Easy to Play Fun Turkey Scarf Movement Game

Today I’m going to be sharing a fun turkey scarf movement game that you can use with any turkey song. You know,

I’m going to use the song Five Fat Turkeys to play this game, but it works well even if you don’t have a turkey song and you just want to play the game with any music.

So I did a full music activity on this song. And you can check out this video as well as the resource

to learn about using instruments and playing games with the instruments.

EASY TO PLAY FUN TURKEY SCARF MOVEMENT GAME

So the first thing that I’m going to do is teach the students the words to the song.

And since we’re doing scarves, I’m just going to have them start with playing the beat while we sing the song.

TURKEY SONG “FIVE FAT TURKEYS” MUSIC

APPLE MUSIC

LYRICS TO THE SONG

FIVE FAT TURKEYS ARE WE

WE SLEPT ALL NIGHT IN A TREE

WHEN THE COOK CAME AROUND

WE COULDN’T BE FOUND SO

THAT’S WHY WE’RE HERE YOU SEE

And I add a little gobble, gobble, gobble gobble gobble to the end of it.

PREK-KINDERGARTEN ACTIVITY

if you’re teaching this song to really young children, like, even under the age of five,

now would be a good time to sit in a circle, give them a scarf and have them be little turkeys like you. Just play the music.

They don’t really need to know the words specifically for the song, because you’re going to use music to tell them what they’re going to do. They’ll be stopping and starting to a cue like the sound of a drum.

So to use this game with this song, we’re going to make a big circle.

And then I’m going to choose five students, the five turkeys to be in the middle. And they’re each going to have a scarf, and they’re going to be dancing around with their scarf while everyone else sings the song. Or, you play the music.

So they’re going to sing the song all the way up to the part where we couldn’t be found.

And that’s where you want to pause the music.

And then everybody in the middle, the little turkeys are going to run out of the circle

and find someone to hide behind and crouch down really low with their scarf.

Then you’re going to play the music. So that’s why we’re here, you see.

And they’re going to jump up and wave their scarf.

And then they’re going to hand their scarf to the person they hid behind. And that person gets to go be a turkey.

It’s a pretty simple game, but the students really like it because they get to be a character, an animal in the middle of the circle. They also get to hide.

So it’s kind of like peekaboo or hide and seek game.

And then they get to jump up and they get to choose someone.

The kids who are in the circle, you can have them either sitting or standing.

It’s not going to matter.

PLAYING WITH DIFFERENT MUSIC

If you choose to play the game with different music or songs, just choose a number of turkeys and just tell them when the music stops, the turkeys have to go hide behind someone.

And you can call everyone in the circle a tree. So everyone standing are trees. And then when the music stops, you can have all the turkeys hide and they can hide behind one of the other students.

SECOND AND THIRD GRADE ADAPTATION

If you are working with children who are in second and third grade, you can even have a farmer person

who walks into the middle of the circle.

When you stop the music. They walk into the center and then all the turkeys know it’s time to run away.

So like I said, it’s really adaptable.

And I’ve played it a lot. And the kids really, really enjoy this. It is a great game to play

on that week of Thanksgiving break.

PLAYING WITH INSTRUMENTS

If you have played the song on instruments like I taught in the other lesson, or you’ve purchased the resource, here’s a way to play the game with instruments.

We are going to have the instruments be in the middle.

So we’ll have the shakers, which are the steady beat, and we’ll have the rhythm sticks playing the rhythm of the word.

And in the resource there’s more musical parts. But for this video I’ll just show you how to do it with those instruments.

So we have a group of students who are going to play instruments. We have another group that’s making the circle. Where do the turkeys go?

The turkeys are going to be on the outside of the circle.

The students with instruments in the middle.

We’re going to have the turkeys around the outside of the circle, and then you have the trees that are in your circle.

So if we use the song Five Fat Turkeys, are we?

And we get to the part when the cook came around. So instead of using a recording,

the teacher or leader can just use a signal like play a drum or triangle and the instruments stop playing.

Turkeys have to scramble around the outside of the circle.

And what I do is I play play the drum with fingertips, and when I stop playing, that means you have to find a tree to hide behind.

Three, two, one and they have to hide behind a tree.

And then we join back in -1-2-3 ready. So that’s why we’re here you see and the turkeys jump up or out.

They give their scarf to the person in front of them.

The instrument students stand up. They leave there instruments on the floor, and they go choose someone to play their instrument in the middle.

HOW TO PLAY THE ACTIVITY LESSON STEPS

I have found that when we start playing a new song that we’re going to turn into an ensemble.

I like to have a game that incorporates the singing, the moving and the playing of the instruments together.

A scarf movement or game is an easy way to achieve this goal.

LESSON 1

So we’re going to sing the song week one, sing the song and learn the actions.

LESSON 2

Maybe play the beat and rhythm the next time we’re going to play parts separately.

LESSON 3

Have three groups, one singing, one playing rhythm, one playing beat, and just work on the three parts.

LESSON 4

And then week three and four, we’re going to be ready to play the scarf movement game.

I love to do these kinds of activities in the music classroom.

I’ve found engagement is high and skill levels really rise.

Playing a game that uses all of the activities together, gives the students an amazing culminating music and movement experience.

I hope you’ll use this turkey scarf movement game in your classes.

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