Submitted by Sandy Toms, Michigan
Idea posted March 10, 2002
Here is a game I've used year after year that is one of the most favorite games. It's a great game because the kids are so anxious to guess that they will attempt the best voice imitation they can. I sing "Where is the mitten" (s mm s), and if their answer is too low, I say, "again please, a little higher," and usually they will raise their pitches, even if they don't quite reach mine. If they speak the guess, I say "in your singing voice" and begin it for them: "Is it in the ...." (smms)
I usually read The Mitten by Jan Brett (the one with animals all trying to climb inside the mitten) with beautiful illustrations and sidebar pictures. I just got a book: The Mystery of the Lost Mitten by Steven Kellog the ending is neat - the red mitten is in the chest of the snowman as his heart.
Of course neither of these have anything to do with music but are a great stage setter for this "Find Your Singing Voice" game.
MITTEN GAME
The game board is a series of 8 cardboard flaps (5" x 7" each with a picture - see Nos. 1 through 8 below) hinged at the top ends with clear tape, 2 rows of 4 across taped onto a posterboard. You should laminate the posterboard and attach flaps with clear packing tape. (Note: make sure the flaps, including the edges of laminate, clear each other when attached to the board. Otherwise, when you are lifting one flap, another might lift as well.) After a child sings her/his guess, she/he lifts the appropriate flap to see if the mitten is 'hidden' under the flap. In between turns, the teacher hides the mitten (a mitten shape cut from an index card). This can be a problem if the kids are watching too closely, so I have them turn with their backs to me) while I hide it. It is advisable to tape a pocket for the mitten somewhere on the board for storage. We usually sing a song about a mitten before we begin the game. There will be room below the flaps for the words to any song of your choice. (You can skip the song).
The song: s=sol,l=la d'=high do, r-re, etc., I=quarter, //=2 eighths, Z=quarter rest, 4/4 meter (basically one syllable per rhythmic and melodic syllable)
("One", "There was", "I", "When I" are all pickup notes [anacrusies])
s d' s s l s m m m m
One day in the month of February,
/ / I I I / / / I / Z
s s d s l s s m r d
There was snow as far as the eye could see
I I I I / / / / / / Z
s d' s l s s m m m m
I spent all day playing out in the snow,
/ / I / / I / /-/ / / /
s s d s s l s m m r d
When I came back inside, my hands looked like so.
/ / I / / I I / / I I
s m s s m r m s s
So where did my other mitten go?
I I / / I I / I /-I
m s s m r d
Where did my mitten go?
I / / / I / Z Z
(fermata over "So"; clap on Z Z;repeat these 2 lines once.)
This is a game of echoing sol-do or sol-mi phrases. To the Teacher's
question:
l / / / /
s s s d d (or m m)
"Where is the mitten?" the students respond in kind with:
Is it : 1) in the rabbit hole 2) under the tree 3) in the bird's nest 4) under the snow 5) in the frozen pond 6) under the snowman 7) under the person 8) under the swing
The children sing the 'guess' in the same melody as the teacher's question.