Pets & Other Animals Level: Early Grades - Skills & games

Tommy Tucker's Dog

The song is easy to learn if you teach it a step at a time, First me, then you. You have to be up for a challenge to teach the movements, but it's all good fun! (Watch the video first and try the actions out yourself with a partner.)

When the children know the song reasonably well, put them into pairs and sort out who will cross their hands (this is the tricky bit) and in which direction they will turn. At this point the singing tends to deteriorate and you'll need to do a bit more work on it. Eventually it will all come together and the singing will be good as well as the movements being great fun. There is a 'progressive' version of this game in which each child turns 180 degrees to a new partner after every verse but, unless you are braver than I am, I think you will decide not to try it with this age-group!

• Bow wow woo
• Whose dog are you?
• Little Tommy Tucker's Dog
• Bow wow woo

Here's one of our early attempts!

Solo Version

You can easily do this game without the children having partners. The children all stand in a space, inside their own hula hoop. The actions are similar to the paired game so that they can transfer readily, at some point, into working with a partner:

• Bow wow woo - clap hands
• Whose dog are you? - point ahead and wag your finger
• Little Tommy Tucker's Dog - turn around
• Bow wow woo - clap hands