Singing games for kids, in the circle and on the phone.

What a singing game is

A singing game is a song with a game inside it: the children walk in a circle, duck under an arch, pass a stone on the beat, clap in pairs, hide something or guess who sang. The song holds the group together, and the game is the reason to sing it again. Played over and over, children pick up the beat, the tune and the courage to sing a line alone, because everyone is watching the game, not the voice. That is why the Kodály and Orff ways of teaching primary music lean on them, and why children take them out into the playground without a grown-up.

Nineteen traditional singing games for the classroom, by age

All nineteen are traditional and free to sing. Lucy Locket and Bounce High use only three notes, the sol, mi and la of the playground call “nyah nyah, nyah-nyah nyah”, which is why Kodály teachers start reading notes with them. Going to the Market, which you may have seen on YouTube, is a new chasing and counting game by the teacher Donna Rhodenizer (grades 2–3), not a traditional one; her video teaches it. Ages are a guide: a game for five-year-olds still works at nine if it is played faster.

Singing games for preschool and toddlers (ages 2 to 5)

Ring a Ring o’ Roses (Ring Around the Rosie)

Hold hands in a circle, walk round while you sing, and everyone sits down on “we all fall down”. The British second verse gets them up again: “Cows are in the meadow, eating buttercups, a-tishoo, a-tishoo, we all jump up.” With two-year-olds, put a grown-up between every few children and it stays a circle. The story that the song is about the plague came up in the 20th century; folklorists don’t accept it.

Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush

Walk round singing “Here we go round the mulberry bush, so early in the morning”, then stop and act out a verse: “This is the way we wash our hands”, brush our teeth, put on our shoes. The children choose the next verse; a group of three-year-olds will find ten. It works as the song that starts the day.

Johnny Works with One Hammer

Sitting on the floor, one fist taps a knee on the beat: “Johnny works with one hammer, one hammer, one hammer, Johnny works with one hammer, then he works with two.” Then both fists, a foot, both feet, the head nodding, and after five hammers “then he goes to sleep”. Counting, the beat and a quiet ending in one song. Sing the child’s name instead of Johnny.

Singing games for kindergarten and first grade (ages 4 to 7)

In and Out the Dusty Bluebells

The circle holds hands high to make arches. One child weaves in and out under them while everyone sings “In and out the dusty bluebells, who will be my partner?” On “Tippy tappy, tippy tappy on my shoulder” they stop behind someone and tap both shoulders. That child leads now, the first one holds on behind, and the chain grows until the whole circle is in it. In the American version the circle sings “Bluebird, bluebird, through my window” while the bluebird weaves through the arches, then “Take a little partner and tap them on the shoulder”: the tapped child becomes the next bluebird, or joins on behind. With preschoolers, put a grown-up between every few children so the arches stay up.

Apple Tree

Two children face each other and hold hands high: they are the tree. The others walk under in a line, singing “Apple tree, apple tree, will your apple fall on me?” At the end of the song the arms come down, gently, round whoever is under them. That apple doesn’t leave the game: they join the tree, which grows round by round until everyone is part of it. With five-year-olds, a grown-up can be the first half of the tree.

London Bridge Is Falling Down

Two children hold hands high as the bridge; the others walk under in a line. On “my fair lady” the arms come down, gently, round whoever is inside. The caught child doesn’t leave: they join the bridge, which grows with every verse until the last child walks through a tunnel made of the whole group.

The Farmer in the Dell (The Farmer’s in His Den)

The farmer stands in the middle of the circle and chooses someone to join, who chooses the next, verse by verse, down to the cheese. “The farmer takes a friend” works as well as a wife. The old ending, “the cheese stands alone”, leaves one child alone in the middle: add a last verse in which everyone joins the cheese. The British version ends “we all pat the dog”; agree beforehand that a pat is one finger.

Punchinella

One child in the middle makes a movement while the circle sings “What can you do, Punchinella?”, and everyone copies it on “We can do it too”. Then that child chooses the next. There are no wrong moves, and a shy child can pick a tiny one: a blink counts.

Hickety Tickety Bumble Bee

The circle sings “Hickety tickety bumble bee, can you sing your name to me?” One child sings their name back, on any notes, and the circle sings it back to them the same way. Then the next child. Try it like a mouse, like a sleepy bear, or whispered. It makes a gentle first solo, because a name can’t be sung wrong, and in the first week of school everyone learns the names.

Doggie, Doggie, Where’s Your Bone?

The doggie sits at the front with their back to the class and a “bone” behind them: a block, a beanbag. You point to a child, who takes it quietly and hides it in their lap. Everyone sings “Doggie, doggie, where’s your bone? Somebody stole it from your home.” The doggie sings “Who has my bone?”, and the child with the bone sings back alone, in any voice they like, “I have your bone.” Three guesses from the voice, then they swap. Everyone stays seated.

Singing games for elementary school (ages 5 to 8)

Charlie Over the Ocean

An echo song. The circle sits; Charlie walks round the outside and sings each line, and the circle sings it straight back: “Charlie over the ocean, Charlie over the sea, Charlie caught a blackbird, can’t catch me.” On the last line Charlie taps someone, who chases them once round the circle. If Charlie reaches the empty place first, the chaser becomes Charlie; if not, Charlie goes round once more. Each Charlie sings alone, but only one line at a time, with the whole circle answering. Indoors, make the chase a fast walk.

Lucy Locket

One child turns to the wall and covers their eyes, or steps into the book corner, while a small purse or any object is hidden. When they turn round, the class sings “Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Kitty Fisher found it; not a penny was there in it, only ribbon round it” again and again, louder as the seeker gets close, softer as they walk away. Hot and cold, in song. Louder means fuller, never shouting.

