Teach your phone number by setting it to song

Mark's wife applied "jingle" logic when teaching the kids their phone number -- it's easier to remember when set to a catchy tune:

My wife came up with a clever song to teacher two of our little ones our phone number.

(To the tune of 'Mary Had A Little Lamb')

Here is my phone number
Phone number
Phone number
Here is my phone number
And this is how it goes

(Then sing your phone number to the tune of the song.)

Related: Do you improvise upon lullabies? Talk amongst yourselves. (No shortage of catchy tune ideas in the comments on that post!)

Comments

[Midlife Midwife]

Our friends had a phone number that ended in a "0". They taught their kids:

***-9330, e-i-e-i-o

as in "and on this farm he had some..."

[kirsten]

my mom taught my younger siblings with the tune of 'twinkle twinkle little star' - just the numbers, repeated - it's pretty effective.

[Stu Mark]

I sing the melodies of old television shows to my kids. Currently, when I am looking for something or accomplishing a boring task (like emptying the dishwasher), I sing the theme to "Bonanza." Hey, whatever gets the kids to laugh.

[Kirsten]

Cute! I use B-I-N-G-O to teach my boys how to spell their names....

There was a Mommy who had a boy
And Eli was his name-o
*clap* *clap* E-L-I
*clap* *clap* E-L-I
*clap* *clap* E-L-I
And Eli was his name-o!

[mrspooley]

Does anyone remember the Safety Kids songbooks and tapes? I can still sing my phone number from when I was 6. Here's a link: https://www.britemusic.com/Product.aspx?ID=42
The Telephone song is on the Personal Safety volume but all three are great and fun to learn and sing!

[Kristi]

My daughter recited ours spontaneously one day, which surprised the heck out of me until I realized that she's been listening to me order take-out at least twice a week for the past year! :)

[Kelly]

My mother-in-law is a kindergarten teacher, and my husband says he learned all his important information (phone number, address, etc.) to songs. He can still recall them! I realized that ever since my daughter was born, I end up singing our tasks to some tune, often oldies songs or TV theme shows. Music implants information in our brains like nothing else!!

[SteveS]

We put ours to the classic 80s tune "Jenny" as in: Jenny, I got your number 86753Oh Niyiyne!
Substituting our real number makes it sound a little like pop tunes converted into commercial jingles, but the kids know it.
Sadly, our house number and phone number start off pretty close, so they frequently mix up the two.

Here is a question for you, when is it the right time to teach the use and abuse of 911?

[Molly]

As a kid, I used music to memorize my SSN & bank account number. I set the number 1 to a C on the piano and made songs using the notes that correspond to the numbers. The little tunes I made up still go through my head whenever I use those numbers.

[Jill in Atlanta]

Here in Atlanta we need an area code to even phone a neighbor, so kids have a 10 digit number to learn. That's a lot! Anyone have a tune I can use to teach it?

[Marita]

We have a bunch of those alphabet & number magnets and I used those to teach my oldest daughter our phone number.

We just kept practicing putting the numbers in the right order. I knew she had it the day I got 14 messages on my message bank from her calling the home phone number. :grin:

[iheartnewyork]

We did the same thing to teach our kids our phone number and, way back when, how to spell their names.

Everything seems to come easier when set to song. Remember that Cheers episode with Coach teaching Sam about Albania through a song? "Albania! Albania! You border on the Adriatic!" :)
Look, I found it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F_tT-q8EF0

[mel]

Our little ditty has worked really well because we rhyme! "If you want to call our house anytime, call xxx-x659"

[Sweet T]

i taught my nephew 10 years ago, and he still remembers the rhyme to my old number... "...-4723, that's how i call my aunt Sweet T"

[3boyDad]

@Jill In Atlanta - "Clementine" works great:

"Oh my darlin,
Oh my darlin,
Oh my darlin Clementine"

"Seven Seven Oh,
Seven Five Three,
Nine four, six one"

We're in Atlanta, too - but everyone should teach ten digits so that Mom and Dad can be found by cellphone when you're on vacation. Losing one in a busy theme park is a nightmare and having them know your cell is pure gold.

[3BoyDad]

One more thing about my previous comment: Our six year old (kindergarten) knows Home, Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpas ten digit cell numbers using song, so it's very effective. And here in atlanta those numbers are spread out over three area codes.

[Vicki]

That is crazy that this was posted now b/c just last night I came up with using the first line of Jingle Bells to teach my 3 yr old my cell phone number. We have 10 digit dialing here too and it works just right. We've been working on teaching her off and on for the last couple of weeks and got further with the song last night than we ever have.

[Jill in Atlanta]

Thanks - I can stomach "Clementine" much better year round than "Jingle Bells" so we'll start working.

And check out previous hacks about knowing/having cell numbers out in crowds at vacations. From writing on them with a sharpie to sticking it on their back, there were lots of good ideas.

[Holly]

Did anyone else live in Chicago-land during the 80s/90s? If you did, I'm sure you can fish the phone number for Empire Carpets out of your memory bands... that's what I'm using!

[Bernadette]

I taught my daughter our phone # by singing it to her as it sounds when you dial, so she would know the right tones. It helped that she had a toy phone that made the same tones on the buttons. I used "76 Trombones" to help with our address, 2176 is the house #, whenever someone asks her anything she sings it...better than not knowing.

[Shawna]

Our friends all tease us about being the "Broadway Musical Family" and, true to form, we taught our daughter our home phone number to the tune of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Jesus Christ
Superstar
Who are you
what have you sacrified.

510
555
5958
That's my phone.

We also made a version for some other family friends using the beginning of "Fugue for Tinhorns" from the beginning of Guys and Dolls.

I got the horse right here
His name is Paul Revere
And there's a guy who says if the weather's clear
Can Do, Can Do
This guy says the horse can do.

I know my phone number
you just dial 510
555-7921
Can do, Can do
Calling home is what I can do.

Now admittedly, later our kids will want to know why Andrew Lloyd Weber used our phone number song in Jesus Christ Superstar. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

[Amber]

Please add area code - read a story sometime back about a little one that was abducted and took awhile to get back as she only knew her phone # and not the area code.

[liebe]

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