Last winter, I wrote a series of blog posts sharing some of my favorite singing games for Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade. I had planned to continue to writing about my favorite games for upper elementary, but life got in the way. A year later, I’m following up those posts with three of my favorite singing games for third grade!
Your Darlin’
I first learned this song from Lynnel Jenkins while we were master’s students at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. It’s one of those songs that kids love to sing!
Directions:
- Students stand in a circle formation holding hands.
- One student stands on the outside of the circle.
- As the A section of the song is sung, the student skips around the outside of the circle.
- On the final “Squirrel,” the student taps one child on the shoulder.
- During the B section of the song, the students give chase one time around the circle.
Content:
- Major tonality (resting tone: Do)
- Duple meter (beat divides in 2 – regardless of time signature – it’s how you feel it)
- Major Tonic Pattern embedded in song (Sol-Mi-Do)
- Diatonic Pattern embedded in song (Mi-Re-Do)
- Musical contrast – chant is in duple against song in triple
- Tonic-Dominant chord function
- Quarter, eighth, and sixteenth note combinations
YourDarlin’
Paper, Scissors, and the Cloth (Jen-dow, Shi-to, Bu)
This is another classroom favorite of my students! I learned this Taiwanese game from Dr. Rachel Chen as a master’s student at Temple University.
Directions:
- Group students in pairs. If you have an odd number of students, one student sits out round one, then enters round 2.
- Students face one another at the start of the song.
- Students bow to one another when it’s sung in the song.
- Students tap right fist on the left palm to the beat for the remainder of the song.
- On the word “you,” students make paper, scissors, rock with fist.
- The loser of the game stands behind the winner, and they find another team to play.
- The goal is to play until there is one winner and all the students are standing behind them.
Content:
- Major tonality (resting tone: Do)
- Duple meter (beat divides in 2 – regardless of time signature – it’s how you feel it)
- Major fourth pattern (Sol-Do)
- Tonic, Subdominant, & Dominant chord function
- Quarter, eighth, and half note combinations
Paper, Scissors, and the Cloth (translated)
Our Old Sow
This is a song I learned from my friend, Melissa Stouffer. This is one of the games I used to replace Chicken on a Fencepost and my kids LOVE it!
Directions:
- Choose one student to be the farmer, and one to be sow.
- The rest of the student stand in rows (4 rows of 5, 5 rows of 5) holding hands
- Students in the rows create a maze of walls for the sow and farmer to move within
- As the song begins, the farmer chases the sow through the maze. The farmer and sow may not cut under hands.
- The first time we play, we sing the song all the way through before turning 90 degrees right and changing the walls.
- To really challenge every one, turn 90 degrees right/left after each phrase, making the maze even harder for the chase!
Content:
- Major tonality (resting tone: Do)
- Duple meter (beat divides in 2 – regardless of time signature – it’s how you feel it)
- Major fourth pattern (Do-Sol)
- Tonic & Dominant chord function
- Quarter, eighth, and sixteenth note combinations
Our Old Sow
There are so many fabulous games to play with your students to get them singing, moving, and learning content! These are just a few that my students love and enjoy!
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