Children's Games With Songs

All The Bunnies

• Sing the song to whatever tune you like. (For a link to the lyrics, check out the References section of this article.) Teach the song to the children. Once they know the lyrics, have everyone sing it together. Have all the children lie on the floor and pretend to sleep. When the song mentions bunnies playing, have the children jump to their feet. Have the children hop around the room until the song says "Stop," and on "Stop" have the children sit down on the floor.

Animal Pokey

• This is a take on the classic "Hokey Pokey" song. Only for the animal version, choose an animal you wish to sing about, such as a bunny, donkey, puppy, birdie and so forth. When you sing the lyrics, edit them to suit the animal. For example, for "Bunny Pokey," sing, "You put your ears in, you take your ears out," or "You put your tail in, you take your tail out." Or for "Birdie Pokey," try, "You put your wings in, you take your wings out," or "You put your beak in, you take your beak out." Let the children have fun pretending to be the animals you sing about.

Ring Around the Rosie Plus

• "Ring Around the Rosie" is an all-time favorite children&'s song and game. This is an extended version with an extra verse and extra fun. For classic "Ring Around the Rosie," the children hold hands and form a circle. They continue holding hands and walk clockwise in a circle until the song mentions falling down. At those words, the children drop hands and sit down. (Check out the References section for a link to the extra verse.) The children remain seated for the last verse, until the song instructs everyone to stand back up. At this point, the children jump back up and the song repeats from the beginning.

Musical Statues

• This game does not have its own song, rather, you use any pre-recorded song or musical selection you please. Explain to the children that can move any way they like to the music. When the music stops, they are to freeze in place until the music starts again. Use slow music for very young or inexperienced players, and faster music for older and more experienced players. For variety, teach the children how to do some simple dances such as the swim or the pony.