Fun with Character: Whistle While You Work

This activity can be paired with the “What floats your Boat” activity. Start this activity by having students list chores they dislike, such as cleaning the toilet or taking out the garbage. After you have several tasks listed, discuss how the slaves (or the 7 Dwarfs for younger students) would sing while they worked to make the task seem lighter. Challenge them to take a simple, known song and change the words to fit the task. Give an example in class, such as “Mary had a toilet brush, toilet brush, toilet brush. Mary had a toilet brush that made the toilet all clean”. Divide the class into small groups and assign each of them a task that is typical of their age group. They are to write a “ditty’ of their own about it to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb. They only need to do one verse. When they are done, have each group sing their ditty for the class.

To process this activity, ask these or similar questions:

• Does it seem strange to sing a song about a task?

• Did making up something silly make the task not seem so bad?

• Will you remember these little songs when you have an undesirable task to do?