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Carnival of the Animals
Music by Camille Saint-Saëns
Performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra 
Sample This Album
Carnival of the Animals
Includes activity booklet
Includes activity booklet PDF
"Elephants are useful friends, They come with handles at both ends..."​
About Carnival of the Animals

The Story: American poet Ogden Nash was invited to write a series of humorous animal poems to go with Saint-Saëns' musical composition. ​

Lions roar, elephants dance, roosters whistle, and fossils clatter in this brilliant, new child-friendly recording of Carnival of the Animals. (Many people know this music from Disney's movie ​Fantasia 2000.) Conductor Stephen Simon with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Young Concert Artists' winners, pianists Donna Kwong and Wendy Chen give this recording a wonderful, youthful interpretation.

The Extras: The activity booklet includes a biography on Camille Saint-Saëns and sheet music and lyrics for the "Au Clair de la Lune" sing-along. The booklet also contains the complete Ogden Nash versus illustrated by Anne Wildsorf so that you can follow along with the music.

After listening, download the free ​Carnival of the Animals curriculum guide with unit studies in math, science, history, and more! Use them with the music to create your own Carnival of the Animals activities & homeschool lessons and print out these Au Clair de la Lune sheet music duets for students. 

Recommended for ages 3+ and families

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Listening Guide

In the Royal March of the Lion, the strings and pianos create a stately march, and the pianos do a low roll, evoking the sounds of a lion roaring