Where is it?/¿Dónde está? A singing, listening, and seeking game.

Valentine’s day is approaching, and like many educators, I like to take advantage of the excitement my students feel about some celebrations and holidays, which allows me to practice essential musical skills, tailored to also acknowledge the occasion, in a fun and engaging way.

In the past, I used to reinforce singing and listening using contrasting dynamics such as piano and forte by playing a game of hide and seek with my students. For this game of listening, singing, and seeking, I used the song “Lucy Locket.” After learning about the obscure past and the adult theme content of this song, thanks to the Song with a Questionable Past document compiled by Lauren McDougle, I quickly realized that I can no longer use this song in the classroom. I strive to correct course content as I learn new information that can impact my students negatively; simply trying my best to do better.

Last year, my students asked to play the game and I explained that the history behind the song was inappropriate for our classroom and that we would not be singing the song anymore. They expressed their sadness for not being able to play the game they enjoy so much. I joined them in feeling disappointed but reminded them that the integrity of our class is more important. Integrity is one of the expectations we teach in our school as part of our AGUILA (eagle) behavior.

This year, I am very excited because I intend to bring the game back but using a different tune. I love the opportunity of creating two tunes, one in English and another one in Spanish that I can teach to my students and support our bilingual curriculum at the same time. These songs allow the students to practice singing So, La, Mi sounds and the Spanish versions also add Do and quarter and eighth notes rhythms. 

These songs are perfect for the K-3 grades. 

Instructions to play the singing game:

• Teach the song by rote to your students, introducing it phrase-by-phrase and having your students echo back each phrase. Teach the words and rhythm first, and later add the melody.

• After the students can comfortably sing the song sitting in a circle, pick an object to hide somewhere in the room. For Valentine’s Day, I had used a stuffed small heart that can be hidden easily around a room with open spaces. I have also used a large envelope with a heart inside. You could hide cards with secret messages such as Valentine’s phrases, or you could include melodic or rhythmic 4-beat patterns, instead…so many possibilities!

• While a blindfolded student sits in the middle of the circle, another student hides the object you chose somewhere in the room.

• When the object is out of plain sight, the “seeking student” looks for the object by listening for the dynamics the class uses when singing the song. If the class sings piano, it means the object is far from where they are looking. Conversely, when the class uses crescendo and forte dynamics, it means the student is getting closer to finding the location where the object was hidden. Just like the popular game hot and cold.

• The student that seeks for the object, after finding it, hides it for a new student that will later look for it, repeating the process until all students get a turn to hide and seek.

You can use this game all year round and you can make it fit any occasion by just switching the objects you use.

Where is it?/¿Dónde está?

A singing, listening, and seeking game