Whacky Pets

This light and whimsical tune is a great way to let kids have some fun with animal sounds. It's silly, but it does move along enough to keep solo pet sound performers on their toes. Expect a few "oops!" moments while rehearsing. Ditto the Boomwhackers®. Playing in 6/8 at this tempo is going to force them to focus, and that's a good thing. But it's also why at the end of the song, we suggest letting them let loose with "Boomwhacker® applause," which is just random playing, cued by you, of course. You don't have to use it, but we've found that kids really enjoy doing it. It's a peaceful, controlled release. Same goes for the animal sounds at the end.

Consider doing an artistic or imagination-based extension on this concept. Let students draw or paint the pets with pets on posters. If you do the song in a performance, display the posters. The bigger and more colorful, the better. In a classroom setting, let students dream up their own unusual pets for pets!