aims for music say that pupils should "understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the interrelated dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations". Our own plain-English gloss: dynamics means how loud or quiet the music is. The sheet's game of singing a line in a loud voice, a quiet voice or a whisper is, in our own view, a simple way to meet that idea.

Singing from a sheet also involves reading. In English, the Year 2 reading programme includes "continuing to build up a repertoire of poems learnt by heart, appreciating these and reciting some, with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear". That is about poems, not songs. But it shows that saying familiar words aloud with feeling is part of the Year 2 plan.

A carol with a known history

King's College, Cambridge, publishes a history of its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. It says the festival was first held at King's on Christmas Eve 1918, planned by Eric Milner-White, who had just been appointed Dean. It says a revision of the Order of Service was made in 1919, and from that date the service has always begun with the hymn "Once in royal David's city".

King's also says the original service was adapted from an Order drawn up by E.W. Benson for use at Truro in 1880, and that almost immediately other churches adapted the service for their own use. It says the service was first broadcast in 1928, and has been broadcast every year since, apart from 1930.

That gives a child one real date to hold on to: carol services like this are over a century old. The sheet's songs are lighter, and we have not traced their dates. This history is here for interest. Our own suggestion: ask your child why they think people sing the same songs year after year.

Why a sing along sheet can help

We want to be straight about this. We did not find a study of a carol lyric sheet, or of a cut-out lyric card game, that we could open and quote. So we will not give you a number.

What we can offer is how the parts fit the sources. The Ofsted review says singing in the early years is one way into music. It says pupils in the early years may be gaining a simple understanding of pitch, high or low, and that this knowledge is a crucial by-product of group singing. The curriculum says pupils use their voices expressively. The sheet asks for singing together, in a loud, quiet or whispered voice. That fits the curriculum wording, though it is not proof of any gain.

The reading side is our own point. A child who points to each line while singing is looking at words as they hear them. We have not found a study that shows this builds reading skill, so we leave it as a suggestion.

The sheet is an activity. It is not a lesson, and it does not replace one.

How to get the most out of Carol Sing Along Sheet

1. Cut out the cards. Print, cut and put them on a table. The sheet suggests children sing the song and point to each line as it comes.
2. Sing the line first. The sheet suggests you sing a line first and ask your child to copy it.
3. Clap the words. The sheet suggests one clap for each word before you sing. Our own suggestion: do it slowly, so your child can feel the beat.
4. Change the volume. Hold up one card. Sing it loud, quiet or in a whisper, as you choose. The curriculum lists dynamics as one of the dimensions of music.
5. Change the speed. Our own suggestion: sing the same line fast, then slow. The curriculum lists tempo too.
6. Mix up the cards. The sheet suggests putting the lines of one song back in order from memory, then singing it through.
7. Keep it short. The sheet suggests about 10 minutes for a group. Our own advice: stop while everyone is still happy.

Common mistakes, and what to say

• Singing too fast to follow the words. Our own advice: slow down, so a child has time to point along.
• Losing the place. Our suggestion: ask your child to put a finger under each line. Our own suggestion: you point first, then they take over.
• Shouting rather than singing. The curriculum asks pupils to use their voices expressively. Our own suggestion: ask for a loud sing, and a whisper sing, then show the difference.
• Feeling shy. Our own advice: sing with them, not at them.
• Getting the order of lines wrong. That is exactly what the card game is for. Our suggestion: say "What do you think comes next?" Then sing to check.

Why teachers matter to us

We are a games company, and we have been making games for families since 1795. We do not think a printable replaces a teacher. A 2011 interim report for the Sutton Trust looked at how much teachers affect pupil achievement. It found that in one year with a very effective maths teacher, pupils gain 40% more learning than with a poorly performing maths teacher. That finding is about maths teachers. We do not apply it to music. We mention it because it shows how much teaching quality can matter.

The same report found that for poor pupils the difference between a good teacher and a bad teacher is a whole year's learning, and that gender, race, teaching experience, university attended, advanced degrees, teacher certification and tenure together explain less than 8% of teacher quality. A University of Bristol working paper (CMPO 09/212) found considerable variability in teacher effectiveness, using a UK dataset that linked over 7000 pupils to their teachers. Leading a room of six and seven year olds in song takes skill. We are grateful to the teachers who do it.

A caution on the Sutton Trust figures: the report draws on US studies as well as English ones. The 40% compares a very effective teacher (at the 84th percentile) with a poorly performing one (at the 16th percentile). The figure that paper credentials explain less than 8% of teacher quality comes from US research. We use them as pointers, not as a promise about any one child.

Why education matters to us

We want every child to feel that their voice belongs in the room. Jaques of London has made games and toys for families for generations. The Mini Minds Hub is our way of carrying that on: free, screen-free, and simple enough for a parent at a kitchen table to use next to a teacher in a classroom.

Carol Sing Along Sheet: 20 questions and answers

1. Which songs are on the sheet?

"Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". The lines are printed in large type as cards to cut out.

2. Can we add other carols to the cards?

Our own suggestion: yes. Write the lines of any song your child knows in large print, one line per card, and play the same games.

3. Where do these two songs come from?

We have not found a source we could open for either, so we leave the history out rather than guess.

4. What is a carol?

Our own short answer: a song sung at Christmas. We did not cite a dictionary for this, so treat it as a plain description.

5. Where did the Nine Lessons and Carols service begin?

King's College, Cambridge says its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols was first held on Christmas Eve 1918. It says the order was adapted from one used at Truro on Christmas Eve 1880. We cannot say which carol service is the oldest.

6. Which hymn starts that service?

King's says that since the 1919 revision, the service has always begun with "Once in royal David's city".

7. What does "dynamics" mean?

Our own plain meaning: how loud or quiet music is. The national curriculum lists dynamics among the interrelated dimensions of music, alongside pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, texture and structure.

8. What does "tempo" mean?

Our own plain meaning: the speed of the music. Tempo is also on the curriculum's list of dimensions.

9. What does "pitch" mean?

Our own plain meaning: how high or low a sound is. The Ofsted review says that in the early years pupils may gain a simple understanding of pitch in terms of high or low through group singing.

10. Why clap one clap per word?

Our own suggestion: it helps your child feel the beat and see how many words are in the line. It is the sheet's idea for children who find the song hard.

11. What if my child cannot read all the words yet?

The sheet says to sing the line first, then ask your child to copy it. Our own advice: point to each word as you sing.

12. Does singing help with reading?

We have not found a study that says so, and we do not claim it. The sheet pairs words with song, and we offer that as practice, not proof.

13. What does the Year 2 curriculum say about singing?

The Key Stage 1 music curriculum says pupils should be taught to use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes.

14. Do children need to learn music notation now?

The Ofsted review says pupils should be familiar with musical activities such as singing before they are introduced to reading music notation.

15. How do we play the order game?

Mix up the cards of one song. Ask your child to put the lines back in order from memory. Then sing it through to check.

16. How do we play the volume game?

Hold up one card at a time. The group sings that line in a loud voice, a quiet voice or a whisper, as you choose. Our own tip: let your child be the one who chooses.

17. How many children can join in?

The sheet suggests groups or a whole class, about 10 minutes. Our own advice: at home it works for two people just as well.

18. We have no musical instrument. Is that fine?

Yes. The sheet needs only voices. The curriculum also lists playing tuned and untuned instruments, and our own suggestion is to shake a jar of rice for a simple shaker.

19. Does singing look different in the classroom and at home?

The Ofsted review says many primary schools enhance core provision with singing assemblies. At home, the sheet works the same way, with fewer voices.

20. What else could we sing?

Our own suggestion: ask your child to choose a song they already know. The Year 2 reading list also includes learning poems by heart and reciting some with appropriate intonation.

Sources

1. Department for Education, National curriculum in England: music programmes of study: gov.uk.
2. Department for Education, National curriculum in England: English programmes of study: gov.uk.
3. Ofsted, Research review series: music (2021): gov.uk.
4. King's College, Cambridge, A History of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols: kings.cam.ac.uk.
5. Sutton Trust, Improving the impact of teachers on pupil achievement in the UK, interim findings (2011): dera.ioe.ac.uk.
6. Slater, Davies and Burgess, University of Bristol CMPO Working Paper 09/212 (2009): bristol.ac.uk.

Frequently asked questions

What age is Carol Sing Along Sheet for?

It is written for Year 2 (ages 6 to 7), in Key Stage 1.

What will children practise?

Reading familiar words aloud and keeping time while singing together.

How do I use it?

Groups or a whole class, about 10 minutes. Cut the cards out and put them on a table. Children sing the song and point to the line as it comes.

What if it feels too hard?

Sing the line first, then ask the child to copy it. Clap one clap for each word before you sing it.

Is it free?

Yes. It is free to print for home and classroom use.

Is Carol Sing Along Sheet suitable for teachers to use in class?

Yes. Teachers can use it as a starter, plenary, early finisher task, homework or table activity. It needs no preparation beyond printing.

Is this a screen-free activity?

Yes. It is a screen-free printable that needs only paper and a pencil, so it works well for quiet time, rainy days and school holidays.

Can I use it for home education?

Yes. Home educators and tutors can use it on its own or as part of a wider plan. It is free to print again for brothers, sisters or revision.

How long does it take?

Most children finish page 1 in 10 to 20 minutes. The notes on page 2 suggest ways to make it shorter or longer.

Do I need to print in colour?

No. It prints well in black and white on plain A4 paper.

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