Here are twenty (!!) games to reinforce basic bow hand posture. These games are ideal for a Suzuki pre-twinkle class of 3-6 year olds.
1. Simon Says
This classic children’s game can easily be mapped onto any posture game. Give students instructions like the ones listed below and make sure to say “Simon Says,” before each one. Sprinkle in a few tricky instructions without “Simon Says” to see who is listening.
- Pick up your bow
- Build a bow hold with your bow hand
- Land your bow on your … (head, shoulder, belly button, knee, etc.)
- Stretch the bow up to the sky!
- Land the screw on the ground
- Draw … (letters, circles, fruit sizes, etc.)
- Stir soup
- Shake out your cowhand!
- Shake your neighbors bow hand
If your students aren’t old enough to understand Simon Says, you can easily turn this into a follow-the-instructions game where the challenging instructions are the trick itself.
2. Stir the Soup
Students start by holding their bows with great posture. Together the whole class stirs on the horizontal plan with the bows as if stirring a big pot of soup. Move around the entire group, asking each student which ingredient they would like to add to the soup — no ingredient is too weird! I’ve had spaghetti, Reece’s, mashed potato soup with my students before.
- Variation #1: halfway through have students start to stir the opposite direction or faster slower depending on the ingredient
- Variation #2: recount together as a group which student brought which ingredient
- Variation #3: before you start set an imaginary colored skittle (student chooses color) on the tip of their bow. Tell students to keep their bows very straight and balanced so the skittle doesn’t fall in the soup! Eat the imaginary skittle together at the end.
