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It’s time to teach quarter rest, and you need quarter rest songs for preparing, presenting, and practicing rest… without letting your lessons get boring. That’s a lot of folk songs, so here are 11 of my favorite quarter rest folk songs and singing games (plus one listening activity!) for teaching rest to first or second grade elementary music students (or third grade!).
Many of these are singing games, so I’ll include the instructions for singing games and other helpful information about how I teach each quarter rest folk song.
All of these lessons also include lesson packs in my TPT shop to make teaching the song and concept a breeze. Most include Google Slides to teach the song and rest, as well as activities, Orff arrangements, and worksheets. (Note: Some may have PDFs instead of slides, so read the description). Each one is a little bit different, but I’ll include links to the lesson pack for each one in case you want to make your life easier!
I’ve got twelve songs for quarter rest, so let’s go!
Need help teaching quarter rest? I share the step by step process in this blog post!
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Ickle Ockle Blue Bottle
Ickle Ockle is one of my favorites! It has a few different versions, including Bickle Bockle, but this is how I like to use it.
First, I have students pretend to swim like a fish along with the song. Then I’ll ask what other creatures live n the sea. We’ll “swim” like jellyfish, octopi, sharks, dolphins, sting rays, etc.
Then we can play the singing game:
- Students stand with a partner. One person is in the middle (I put them in a hula hoop and call if the shark tank)
- Students sing and walk WITH THEIR PARTNER around the room
- At the end, everyone must find a new partner, and whoever is left over is the in the middle.
I use this with 2-3 grade.
Quien es esa gente
The next piece is probably my second graders’ favorite of the sol mi songs, and that is Quien es esa gente.
This is a Mexican folk song that talks about how people are being too loud for you to sleep.
This didn’t come with a game, but I did make one up:
- One person comes to the front and is the “sleeper”
- Everyone walks around the room while singing the song.
- At the end, the sleeper wakes up and looks for anyone moving. If you’re moving, then you become a sleeper too!
You could also do it as a guessing game– have one person tap the sleeper and have the sleep guess who it was.
Translation:
- Who are all these people walking over here?
- They are making so much noise that I cannot sleep.
You can grab my whole lesson pack (including the game, introducing sol and mi, the lyrics, and the translation) on Teachers Pay Teachers by clicking here!
Frog in the Meadow
Click here to download the printable PDF
Frog in the Meadow is a fun sol mi singing game that gets kids up and moving– and just in time, because in the Spring the kids tend to get crazy.
This game is similar to Cut the Cake if you’ve played that one before.
Here’s how to play:
- One person is the “frog” in the middle. They close their eyes and spin around while the group sings. They also have their hand pointed out.
- At the end of the song, whoever the frog is pointing to stands up with the person next to them. The frog “cuts” them. The both run in opposite ways to around the circle.
- The frog stands in the empty space where they were with their hands out. The first person to make it all the way around the circle and tap their hands is the winner and the new frog.
Since this game is more complicated, I would say to use it with 2-3.
Here’s a video to help you see it better.
I use Frog in the Meadow to practice sol mi and/or quarter rest. This year I used it to present quarter rest!
You can use the lesson pack from my TPT shop to help with the visuals, presenting sol and mi or quarter rest, lyrics, rhythm, game directions, and more.
Beethoven’s 7th Symphony Movement 2
This is a stretch, because Beethoven’s 7th Symphony Movement 2 is not actually a folk song, but it is a fun quarter rest music lesson!
It has a really distinctive melody that repeats and includes quarter rest.
Here’s how we do it:
- Practice making statues with our bodies.
- Read the rhythma nd make a statue at the rest.
- Listen + play the rhythm, making a statue at the rest
- Listen + walk to the beat, play the rhythm, making a statue at the rest
Listening, rhythm, and movement? Sign me up!
This is always a hit, so I highly recommend this one.
Use with 2-3.
Lemonade
My students love to play Lemonade! This is a call and response song that includes a game of charades.
- Split class into two teams. Each team is on a line facing each other.
- Show one team a card with an occupation on it (included in lesson pack). Let’s say it has chef on it.
- Teams sing the song, call and response. They walk up a step each time they sing.
- At the end, the team you showed a card to acts out the card. The other team tries to guess what the occupation is. If they guess before time runs out, they get a point.
- Most points wins!
Use with 2-3 grade.
Aqua de limones
Agua de limones is a huge hit with my kiddos– and one of my favorite folk songs for rest! This one is perfect for the beginning of the year, because it involves students getting to know each other.
Singing game directions:
- Students walk around the room while they sing.
- At the end of the song, the person who is it calls out a category (Birth month, favorite color, number of siblings, etc)
- After the category is called out, students get into groups based on the category.
- If someone is left out, they are the new caller.
Note: I find it easier if I am the caller the first time.
You can purchase the lesson pack on TPT here.
Use with 2-3 grade.
Vamos a la Mar
It is a Guatemalan folk song all about going to the sea and eating fish. At first, I have the students sing and snap on the “tum tum” part. Then we learn the lyrics.
Then, I pull out our Spanish and English sea animal rhythm cards, and we compose rhythms! We do this over a few different days, so on the first day, I’ll usually pick, then they will do it in groups.
I’ve used this one with 2-5 graders.
I have a Little Dreidel
And of course, a classic among songs for holidays– Dreidel.
Dreidel is a fun game. You take turns spinning the dreidel. Whichever side it lands on tells you what to do– either take half of the gelt (money– we use fake ones) out of the middle, put one in the middle, take the whole pot, or nothing happens. If the pot is ever empty, everyone puts in one piece.
I got a huge bag of wooden dreidels off of Amazon, which you can grab here.
We play along with paper gelt that I included in my lesson pack for Dreidel. I also have rhythm gelt, which I like to use while we are learning about every time a student puts a piece in or takes it out, they have to read the rhythm.
Bow Wow Wow
Everyone loves a song about a dog. This is a simple folk song that includes a rest at the end of each phrase. It’s fun, your kids will love it.
I like to add a guessing game to it– although it’s non-authentic:
- Get a dog stuffed animal. Hide him under a container (hand drums work well!)
- Get 2 matching containers.
- Sing the song and move the containers all around.
- At the end, students raise their hand and guess where the doggy is. If they are right, they get to try it next!
After we learn this one, on a second day, I have students get into pairs and add the rhythms to the song. I use the printables out of the lesson pack for thise to make it easy– it comes with boards with the words and the correct rhythms for each group.
I use this with K-2.
Little Silver Moon
Little Silver Moon is a fun Chinese folk song. I like to add scarves to this one. We talk about how the moon goes across the sky, and we figure out which way is west, and move our scarves from east to west on each line. This also helps students to learn about phrasing.
When I’m going really crazy, we’ll also dive a bit into the science behind the moon– watching videos, reading books, or even having students draw the difference phases of the moon.
It’s a great way to include some STEAM into your music lessons.
Use for 1-3.
Acka backa
And finally, Acka Backa, the hand clapping game.
To play this singing game for rest:
- Students sit in a circle with their hands out. Their right hand is on top of the person to their right, left hand underneath the4 perso n to their left.
- As you sing, students pass the beat around the circle by moving ther right hand across their body to tap the hand to their left.
- Whoever it lands on is out!
Although i use this is class with 2-3 grade, But I’ve also used it with kids as old as 5th. What can I say? They request it!
Alright, there are 11 songs for quarter rest to get you going. Hopefully there’s at least one that you haven’t thought about yet!
If you need help teaching quarter rest, here’s my how to guide!
You can get all of those lessons in bundle to make everything super simple here.
Happy teaching!
Becca
