The Classic Shell Game

One chorister calls it the pom pom game. It sounds perfect for what i need tomorrow. Quick, effective, easy prep, yet engaging....here's what I'll do:

I have 3 plastic cups and an object to go under one cup. I'll bring a different object to go with each song i want to sing. This way, they not only have to guess what cup the object is under but then they have to decide what song that object represents.

-place the object under the cup and be sure to show which cup you put it under.

-make a big show about mixing up the cups. (The kids will try to follow the right cup)

-call on a reverent child to choose which cup has the object. If they're right, they get to guess what song it represents. If they guess the wrong cup, show what cup the object is under again, mix the cups and call on someone else.

-I plan on singing songs from the past 2-3 years just to get a break from learning a new song.

-I will also probably use a "wild" object occasionally and when they guess the cup it's under, they get to choose the song we sing.

After a crazy week-this seems like just the thing i need!

*update: yesterday, we played this game and it was LOTS of fun! It always amazes me how the kids LOVE the simple things i do. I can work all week on a poster or game and they still seem to love the simple things more. Good to know.... :)

Anyway, i ended up using cotton balls under the cups, not a diff. object for each song. (i was going for simple remember?) :) It worked great, they watched intently while i shuffled the cups and afterwards, they all nearly exploded out of their seats to tell me where the cotton ball was. (both junior and senior guessed it without problems except for once or twice)

-In senior, i let the kids take turns mixing up the cups and calling on someone to guess where the cotton ball was. At one point i gave them a cotton ball to put under 2 cups and they had to guess which cup didn't have the cotton and another time, which 2 cups did have the cotton under them.

-Also, i have big die that i got at the $1 store, I ended up using it to determine what song we'd sing. I called on someone to guess where the cotton ball was, if they were right, they rolled the die and whatever they rolled corresponded with a numbered list of songs i had. If they guessed wrong, we mixed the cups again and another child got to choose. Also, if they rolled a number for a song that we'd already sung, then we did a wiggle song like "give said the little stream" (a senior primary favorite) If you are using this activity to practice program songs, then you could sing the same song no matter how many times they rolled a certain number.

They seemed to really enjoy it and the lesson of the day is, simple is best! :)