The Big Ships are Sailing Down the Ally Ally Oh

I love this game and so do the kids! It presents a unique challenge--to "thread the needle". Interestingly, it was also a game in which my students never complained about having to hold hands. The musical portion, of course, is simply that the students get to sing a delightful tune over and over again until is firmly planted in their brains to be shared and explored further. The tune we used in the video is different from some of the others (do a youtube search); you can use whichever one you want, of course. Or, change it to suit youself or your students. Most versions, though, work well as partner songs for Skip to My Lou and Bluebird (I, I, V, V, I, I, V, I if you follow this kind of chord notation). Anyway, here's a clip of my elementary methods class playing the game: