Circle Time Songs and Games for a Group
29 rhymes with full lyrics
These 29 rhymes are chosen for a group of children sitting or standing in a ring. Some say hello, some get the whole circle moving, some pass a turn or a secret from child to child, some settle who goes first, and a few count or wind down. Each page has the full words, what they mean and how the actions or the game go. About a third of them are also on Preschool Songs; the rest are circle games and ring songs that page does not cover.
A teacher can build a circle time in five parts. Open with a greeting such as Good Morning to You, where a 1911 teachers' manual shows each child bowing to a friend before everyone sings, or How Do You Do, Neighbour?. Then get everyone moving with Looby Loo or Right Elbow In, in which a different body part goes in and out of the ring each verse. Next comes a game that gives each child a turn: in Did You Ever See a Lassie one child stands in the middle and invents a movement for the others to copy, and in Hold Fast My Gold Ring the group guesses who is holding the ring.
To choose a leader, use a counting-out rhyme such as Intery, Mintery: stand in a circle and point round the ring one word per child. Round off with counting, for example One, Two, Buckle My Shoe or This Old Man, and wind down with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Ho for Slumberland, where sleepy children climb into boats and sing the chorus softly.
The shortest games, such as All the Soldiers in the Town, which its page calls the shortest ring game there is, suit the youngest children. Most of the counting-out and guessing games are marked for about three or four years and up. Come back to the same few rhymes through the week, so the children can start to lead them.