Bounce High, Bounce Low

Standing in a circle with one soft ball: “Bounce high, bounce low, bounce the ball to Shiloh.” Sing a child’s name instead of Shiloh, and on the name the ball bounces across to them; they sing the next round and choose the next name. With younger children, bounce the ball once on every beat while everyone sings, and the beat becomes something they can see.

Little Johnny Brown

An African American circle game, written down from Bessie Jones in Step It Down (Jones and Bess Lomax Hawes, 1972). The circle sings “Little Johnny Brown, lay your comfort down” while one child spreads a cloth or scarf in the middle. Verse by verse they fold its corners in, then show a motion that the whole circle copies, and hand the folded cloth to the next Johnny Brown. Every child who gets the cloth invents a motion; nobody is chosen against.

Singing games for upper elementary (ages 6 to 10)

Button, You Must Wander

The children sit in a circle with their hands held together like a shell; one child in the middle closes their eyes. While everyone sings “Button, you must wander, wander, wander, button, you must wander everywhere”, a button travels secretly from hand to hand, and every child pretends to pass it. At the end the middle child has three guesses. Older children pass it behind their backs.

Oranges and Lemons

The song of the London church bells. Two children make an arch and agree in secret who is the orange and who the lemon. The line walks under while everyone sings, and on “here comes a chopper to chop off your head” the arms come down. The caught child whispers “orange” or “lemon” and stands behind that side. By the last round there are two teams and nobody has left the game. If the chopper is too much for your group, stop on “here comes a candle to light you to bed”.

Obwisana

A stone-passing song in Akan, from Ghana: “Obwisana sa, nana, obwisana sa.” A child has hurt a hand on a stone and calls to grandma (nana), which is why the stone goes round so carefully. Everyone sits in a circle with a stone, a beanbag or a plastic cup in front of them. On one beat each child taps it on the floor; on the next they set it down in front of the neighbour on the right. Slowly at first. The game works when the whole circle keeps the beat and nobody ends up with three stones; then try it faster, or the other way round.

Sansa Kroma

An Akan song from Ghana about Sansa the hawk, an orphan who snatches chicks. The children sit in a circle with one stone each in front of them. The pattern: tap, tap, pass to the right, rest. Easier, for a first go: pass only on the first beat of each bar. A stone that piles up in front of someone is a reason to slow down, never to put a child out.

Four White Horses

A clapping game in fours from the Caribbean (teachers’ sources name Trinidad and Tobago or the Virgin Islands): “Four white horses on the river, hey, hey, hey, up tomorrow; up tomorrow is a rainy day.” Two pairs stand in a square: one pair claps a high five while the other claps a low five, everyone claps their own hands, then the pairs swap high and low. The pattern is hard enough for ten-year-olds, and older children who would rather not sing do sing, because everyone is watching the hands. Miss Mary Mack, clapped in pairs, is the easier start at six or seven.

Singing games that don’t need running

A small room, fixed risers, a class that gets wild after recess: these eight are played sitting down. Johnny Works with One Hammer, Hickety Tickety Bumble Bee, Doggie Doggie, Lucy Locket, Little Johnny Brown, Button You Must Wander, Obwisana and Sansa Kroma. For a chasing game in a tight space, have the children walk on their heels: still a race, at half the speed.

How to teach a singing game

1. Sing the song first, several times, before anyone moves. Children join in once they have it; there is no need to teach it line by line.
2. Add the game a step at a time: first the circle and the walking, then the arch, the tap or the chase.
3. Play three to five rounds and stop while they still want more. A game played until everyone has had a turn drags. Note who has had one (names on craft sticks, or lolly sticks, moved from one cup to another) and start with the others next time.
4. Let a child lead as soon as one can, and step back. The game has worked when they play it without you.
5. Change the words when it helps: names, animals, the topic of the week. Singing games have always changed as children passed them on; there is no one right version.

Nobody is out

Many old singing games end with someone caught, left alone or out, and that child then spends the rest of the game watching. The fixes are small: the caught child joins the bridge or the chain, the cheese gets company, the chaser who catches nobody simply leads the next round. A child who would rather not sing alone may speak the line, clap it or pass it on. Nobody is compared with anybody.

Where to pitch the song

Children’s voices sit higher than a grown-up’s speaking voice, so a song started where you talk is too low for them. Most children up to about seven sing comfortably between the D and the A above middle C; by nine or ten many reach the C or D above that. For the three-note songs, put sol on the G or A above middle C (mi lands on E or F♯), not where you speak. Keep it easy: never the highest or the longest note, and stop when a voice sounds tight. A child who sings back lower, or on another note, is not unmusical; matching a note is a skill that grows through the elementary (primary) years. Sing the note practises it one note at a time, and What note am I singing? tells a child which note they just sang.

Singing games online, on the phone

The five games at the top of this page are free online singing games for kids that run in the phone’s browser. They sit well next to the circle games. Echo singing is Charlie Over the Ocean with Mika as the leader. Sing the note is the echo for one note: Mika plays it on a glockenspiel, the child sings it back. Its Class mode gives each child one try, and four children’s notes become the class’s melody. Voice Rocket is the siren glide that warms voices up before a game. Boomwhacker colours turns a tune a child hums into colours the class plays on the tubes. One child sings close to the phone at a time; the others sing along first.

More for the same lesson: Music games for primary school, Kindergarten music games, Rhythm games for kids and Music games without instruments.

Looking for karaoke or video games?

“Singing games” also means karaoke games for a console or a PC, which score your pitch against the song, and My Singing Monsters, a game for phones, PCs and consoles in which cartoon monsters do the singing. This page is about the other kind: the games children sing with each other, and five small ones on the phone that score nobody.