All Around the Buttercup
Apple Tree
Students sing and walk in a circle keeping the steady beat. Two students (the “apple tree”) hold their hands above heads, creating an arch for students to walk under. On the word "out" the apple tree quickly lowers its branches and traps an apple.
That caught student becomes a new apple tree with the teacher and the game continues - catching more apples, creating more trees, until there is only one apple left.
Bee Bee Bumblebee
Song Analysis:
Form: ABBB
Classroom Use:
Rhythm: Steady beat; rhythm; ta ta ta-di ta; ta-di ta-di ta-di ta; 2/4
Comparatives: loud/quiet; fast/slow; high/low
Game Type: Counting out
Subject: nature
Grade: Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st
Classroom Ideas:
Loud / Quiet:
Play game using a loud or quiet voice. When a student is "out" he or she goes to a hand drum and plays along either loudly or quietly.
Teacher plays hand drum either loudly or quietly. Students aurally identify and play the game as the teacher directed with the drum.
High / Low:
Pretend the bee is buzzing through the air (speak high). Pretend the bee has landed on a flower (speak low).
Lean a barred instrument upon a chair so the high end is facing up. One student may play the rhyme with high or low pitches while the rest of the class speaks.
Fast / Slow:
Point to bee icons that are close together (fast) or far apart (slow).
Frog in the Meadow
Students create a circle with one student (the frog catcher) in the middle of the circle. One student is chosen to be the frog.
The frog catcher closes their eyes. Students sing the song and walk in a circle around the frog catcher as the frog hides somewhere in the room. When the song is over and the frog is hidden, the frog catcher searches around the room for the frog. The class sings with a louder volume when the frog catcher is close to the frog and a quieter volume when the searcher is far away from the frog.