Fun with Bunnies! - Hop into April with Bunnies, the Musical and Spring Activities

Easter Songs

Hurry Easter Bunny

• read d m s, ta and ti-ti rhythms
• This song could be non-Easter by substiting the word "Little" for Easter.
  • great reading song for Gr. 1-2 (3) with ta, titi and do mi so
  • it uses the melody of the folk song "Mouse Mousie" and is played the same way - a fun chase game.

Little Bunny

• copy rhythms
• Little bunny hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, and hide some eggs - yum, yum!
• Recently on the Musicplay teachers group in Facebook, a teacher posted a game she called right the room. In her game, she made rhythm cards that she hid around the classroom. The students had to find the rhythm cards and copy them onto their worksheet.
  • I think this would be a fun adaptation of the original game that I suggested for this song. Write rhythms on egg shaped paper. Number them. Then hide them around the room. Students would try to find all the rhythms that were hidden and then copy them onto their work sheet.
    

Bunny Hides a Basket

• drm sl song, ta and ti-ti rhythms
• dynamics
• Choose one student to hide the Easter basket and another student to look for it. The student who is going to hunt for the Easter basket leaves the room while the hider hides it. When the finder returns, the class sings the song, singing softly when the finder is far away from the basket, and singing louder as the finder gets closer to the basket. The basket must be hidden in plain sight. The game continues until everyone in the class has had a turn to hide the basket or to find it. This is an excellent opportunity to review “loud” and “quiet.” Remind the students that the musical word for loud is forte and the musical word for quiet is piano.

Easter Bunny Hops Along (K)

• create with stick rhythms or with color words.
• Original Game - This is an Easter egg hiding game. Teach the song. Choose four or five students to be “bunnies.” They hide colored plastic eggs where they can be seen (in plain sight - not under something) in the classroom while the class sings the song. At the end of the song the class opens up their eyes and hunts down the eggs. Choose four or five new students to be “bunnies” and continue the game until all students have had a turn to hide eggs.
  • Increase the musical learning in this game by writing stick rhythms on plastic eggs before the students hide them. Choose four hiders and when the eggs are found they are brought to the teacher and the class will say and clap the rhythms.  Another way that you could create rhythms is by using the colours of the eggs as word rhythms.
  • As with all compositions done as a class, invite the children to suggest new ways of arranging the rhythms. And invite the children to think of new ways to play the rhythms. They could use body percussion, instruments or found sounds.

Bunny Songs

John the Rabbit (PreK)

• call and response
• vegetable rhythms - read, create
• This is a really good call response song. I play this as a game where the children are all little bunnies and every time they sing yes ma'am they take a little jump closer to me. I'm the farmer who doesn't want the bunnies in his garden. At the end of the song I shoo the bunnies out of my garden and they go back to the starting point and we play it again. It seems ridiculously simple, but pre-K and kindergarten really like it.
  • There are many extensions that are possible after playing this singing game. One of the first extensions that I do is vegetable rhythms. The bunny is trying to eat the vegetables from the farmers garden and so I make up vegetable carts and sing more than it actually recorded. I decide how many vegetables to do based on how close the children are to me. There are vegetable rhythms in the rhythm practice section -  prepare rhythm. And there are rhythm cards in that section and with the song that you can use to have children create or class to create their own vegetable rhythms.

Chubby Little Snowman

• This is really a finger play about a snowman, but because the rabbit comes and eats his bunny nose it's fun to review when you're doing bunnies. And there is an actual video on the poem in pre-K that shows a bunny doing just that.
  

Little Rabbit Foo Foo

• create illustrated mini books or Big Class Book
• melodic direction (down...)
• dramatize
• expressive singing/speaking
• This fun finger play/action song is always a favourite with the kids. And for that reason I have it in both pre-K and in grade one music play. There are many story books that illustrate this song. Check to see what your library has in your school.
  • If you have enough time, you could have students create their own illustrated mini book of the song or you could create a class book of the song.

Letter J - Jump Jackrabbit

• reinforce early literacy
• create movement
• create new verses
• The alphabet action songs are all fun, and are easy to learn. One of the things that make some easy to learn is repetitive lyrics. In this song only one word changes with each verse change.
  • There are literacy extensions to do with all the alphabet action songs including printing practice, drawing two things that start with the letter, and highlighting the letter.
• Musically, the students will create movement as part of this song and this is a great opportunity for them to create new verses.
  

Bunny Rabbit Boogie

• create movement
• create new verses
•  I've always enjoyed the bunny rabbit Bookie song. There are easy movements, and you can always invite the children to create new versus a new movements.

I Can do the Bunny Hop Too

• create movement - brain teaser, as you add on movements each verse
• Who doesn't love to body help? In this song the A section is actions and the B section is dancing the Bunnyhop.
  • This is part of a key to musical called the best pet show ever. You'll find the musical script, piano accompaniment, and kids demos in UNITS-Programs-Best Pet Show.

Rabbits Don’t Have Tails at All

• drm s
• piggyback songs
• This song has silly words sung to the tune of Mary had a Little Lamb. I've always used this as a reading song for practising reading do re mi. And the students have always enjoyed the silly lyrics.
• There are many extensions to this song particularly for practising the solfa notes. There is a Solfa challenge and there are worksheets that students could complete if you wish.

Peter Rabbit Had a Habit

• m sl
• alternative to Lucy Locket
•  This is a new song in music play that was written as a replacement for anyone who doesn't feel comfortable teaching Lucy locket. The game is a chase game.
• This is a great reading song using me so la and just ta and ti-ti

Old Mr. Rabbit (K)

• vegetable rhythms
• Game Directions: Two students make a bridge with their arms raised. All the other students walk in a line through the bridge. On the word “cabbage” the gate comes down trapping “Mister Rabbit.” “Mister Rabbit” joins with the teacher to make a new bridge. The next student trapped joins the first “Mister Rabbit.” Continue making bridges until there are only a few students left.
  • We've written a story that incorporates the song. So if you'd rather do story than game, tell the story to the students, having them sing each time the song occurs. Have a discussion about why it’s important to eat vegetables with the students. The story also touches on the them of “sharing.” Have the students think of times when they might share something with someone else.

JOHN JACOBSON MUSICAL - BUNNIES 

The Bunny Song

The Bunny Hop

• The neighbourhood is overrun with bunnies. They are such good friends and frankly, just adorable. They are going to the Annual Bunny Hop. The only problem is they must pass through a forest full of wolves to get there. The pack of wolves are howling and hunting for tasty bunnies. But the wily bunnies charm the hungry wolves with their irresistible adorableness. The wolves couldn’t imagine eating such cute critters and seem to be quite happy with the alternative diet choices the bunnies offer them. In the end, the entire cast arrive at the Bunny Hop and everyone starts dancing and hopping, including the audience 

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