Sit Down, Stand Up turns singing into a rigorous workout. Teach the class the song "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean." Have students sit in the floor. When you come to a word that starts with the letter "B," students must stand. When you get to the next "B" letter, students must sit. Alternate in this way throughout the song. Sing it faster and faster and watch your students tire themselves out. Try this game for any other song that contains alliteration.
Shark Attack is a variation of musical chairs. Place a number of construction-paper circles on the floor around the room. There should be at least two fewer circles than students in the class. Appoint one student to be the shark. Have all the other students "row" around the room singing, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." When the song ends, students must find a circle to stand on. The shark can "eat" any student not standing on a circle by tagging him. He then becomes a second shark. Remove another circle and continue in this way until you have a large swarm of sharks and only one rower remaining. He becomes the first shark in the next round.
On index cards, write the first line of well-known folk songs, such as, "Yankee Doodle" or "America the Beautiful." Break the class into two teams. Read one line out loud. The first person to raise her hand must sing the second line of the song correctly. If she gets it right, her team gets a point. If she gets it wrong, someone on the other team has a chance to win the point. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Give your students a chance to be rock stars by playing their own version of the popular television show. Let your students form into groups of three to five. Have them practice singing a song and doing some kind of dance routine to it. Appoint three students as judges. Have the teams perform their songs and be graded by the judges. Let the judges offer creative criticism, as long as it is good-spirited and in good fun.