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When it’s time to teach quarter rest, I need folk songs– and lots of them! Bow Wow Wow is a folk song that I use every year to teach quarter rest. It’s simple, it’s fun, and it has a game… or two. So let’s sing and dance along with Bow Wow Wow, the song your first and second grade music students will love!
You don’t need much for this lesson, but if you want to make it super easy, you can get the lesson pack from my store. It includes slides, printables, manipulatives, and more!
Bow Wow Wow Folk Song
When you teach it, you will need to explain the line “whose dog art thou”, because most students won’t know the word thou. Just because there’s a word that they won’t know doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t teach the song, though! We are teachers, and students need to be exposed to words they haven’t heard before to grow their vocabulary.
Bow Wow Wow singing game:
To play Bow Wow Wow, students stand in a circle, facing a partner.
Students perform the following motions during the song:
- Bow wow wow = stomp 3 times
- Whose dog art thou? = wag finger at partner
- Little Tommy tuckers dog = hold partners hands and swap places
- Bow wow wow = stomp 3 times
- On the last rest, students turn to face their new partner
- Optional: They can add a “whoo!” when they turn.
The game continues until you’ve made it all the way around the circle to the partner you started with.
Pro tip: I always start with having students do the actions together before getting into a circle.
Another singing game:
Now, somehow I used this song for YEARS, yet had no idea there was a game for it. (Music teacher fail). So, I invented my own game for Bow Wow Wow. Now that I know the original singing game, I actually use both!
This Bow Wow Wow singing game is perfect for a calmer game, being in the teachers’ classrooms, or a quiet music lesson.
You’ll need one stuffed dog (or a picture or an object to pretend it’s a dog) and 3 identical containers (hand drum work perfectly!)
- Put the dog below one container
- While the class sings, move the containers around
- At the end, students raise their hands to guess where the dog is
- Whoever is the first person to guess correctly goes next!
This one is simple, but it is so much fun that the kids will be entertained for a long time.
I always have the students raise their hands, and the student with the buckets gets to pick someone who is sitting quietly to choose next.
Extensions for Bow Wow Wow:
So you taught the folk song, maybe even played the game… now what?
Let’s talk about what to do with that song to keep your students engaged AND learning music.
Put the rhythms in order
With this song, I like to use a rhythm sorting activity from my TPT lesson pack (which includes a presentation and some printable to help you teach!). Students get into pairs. Each pair gets papers with the lyrics and rhythms. They have to put the rhythms onto the papers in the correct order.
You could upgrade this to having students write the rhythms, which is a good way to differentiate the activity for students who need more difficult music lessons.
Doggie Doggie Where’s Your Bone?
Need another song? I like to pair this song with Doggie Doggie Where’s Your Bone?
To play Doggie Doggie:
- One student is the doggie. They close their eyes and sit in the middle of the circle or the front of the classroom.
- While the students sing the beginning part of the song, teacher drops a “bone” into one students’ hands.
- The doggie sings the third line, and the person who got the bone sings the last line.
- The doggie tries to guess who has the bone.
This is really fun once they get the hang of it, and start using silly voices.
Frog in the Meadow
Need another quarter rest song? Frog in the Meadow is always a hit in my classroom!
Here’s how to play:
- Students stand in a circle
- The “frog” is in the middle of the circle
- The frog closes their eyes and spin around, pointing out.
- The student stops when the song stops.
- Wherever the frog is point, they walk over to that point in the circle. The frog taps the two closest students on the shoulder.
- The two students walk in OPPOSITE directions around the circle. The first person to high five the frog is the winner, and new frog.
There’s some ideas for teaching the singing game Bow Wow Wow in your first grade music lessons!
Don’t forget to grab the lesson pack, which includes visuals and printable to help you teach this lesson.
Click here to purchase on TPT!
Happy teaching!
Becca
