Singing games are a GREAT tool for music classrooms. They are a great way to help students feel comfortable, sing without the teacher singing, and create an environment where students need to learn to work together. These six singing games are ones that are student favorites year after year and will help you with material that students cover each year.
Kindergarten: Grizzly Bear
Rhythm Set: ta rest, ti-ti, ta
Tone Set: t,drmfs
Concepts Covered: loud/quiet for K, ta rest for 1st grade
How to Play:
Game Formation: Circle with one student in the center.
Students walk in a circle (this is the cave) with a bear sleeping in the middle. They tiptoe around the sleeping bear as they sing quietly and get louder at the end. At the end of the song the bear pops and up and points. Whoever the bear points to is out (or the new bear).
Variation: Students hold hands as they walk. There is a bear catcher walking on the outside of the cave. At the end of the the song the bear gets up and the catcher must chase the bear. The bear exits the cave through a window (unknown to the bear and the catcher) and must run around the cave and back in before they are caught.
Notes:
This is a GREAT game to bring back in 1st grade for ta rest.
I love this one for a few reasons. It’s so engaging for the students. It’s got a genuine feel. There’s a very similar song from Sweden called “BJORNEN SOVER”. This makes me think we know where Grizzly Bear as we know it came from.
1st Grade: Apple Tree
Rhythm Set: ti-ti, ta
Tone Set: dmsl
Concepts Covered: ta ti-ti in 1st, do in 2nd grade
How to Play:
Students stand in a circle and hold hands.
Two students create an arch (the “tree”) with one student inside the circle, and the other on the outside. Students sing the song and walk under the arch. On the word “out” the students making the arch bring their arms down and trap a student. That student becomes part of the tree until all the students become part of the tree.
For an extra twist, as the tree becomes larger, I have the students zig zag in and out of the students forming the arches.
Notes:
This is a great song that can be used from k-2. If you introduce in kindergarten for tiptoe/walk, it can be done without introducing
Resource: TpT | Website
Blog post with Apple Tree and other apple themed things.
2nd Grade: Button You Must Wander
Rhythm Set: ta rest, ti-ti, ta
Tone Set: drmsl
Concepts Covered:
How to Play:
Game Formation: Circle.
The object is to pass a button around the circle undetected by the play er int he center. On the beat, the players reach to the right and then pass to the left hand of the person on their right. The movement continues throughout the song, while the player in the center watches. At the end of the game, the center player guesses which person has the button. They have three guesses. The person with the button becomes the new “it’.
Notes:
If you need some ideas on teaching passing games, check out this post.
I really like starting passing games with a few repetitions of “pick up and pass, pick up and pass” to get students started before we start the actual song.
3rd Grade: Round and Round
Rhythm Set: ti-tika, ti-ti, ta
Tone Set: drmsl
Concepts Covered: re, ti-tika
How to Play:
All hold hands in a circle with one child in the center. The students begin walking in the circle while singing. On “Down Miss….” (or change to Down Sir/Kid…)”, the child in the center taps a student on the head. They must crouch down and continue walking that way until the entire circle is crouching.
Notes: This game is always funny when students realize that they have stay down the whole time. Inevitably, the child in the center will pick their friends first condeming them to crouch down longer.
4th Grade: Al Citron
Rhythm Set: tam ti, ti rest, ti-ti, ta
Tone Set: s,drm
Concepts Covered: tam ti, low sol
How to Play:
Game Formation: players sit in a circle on their knees. Each player has a pencil or stick. In time to the singing each player bangs the object down on the floor in front of the player to his right, and on alternate beats picks up the object that has been banged down in front of him. (tron, un, dan, san, ré). On the words “triki, tiki tron” each player taps three beats in a row on floor to his right, to his left and then bangs the object down to his right. The object of the game is to eliminate those who break the rhythm or make mistakes. Play until most are eliminated, speeding up at will toward the end. You can play without the elimination and just try to see how long you can keep going by repeating the song. Time classes to see who will hold the record.
Notes: This game is good with rhythm sticks. Pencils can work in a pinch, but they are harder to use when the game speeds up.
Resource: TpT | Website
5th Grade: Who Stole My Chickens
Rhythm Set: tim-ka, ka, tam-ka, ta-a rest, rest (or 3 beat rest), ta
Tone Set: drmfsl
Concepts Covered: tim-ka I isolate phrases 1,2,4 and use line 3 for a challenge.
How to Play:
Game Formation: Double Circle
Level 1 Facing Partner: On the beat: Knees, clap, right, clap, left, clap, both, clap
Level 2: Extend left elbow and cup partner’s left elbow with right hand, clap, reverse, clap
Level 3: Hold out cupped left hand and pick “grain” with right hand from partner’s left hand. Raise hand to “eat” the grain, reverse.
Once, the patterns have been learned, Players must move right when the teacher calls “Gee” and left when the teacher calls “Haw”. And of course you can play with the tempo. 🙂
Notes: I had no clue but Gee and Haw are actual calls that people use with livestock. I had NO clue about that until l did a PD for the music teachers of Pflugerville who had to teach that to me.
Resource: TpT | Website
I hope this gives you a lot of ideas and hope your students love these games!
