Antiphonal (Call And Response) Stories For Children

Antiphonal Stories or Call and Response stories are perfect for music classes because they engage students and encourage focus and cooperation.

Here is the first part of a recent story that Ms. Joan wrote for her music classes.  Since it is a medium long story, the second part of the story will be published in the next MusicChild posting.  Have fun!

AND THEN THIS HAPPENED!

In the beginning, there were lots and lots of fish.  Big fish, small fish, and every other size fish in between.  They loved living under the water but some of the fish thought it might be fun and interesting to explore the land. (Can you show me your best fish face?)

Whenever they talked about exploring outside of the water, the wisest and smartest old fish said, “Well, that’s an interesting idea, but how will you breathe when you are out of the water?”  None of the other fish ever had an answer to this so they waited to explore the land outside of the water.

And Then This Happened! (Children should say this with you)

A lightning bolt came down from the sky with a big cracking sound and energized the sea so that the fish could suddenly flop out of the water and breathe air!  (Can we all make the cracking noise of the lightning bolt? I’ll count to 3 and we will all say, “crack!”)  The fish that wanted to explore the dry land had such a good time walking on their fins and looking at all the rocks, sand, and sun.

And Then This Happened!(Children should say this with you)

A bug flew by and one of the fish thought to open his mouth to eat it.  It was delicious!  As mosquitos and flies flew by, the other fish opened their mouths and had a wonderful meal.  (Can we all make a mosquito sound?)

And Then This Happened!(Children should say this with you)

Suddenly, the wise old fish popped up out of the sea and yelled to the fish that were on land, “You had better come back into the water now, it will be dark soon!” 

And Then This Happened!(Children should say this with you)

Some of the fish on the land listened to the wise old fish and some did not.  So, some of the fish went back to their safe homes in the water, and some did not.  They were just having too much fun exploring the land.