Don't Eat A Poinsettia

by Teresa Jennings

Your kids are going to have a blast with this one. If the four-on-the-floor Latin dance groove doesn't hook them in, the humor of the song surely will. It's incredibly easy to sing, so you can include all of your students if you want. In fact, the toughest part is the call and response, which isn't tough at all. And even then, you don't have to use it. Just sing on through with everyone.

Natural props/setting for this would include at least one poinsettia plant prominently positioned. Multiple plants would be more showy plus kids can point at them and include some basic universal gestures, like shaking heads and wagging index fingers in warning. Or rubbing tummies to pantomime distress. You could even select one or more characters to pretend they're tempted so the others can chide them. But don't let anyone actually put one in their mouth! The song is true! Eating poinsettias will indeed make you sick. Which makes this cross curricular, too, by the way. Bet they'll remember this lesson!

Text is taken from Music K-8 magazine.