Ella Jenkins

Join us on The Children's Hour as we celebrate the life and legacy of Ella Jenkins, the First Lady of Children's Music. Ella introduced kids everywhere to the joy of singing, rhythm, and music from different cultures. Her songs, filled with call-and-response, clapping, and playful melodies, have been teaching and inspiring young people for decades. Find the full episode page at https://childrenshour.org/ella-jenkins Ella believed that everyone can make music. Her songs often included call-and-response, where one person sings and others echo back. She encouraged kids to find rhythms in everyday life—clapping, stomping, and even knocking on doors! Her music was also about learning. She taught kids words in Spanish, Swahili, Hebrew, and many other languages. She wanted young people to know that music connects all of us, no matter where we come from. Many people were influenced by Ella’s work, including our guests Dan and Claudia Zanes, Jason McInnis and Maria Martinez, storyteller Bill Harley, and documentarian Tim Ferrin. This episode was produced by Katie Stone with help from Sarah Gabrielli, Jackie Fulton, and Thaneal Lentz. Thanks to Tim Ferrin for clips from his documentary Sing a Song Together. Special support for this show came from Bomi Parakh and Linda Blanchard. The Children's Hour is a production of The Children's Hour Inc., a New Mexico-based nonprofit. Our show is distributed by Native Voice One: The Native American Radio Network. © 2025 The Children’s Hour Inc, All Rights Reserved.