4 Easy Songs To Teach And Reinforce The Four Voices

Four voices is a concept that I teach at the beginning of Kindergarten. This concept helps students understand the different ways they can use their voice: whisper, talk, shout and sing. Towards the end of this unit, I also include the thinking or inner voice. My favorite songs to teach the 4 voices are Queen Queen Caroline, Three Little Muffins, Bee Bee Bumblebee, and Charlie Over the Ocean. Keep reading for a detailed explanation of how I use these songs to introduce or reinforce the four voices.

Queen Queen Caroline

This is one of my favorites! I wrote a story about the Queen and how her secret to good hair was spread throughout the whole kingdom. Each person in the story uses a different voice. This story goes so well with puppets or any other visual for storytelling. (You can use finger puppets like these.) I tell the story twice. The first time through, students listen as I tell the story. Students then join me for the 2nd time. Here is a link to the story– feel free to enjoy it with your students!

Three Little Muffins

Three Little Muffins is a song I use when I’m assessing student understanding of the four voices. This song only uses the whisper, talking, and shouting voice. When we finish with the chant I like to have students identify the voice that they didn’t hear. They should be able to recognize that they didn’t hear the singing voice. I also like to use this song to transition into discussions about appropriate places for using each voice. I start by asking students, “What type of voice can we use in the bakery.” or “What happens if we use our shouting voice in the bakery?”. From there we discuss other locations.

Bee Bee Bumblebee

This is one of those chants that I use to teach so many concepts. It’s on rotation throughout the whole year! This chant is a singing game that is played like duck duck goose. The student that is “out” at the end of the chant gets to choose which type of voice we will play the game next. When students get out I have them keep a steady beat either with body percussion, found sound, or classroom instruments.

Charlie Over the Ocean

Charlie Over the Ocean is a game similar to Bee Bee Bumblebee. The leader walks around the circle and uses one of the four voices. The class repeats using the same voice. Charlie Over the Ocean is my go-to for assessing since it incorporates solo singing. I will choose the voice that I want the student outside of the circle to use. When the game first begins, I only choose one voice; as the game progresses I add more voices until they are using a different voice for each line of the song. I use visuals like these to show them which voice they will perform for each line.

I hope this gives you some song ideas for your four voices unit.

Happy Teaching!