I came across Kyle Exum’s rap version of ‘3 Little Pigs,’ which is not only a song, but also a book as well. The title of this book is called ‘Trap 3 Little Pigs‘ and it comes in two versions: one that follows the exact lyrics of his rap and the other is the more ‘grammatically correct’ version without slang.
I thought this idea was really unique. Turning a classic children’s fairytale into a hip rap song. Using rap music and pairing it to educate youth is not something new. After all, Hamilton was made on the basis of this—teaching youth about American history. However, what’s unique about this is that they are using children’s fairytales and giving it a fun twist. I always love it when authors pair music with their books. This is something that is unique about my own novel that I plan to release in May as it will be accompanied by a soundtrack. Music does a great job to effectively get the message across that words alone may not do as well without.
Can you imagine a future where teachers are rapping with their kids? I think that’s awesome. Being in the education stream for many years, finding ways to make learning fun is much more effective than throwing material at the kids. Creativity goes a long way and finding mediums that youth connect to will help the message stick. If you’re up for a challenge, I challenge you to turn something educational into a song or tune and then share it with your kids. The result of this challenge would likely have your kids singing that tune for quite some time (especially if you make it catchy) and soon enough, they would have mastered that topic because they actually remember it (and applied it).
This method of teaching and learning resonates with kids more and applying this philosophy with your children can help make even something difficult fun and easy.