Going on a Picnic: Spring Call and Response Music Activity

If you ever want to capture your youngest elementary music student’s attention, all you need to do is put something new and random on the floor. Who knew that putting a plaid blanket on the floor could generate so many questions and interest! After recently attending our district training, I realized I need to spend more time playing with our voices in class. My fellow music teacher suggested Going on a Picnic! Going on a Picnic is a song by Raffi on the album The Corner Grocery Store. (However… I modified it slightly to have the beginning lines sound more like a march!) So on a picnic we went!

Picnic Prep

My at-home prep work included raiding the toy room for plastic food* and my oldest son’s room for a larger blanket. I grabbed non-picnic foods (like tacos, burritos, spaghetti, and waffles – and they were the class favorites!) OR, snag the FREE picnic food download below! Had I had a picnic basket*, I would would have brought that, too. Alas, I only had a paper bag.

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Going on the Picnic

When my students entered the room, I had our picnic blanket spread out on the floor. At the conclusion of our welcome song, I really talked up how the weather outside was beautiful – and how I was getting a little hungry. I had them stand up, form a line behind me, and we began call and response singing only the first 4 lines while marching to the steady beat. (My students are familiar with my “I Sing – You Sing” signals.) I wove them this way and that way before finally wrapping the line around the picnic blanket on the floor. I quickly had students draw a random food or eating utensil out of my bag and set it in front of them.

Instead of singing the lyrics in order, I chose the foods I brought with me at random – sometimes purposely choosing one that was still in the bag! It took a little while to get each student to independently sing “Yes, I brought the _______” back to me. “Yes, I did!” was my most common answer! I just modeled for them, paused briefly to see if they wanted to try again, and then moved to the next food! Once their food was called, we stacked it in the center. If I chose an item that we “forgot,” I had the whole class sing, “No, we don’t have _____!” It kept those who had already gone still participating and paying attention.

Every 4-5 food items, we began the song back at the beginning, patting, snapping, or tapping the beat during the first 4 lines. When all of the food had been placed on the blanket, I had two helpers clean up the food. We passed the bag again and again!

Wrapping Up the Picnic

When I could tell they were done with the picnic activity, I exclaimed “Oh no! It’s raining!” I began singing “Rain, Rain, Go Away!” as we put up our umbrellas. I modeled lifted the imaginary umbrellas high and low as we sang and tip toed back to our spots! My goal is to have them be able to do this song independently in centers!

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