Singing games for kids: ten classics

A singing game is a song with a game built in. The players sing, and the song tells them when to move. These ten are old games that many grandparents will know. This page explains how to play each one. The words and tunes are in any book of nursery rhymes.

The ten games at a glance

Game	Kind of game	Players	Ages
Ring Around the Rosie	Circle	3 or more	2 and up
Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush	Circle with actions	3 or more	2 and up
Looby Loo	Circle with actions	3 or more	3 and up
The Farmer in the Dell	Circle with choosing	8 or more	4 and up
London Bridge	Arch	6 or more	3 and up
Oranges and Lemons	Arch and tug of war	8 or more	5 and up
A-Tisket, A-Tasket	Chase	6 or more	4 and up
Skip to My Lou	Partner swap	7 or more	6 and up
Row, Row, Row Your Boat	Partners, and a round	2 or more	2 and up
Doggie, Doggie, Where’s Your Bone?	Guessing	5 or more	4 and up

Circle games

1. Ring Around the Rosie. The players hold hands in a ring and walk around while they sing. On the last line, everyone falls down. In Britain, the game is called Ring a Ring o’ Roses. Many people say the rhyme is about the plague. Folklorists have found no proof of that.

2. Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush. The players hold hands in a ring and skip around for the chorus. For each verse, they stop and act out a morning job: washing hands, brushing teeth, combing hair, or putting on shoes. Players can make up new verses.

3. Looby Loo. The players skip in a ring for the chorus. In each verse, they stop and follow the words: put one hand into the ring, take it out, give it a shake, and turn around. Each verse names a new part of the body. The Hokey Pokey works the same way.

4. The Farmer in the Dell. The players hold hands in a ring. One player, the farmer, stands in the middle. The ring walks around and sings. In each verse, the newest player in the middle chooses one more from the ring. The farmer chooses a wife, the wife chooses a child, and so on down to the cheese. At the end, everyone goes back to the ring except the cheese, who stands alone and becomes the next farmer.

Arch games

5. London Bridge. Two players face each other and join hands overhead to make a bridge. The others walk under it in a line and sing. On the last word of the verse, the bridge drops and catches one player. The caught player takes the place of one side of the bridge, and the game goes on.

6. Oranges and Lemons. This English game names the bells of old London churches. Two players make an arch. In secret, one of them is “oranges,” and the other is “lemons.” The others walk under the arch and sing. On the last word, the arch drops and catches a player. The caught player whispers a choice, oranges or lemons, and lines up behind that side. When everyone is caught, the two lines hold a tug of war.

A chasing game

7. A-Tisket, A-Tasket. The players sit in a ring. One player walks around the outside with a handkerchief while everyone sings. The walker drops the handkerchief behind someone. That player picks it up and chases the walker around the ring. The walker tries to reach the empty place first. The chaser becomes the next walker.

A partner game

8. Skip to My Lou. The game needs an odd number of players. Partners stand in a ring, and one extra player stands in the middle. During the song, the extra player takes someone’s partner and skips around the ring with them. The player left alone goes to the middle and takes a new partner in the next verse.

“Lou” comes from a Scottish word for love. The game belongs to the play parties of America in the 1800s. Some churches did not allow dancing to a fiddle, so young people sang the music themselves and called it a game.

A rowing game and a round

9. Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Two players sit on the floor and face each other, with legs out and hands joined. They rock forward and back in time with the song, as if rowing. Older children can sing it as a round. A second group starts the song when the first group reaches the second line. Read what is a canon and a round.

A guessing game

10. Doggie, Doggie, Where’s Your Bone? One player is the dog. The dog sits with eyes closed and back to the group, and a small object, the bone, lies behind the dog. A second player takes the bone without a sound and hides it. The group sings the question. The player with the bone sings the answer alone. The dog then has three guesses to name the singer from the voice.

Each round gives one child a short solo. Music teachers use the game to hear each child sing alone.

What the games ask of a child

• A steady beat. The players walk, skip, or rock in time with the song.
• A singing voice. Several of these tunes use only a few notes that sit close together, which suits a young voice.
• Listening for a cue. The fall, the catch, and the drop of the handkerchief all come at a set point in the song.
• Taking turns. Every game has a role that passes from child to child.

Kodály teachers teach through songs and games like these. Read the Kodály method explained for parents.

How to teach a singing game

1. Sing it first. Sing the whole song two or three times while the children listen.
2. Add the actions. Keep singing, and walk the players through the moves.
3. Start high enough. Young voices sit higher than adult voices. Start the song a little higher than feels natural to an adult.
4. Give every child a turn. Play enough rounds that each child is chosen once.
5. Stop while they still want more.

For one child at home

Three of the games work with one child and one adult. Rock through “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” on the floor. Act out the morning jobs in “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush” on the way to the bathroom sink. Sing “Looby Loo” while getting dressed, one arm and one leg at a time.

Print and play

For the hand signs that go with simple tunes, print the solfège hand signs chart and read solfège explained for parents. For songs to learn one at a time, read folk song study for homeschool. For younger children, read music and movement activities for preschoolers and toddlers. For a party, read musical party games for kids. To warm up voices, read choir warm-ups for kids.