Submitted by Stacey Lynn, Michigan
Idea posted October 26, 2010
This is a variation on a little game that was played at my daughter's library story time several years ago. I knew my kindergartners would love it.
I sing a little tune that goes like this:
Lit - tle cat, lit - tle cat
la ti do do re mi
(ti ti ta ti ti ta)
Tell me where you're hi - ding at!
mi fa mi re do ti la
(ti ti ti ti ti ti ta)
Lit - tle cat, lit - tle cat
la ti do do re mi
(ti ti ta ti ti ta)
Which co - lor is your hat?
mi mi mi la ti la
(ta ti ti ti ti ta)
I have six hats made of six different colors of card stock. (Or print them on white and color them with markers or crayons.) I use the three primary colors and the three secondary colors, and I use that vocabulary to tie in with the art curriculum. The little cat is a clip art picture printed on card stock. I put stick-on magnets on the back of each hat and the little cat.
To play the game, I have the class hide their eyes while an individual student comes up to the board to hide the little cat picture behind one of the hats. The class then opens their eyes, and the "hider" chooses a "guesser" to come up to see if the little cat is hiding behind the red hat, for example. I usually improvise a little tune in minor, something like "Billy chooses the red hat . . . are you there, little cat?" I try to change the words and tune each time so the kids can hear me improvising a lot, but I keep it in minor with just four to six pitches.
We played this game on the board with the whole class. We also played it in small groups; I just reduced my board set into smaller sizes. I then gave them a one-page printout to color and take home to play. I included the words to the song and directions for play. I told them that now they can "take the music home with them."
As they sat down to color the hats, you could hear individual students singing the song to themselves! The little cat becomes so endearing to them, it seems to take on a life of its own somehow!