New
New
Year 1
Call and response singing games
I can create and sing a musical response as part of a call and response singing game.
New
New
Year 1
Call and response singing games
I can create and sing a musical response as part of a call and response singing game.
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- We warm up before singing so that our bodies, minds and voices are ready to sing.
- We can use our voices and movements to chant and sing both echo and call and response songs and chants together.
- We can create musical responses as part of play in a singing game.
Keywords
Echo - an exact copy of a musical phrase
Call and response - a question and answer musical structure
Common misconception
Echo and call and response are the same thing.
An echo is an exact match of a phrase. A call and response is a question and answer structure in which the response can be different from the call.
Puppets or other props can be really helpful when singing call and response songs. The children know that whoever has the puppet or prop sings the call and then the rest of the class sing the response.
Teacher tip
Equipment
Optional: puppet, prop for dog bone, lemonade cup prop
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on
Open Government Licence version 3.0
except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).Lesson video
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Starter quiz
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4 Questions
Q1.
What is an echo?
a question and answer structure where the call is different to the response
when we all sing together
Q2.
Is Charlie Over the Ocean an echo or call and response song?
Q3.
Match the part of the song to the explanation.
The part the leader sings, which is quite often a question.
The part everybody else sings, which is quite often an answer.
Q4.
It is really important to warm up before singing because we need to keep our voices...
Exit quiz
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4 Questions
Q1.
How can we show the leader that we are listening carefully?
We sometimes look at them and to try to know when to join in.
We don't look at them and sing when they are singing.
Q2.
Which one of these is not an echo song?
Doctor Knickerbocker
Yoo Hoo
Charlie Over the Ocean
Q3.
Doggie, Doggie is a call and response song. Can you match the phrase to the correct part of the song?
call
response
call
response
Q4.
How do we know Doggie, Doggie is a call and response song?
because you echo every line
because we all sing the same thing at the same time