Terrible Two's

At preschool I teach music to 2, 3, 4, and 5-year-olds. Today was one of my 2-year-old class days. There are three classes of 6 students going on at once, and this is the only age group where they combine classes for music. Do the math...yes. 18 2-year-olds for 1/2 an hour. It's fun, but keeping them entertained is a challenge. And sometimes the only way I can keep them on task is by letting them have a little wiggle room within my plan to do what they want to do.

For this group, I try to find songs that allow the kids to make up their own verses. Some of them are still learning how to talk, let alone sing, and this keeps their interest a lot longer. Since it's January, we've been singing "The Snow is Falling Down."

(To the tune of "The Farmer In the Dell")
The Snow Is Falling Down,
The Snow Is Falling Down,
The Snow is Falling everywhere,
The Snow Is Falling Down.

After we've sung the first verse (with snow-fingers), I very enthusiastically ask them, "Where else do we see the snow when it falls?" Inevitably, they all yell their ideas at once over and over again until I pick one out of the air and we sing that verse.

"The ROOF!"

Okay....

The Snow is on the roof,
The Snow is on the roof,
The Snow is Falling everywhere,
The Snow is on the roof.

"Where else do we see the snow when it falls?"

"The CARS!"
"The SLIDE!"
"The SWINGS!"
"On an ELEPHANT!"
"On our NOSE!"
"On our HEAD!"

So we proceeded to sing through all of these verses, each one with it's own special motion. We had to put a moratorium on the use of body parts, however, when I asked "Where else do we see the snow when it falls?" and one little girl stuck her chest proudly in the air and shouted:

"Our BOOBIES!"