Sing the song. Play the game.

Discuss “timbre” of voices in conjunction with this song. Ask, "How can you tell who is singing the solo?" Explain that everyone’s voice has a little different sound. This is called the timbre of their voice. Just as everyone’s voice has a different timbre, instruments have different timbres. Listen as your teacher plays hidden instruments, and try to identify the instrument by its timbre.

“Doggie, Doggie” is a guessing game. Choose a student to be the "doggie." Have the students sit in rows behind the doggie, who faces the front and hides their eyes. Place a bone (i.e. a rawhide bone) behind the doggie. Choose one of the students in the circle to sneak up and steal the bone. The doggie sings, “Who has my bone?” The thief sings, “I have your bone.” All the students then hide their hands behind their backs and the doggie guesses who has the bone.

If you teach solfa notes, use this song to read la, so, and mi. If you don't teach solfa to your students, have the students show with arm motions how the notes go higher and lower.

Note: The note name challenge is also available in the song if you are teaching note names instead of solfege.

Teach by rote. “On Top of Spaghetti” is a fun song for your students. It is included in Musicplay to give the students experience in 3/4 meter. Before labelling 3/4 time, do the movement activity with the students (the information can be found in the song activities under the song "On Top of Spaghetti").

Depending on the reading abilities of your students, teach the song by rote or have the students read the solfa and the rhythms. Have students show with arm motions how the notes go higher and lower. Have them do the solfa using hand-signs.

This is a traditional skipping game. At the end of the chant, shout the words, “Salt, vinegar, mustard, pepper!” Pepper means to skip singles as fast as you can, as many times as you can. If you can play the skipping game. You can play any skipping song as a clapping song.

Practice simple patterns first: Clap own hands, clap both partner’s hands, clap own hands, clap both partner's hands. When your class is proficient, try more difficult patterns: Clap own hands, clap right hands with partner, own hands, clap left hands with partner

You can play this as a guessing game. Put the names of things that could be bought at a store on the chalkboard (e.g., bread, potatoes, ketchup, whipping cream). The teacher or one of the students claps the rhythm of one of the objects and the class has to guess which one was clapped.

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Use the manipulatives given or create your own to sort the song rhythm.

Cut out the squares and mix them up.
Then sort the notes to re-create the song rhythm.

Choose 2 instruments and decide how you want to play your song sort.

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Do a Rhythm Sort for "Bluebells".

Creating Suggestions: Choose 2 or 4 of the foods from the game and use them to create a word rhythm.
Example - mangoes, broccoli, cereal, milk

Decide how to play your word rhythm. You could use body percussion (snap, clap, pat, stomp), found sounds or instruments. Try it out. Do you like it? Try it another way! Discuss how you might use your word rhythm in a performance.

Teach by rote. Sing the verses that are given.

This song provides an excellent opportunity to assess solo singing. Teach the song by rote. Sing the verses that are given. Teach the students the meaning of the word solo.

Have the students make a circle. Choose one student to be the turkey. The "turkey" struts around the outside of the circle while all the students sing the song. At the end of the song, the "turkey" tags a student who chases and tries to tag the "turkey" before the "turkey" reaches the inside of the circle. Both the "turkey" and the "chaser" sit in the middle of the circle until all the students have had a turn. Sing the song as a call-response, with the "turkey" singing solos.

Sing "The Music Time Is Over".