Names have power.
They build relationships with people and students, and calling someone by their name makes them more likely to trust you.
But we know, as music teachers, that we see a LOT of kids and need to know hundreds of names. At the most, I saw around 700 per week, and this wasn’t even the most I’ve heard of from other people (by far).
This is where name games for music classes come into play. I went through my resources and picked these 10 lessons to talk about today.
- Hickety Tickety Bumblebee
- Jump In, Jump Out
- The Name Game
- Shabooya Roll Call
- Listen, Listen, Here I Come
- Johnny Whoops! Chant
- Willoughby Wallaby Woo
- Who Stole The Cookie From The Cookie Jar?
- Bounce High, Bounce Low
- Charlie Over The Ocean
Let’s get into the details below!
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Table of Contents
Hickety Tickety Bumblebee
This one is perfect for younger grades. I’ll often use this song with Kindergarten or Preschool.
I’ve done it with first grade, but it loses its charm for them a little bit.
Lyrics:
Hickety tickety bumblebee
Will you say your name for me?
Student: My name is Karen.
Class and Teacher: Nice to meet you Karen.
Activity:
For this song, there’s isn’t a real “activity.” I usually just either hold a big drum or pass around a non-pitched percussion instrument for the kids to play when it’s their turn.
Pro-tip: To save time, instead of doing one whole repetition of the song for each student, get 4-6 to sing their name before singing the song again.
Jump In, Jump Out
This is a chant I learned from my host teacher back during my student teaching. His name was Paul Rose, and he’s now retired from Mount Pleasant Public Schools.
I love this one for older students. Usually, I save it for fourth and fifth grades, but there’s no reason it won’t work for second or third as well.
Lyrics:
Jump in, jump out, turn yourself around
I said jump in, jump out, introduce yourself!
Student: My name is _______
Class: Uh huh!
Student: I like to ______
Class: Uh huh!
Student: I’m gonna do it.
Class: Uh huh!
Student: For the rest of my life!
Class: For the rest of their life!
Activity:
All you do is pretty much follow the words. The class starts by standing in a circle.
On “jump in, jump out,” every jumps one spot in and one spot out.
On “turn yourself around,” you do one spin. Then jump again.
Give every student the chance to say the their name and the thing they like (favorite food, activity, book, show, sport, etc.).
If someone doesn’t want to share, that’s fine with me. I just ask they share their name (so I can practice).
The Name Game
Ah, yes. The classic name game!
This is a simple replacement chant. You take someone’s name and swap out their initial consonant sound.
I’ll admit; I didn’t know there were “rules” to the Name Game. I just kind of made it up based on what I remembered as a kid from my grandma teaching it to me.
She is a retired Kindergarten teacher, so she always had a ton of great songs for kids.
Use this video to help you get the gist of it.
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Shabooya Roll Call
If you’re a fan of The Office, we should be friends.
Wait a second…that’s not what I meant to say. But we should be!
If you’re a fan of The Office, you likely heard this chant when the employees were on the bus in one episode.
It’s a real chant, and it’s a real name game!
In reality, it’s very similar to the Jump In, Jump Out chant.
But it’s also different enough that your kids may not complain about reusing it.
This is definitely for older elementary or early middle school.
If they realize it’s from The Office too, even better! You’re building connections with things they know.
Listen, Listen, Here I Come
This song is a simple one, but my younger students loved it a lot!
Lyrics:
Listen, listen, here I come.
Someone special gets the drum*.
*Or other instrument.
Activity:
Pick a fun instrument. Sing the song and walk around the room.
Pick a student and offer the instrument to them.
They then get to play the instrument, and as they do, they say their name.
Johnny Whoops! Chant
Here’s another good name game from my grandma.
I was watching her play with my kids (her great-grandkids), and she did a variation on this finger play with their names.
So simple, yet genius!
Perfect for preschool and toddlers.
Lyics:
Johnny, johnny, johnny, johnny, WHOOPS!, johnny
WHOOPS!, johnny, johnny, johnny, johnny
Activity:
Take your hand (or have the kids do their own) and tap each finger of one hand starting with the pinky or little finger.
For every finger, you say “Johnny,” or the student’s name.
Between the pointer finger or index finger and the thumb, you slide your tapping finger down and say “WHOOPS!” in a louder, high-pitched voice.
Replace the name Johnny with the child’s name.
Willoughby Wallaby Woo
This is a go-to second and third grade name game for me.
In theory, it’s pretty simple, but the rhyming and forethought it takes to plan out the second half of the chant is more advanced than some first graders can do.
Lyrics:
Willoughby wallaby woo,
An elephant sat on you!
Willoughby wallaby wack*,
An elephant sat on Zach*.
*Change to match the next person’s name.
Activity:
The setup doesn’t matter for this one. Students keep the beat however you prefer.
Then, one person starts the chant. They change the end to match the next person in line OR they pick someone else in the room (who hasn’t gone).
Repeat until everyone is done!
Who Stole The Cookie From The Cookie Jar?
I LOVE this name game chant. It’s one of my favorites to do now because, for some reason, I had the hardest time in the world teaching for the first couple of years.
This is a chant, and the bigger you play up the drama and accusation in your voice, the more fun it is for the students.
Lyrics:
Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?
Jimmy stole the cookies from the cookie jar.
Jimmy: Who me?
Class: Yes you!
Jimmy: Couldn’t be!
Class: Then who?
Jimmy: Daysia stole the cookies from the cookie jar!
Bounce High, Bounce Low
Sometimes simple songs are the way to go!
I like this one as a name game a little later in the year for the younger grades because it doesn’t just have the kids say their own name.
They need to know each others’ names too!
Lyrics:
Bounce high, bounce low
Bounce the ball to Shilo*.
*This is where you change the name.
Activity:
Bounce a ball on the word, “bounce.”
The person with the ball sings the person’s name they’ll pass it to.
Repeat until all have had a turn!
Charlie Over The Ocean
I always love echo songs and chase games.
Charlie Over The Ocean is one such favorite of mine!
Lyrics:
Remember, this is an echo song.
Charlie over the ocean.
Charlier over the sea.
Charlie caught a big fish.
You can’t catch me!
Activity:
Everyone is sitting in a circle. One person walks around the outside of the circle.
The walking person (or the teacher at first) is the first person to sing and the class echoes.
Change the name to match the IT person.
On “you can’t catch me,” the IT person tags someone and races around the outside of the circle (Duck-Duck-Goose style).
Save time with these 60 FREE Music Resources to use in your room right away!
Stop searching the whole internet to find good activities. I’ll help you cut to the chase with my favorite 60 FREE resources.
