Cup games involve creating patterns that you play on cups. After the pattern is completed, you pass the cup to your right. I use cups from McDonald's - they gave me 100 of them, so when they are wrecked I just throw them away. You can use yogurt containers or purchase plastic cups at a dollar store. There are some really neat cup games that have been passed around by teens, but I find that they are too complicated for the lower elementary (and for me), so I've simplified some of the patterns for grade 3-5. In the notation that follows, q = quarter note, ee = pair of eighth notes, and r=rest.

Easiest pattern: A simple cup game pattern that you can teach grade 3 is:
Beat 1 & 2: clap clap
Beat 3 & 4: play qr q on the cup with alternating hands
Beat 5-8: clap, pick the cup up, pass to the right, rest
Easiest pattern:
q q ee q | q q q r
clap clap

  play on cup    clap pick up pass rest

Easy pattern 2:
q q q q | ee ee q q | q q q q | q q q r ||
clap clap clap clap | play on cup

  clap hit cup clap hit cup    clap pickup pass rest

Easy pattern 3:
q q q q | q q q r | q q q q | q q q r ||
clap turn palm floor | R knee L knee floor

  clap    turn back palm floor    R knee L knee pass rest

Clarifications:

• For the R knee L knee, the cup is simply being held in one hand and touched to the knees.
• When I say "floor," that means place the cup on the floor.
• "Palm" means one hand is holding the cup and touching the open end to the palm of the opposite hand.
• In my 3rd gr. listening kit, there are a few other directions like "hit" and "tap" that mean you should hit or tap the bottom of the cup.

I included these patterns in the Complete Listening Resource Kit - Level 3 for use with the following classical music listening examples. The resource kit includes a CD with a recording of them (and many other listening examples and activities).

1 - "Entry Of The Gladiators," Julius Fucik
2 - "Viennese Musical Clock," Zoltán Kodály
16 - "Favorite Rag," Scott Joplin

When you play any kind of passing game, the biggest difficulty is to get all the children passing in the same direction. I start with 25 cups in front of me and pass them out to the children in the circle one at a time. While I pass, I say "pick and pass" and keep a steady beat. This prepares the children to pass in the correct direction and it demonstrates how I want them to set the cup down to the beat of the music.

The musical purpose of teaching the cup games is to practice keeping a steady beat and to become more aware of the form of a piece.

You don't have to perform the pattern for the entire piece of music. During contrasting sections, you can play "copycat" - create and perform a body percussion beat pattern that the children copy. In the Kodály "Musical Clock," I play the cup game during the theme of the rondo, then play copycat in the B, C, and D sections. This simplifies things to a grade 3 level.

You can use pop music for cup games, but if you can find quality listening music, you're accomplishing a lot more musically.