Four voices is one of the staples of Kindergarten. Here are some fun activities to teach four voices!

Why Teach 4 voices?

The 4 voices (5 if you count inner hearing!) is a common Kindergarten learning concept. But why? There are a few reasons:

  • Kids DO know what talk, sing, shout, and whisper are but they can’t always identify the correct places to use them, or when it is not appropriate to use them.
  • Vocal play helps students become more comfortable with using their voices in your classroom!
  • Spending time working on student voices helps them develop their singing voices.

Three Bears Chant

While this one doesn’t have singing involved, I like this as an icebreaker/silly maker. Younger students can be apprehensive about trying out some new things and this one is a great way to break down a few walls. It’s a familiar story with a little fun to it. The good part here is to do each part as a different voice. When you are using mama bear and baby bear voices you can help students access their head voice. There are a few variations of this around the internet and I can’t remember where I found it but I’ve been using it since my second year teaching!

Use egg shakers to keep a beat for the entire song. Teacher says one line, students echo. Swing the text as you say it.

Once upon a time in a nursery rhyme,
There were three bears
One was the papa bear
and one was the mama bear
And one was the wee bear

One day they were walkin’
in the big woods a talkin’
When along, along, along came the girl
with the long Golden hair
She knocked on the door,
But no one was there,
no no one was there

She walked right in,
and had herself a ball
And when she got tired,
she went down the hall

Home came those three bears
“Someone’s been eating my porridge”, said the papa bear
“Someone’s been eating my porridge”, said the mama bear
“Hey, bob-a ree bear”, said the little wee bear
(Stop egg shakers) “Someone has all my porridge!”

Egg shakers “Someone’s been sitting in my chair”, said the papa bear
“Someone’s been sitting in my chair”, said the mama bear
“Hey, bob-a ree bear”, said the little wee bear
(Stop egg shakers) “Someone broke my chair!”

Egg shakers “Someone’s been sleeping in my bed”, said the papa bear
“Someone’s been sleeping in my bed”, said the mama bear
“Hey, bob-a ree bear”, said the little wee bear
(Stop egg shakers) “Someone’s in my bed!”

Egg shakers
Just then, Goldilocks woke up,
And broke the story up
And ran out of there
“Good bye bye, bye” said the papa bear
“Good bye bye, bye” said the mama bear
“Hey, bob-a ree bear”, said the little wee bear
And the story goes,
of the three little bears!

Five Little Muffins

This is another one that doesn’t have singing but is a great way to practice speaking, whisper and shouting voice. For this one, I keep a steady beat with egg shakers the entire time while students echo me on short phrases that I say with a very syncopated rhythm.

speak
Five little muffins in the muffin shop
whisper
You know the kind with honey and the nuts on top
speak
Along came a child with a penny to pay
And bought one muffin and ran away
And there was/were…

…no little muffins in the muffin shop
whisper
You know the kind with honey and the nuts on top
speak
Along came a child with a penny to pay
And said shout WHAT?! No muffins!?”

Vocal Explorations

What better way to get students to find their head voice than lots of fun sounds. Sirens, roller coasters, slide whistles and more. If you are looking for some fun vocal explorations, check out this post.

17-Ways-to-Do-to-Vocal-Explorations-2

Peanut Butter & Jelly

This fun chant is a great way to get more vocal play in with different voices. Mostly alternating between speaking and singing voice, but if you wanted to add in a few more fun ones you could! There are lots of variations.

2. Grapes…pick ‘em
   Squish ‘em

3. Bread…spread it
   Eat it

This then pairs REALLY well with the book Peanut Butter and Jelly: A Play Rhyme illustrated by Nadine Bernard Wescott. You can get the book here.

or you can get this fun set!

This fun Peanut Butter & Jelly set is perfect for teaching four voices. Follow along the song with big bubble letters for the repeated phrases. 
– Peanut Peanut Butter and Jelly
– Dig ’em 
– Squish ’em
– Pick ’em
– Squish ’em 
– Spread it
– Eat it

Includes 4 voice emoji posters and a vocal exploration that follows the sequence of the song!

Good King Leopold

Let me say this first. King Leopold was NOT a nice dude. However, this is a composed song with a traceable origin so I find no reason that changing the words here is problematic. I like to start with Good Queen Stouffer. I always change the royalty’s name to the student who is acting as King or Queen so it never stayed on Leopold very long.

Directions: One student – the King or Queen – sits or stands in the middle of the room.  The rest of the students – the townspeople – stand one side of the room and sing: “Good King/Queen name, may we cross your kingdom The king/queen responds, “You must ask again, this time your …. voice. (singing, speaking, whisper, shouting). Then the townspeople cross the room, then a new king or queen is chosen. I like having the students pick from some cards with other silly voices on them (like robot, witch, mouse, etc) to help them work with things like head voice.

While the music for this one is available around the internet, it is actually from this book so I won’t share it here for copyright reasons.

Puppets

I am a puppet lover. Some of you aren’t and that’s cool too. BUT….having a few is a good idea.

Most kids love stuffies/puppets/cuddly characters. Making your little props talk is a great way to deflect the attention from the student and put it directly on the animal or character. Lots of students WILL do things for puppets that they will NOT do for you! I’ve even given my puppets to my middle school choir to let them have some fun exploring different voices. Of course doing it in a way that is age appropriate made it a hoot and they loved the experience. One student even made a stinger for my bee puppet! Point of the story: Kids will definitely do things for puppets they won’t do for you.

Free Download!

Enter your information here to get a free printable download of The Three Bears, Peanut Butter Jelly, and Five Little Muffins as well as some fun add on cards for Good King Leopold.

I hope this gives you some ideas!

Melissa Stouffer-1

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