The Cobbler Cobbler folk song is one of my favorites to teach. I teach it all the way from pre-kindergarten through first grade! Sometimes, we forget how useful these songs are for teaching concepts other than using a singing voice! Today we’re going to discuss some of my favorite ways to teach concepts using the Cobbler Cobbler folk song.
Most of the pictures you’ll see here are from my Cobbler Cobbler resource. You can definitely teach this song without buying the resource, but if you’re looking for something that is no-prep and saves you time, this may be a great option for you! You can buy the resource here.
Teach the Cobbler Cobbler Folk Song
First, you need to teach the song to your students! I tell the students that this song is about a cobbler, which is a type of job. Then I tell them that I need them to tell me what a cobbler does. So while I’m singing and they’re keeping a steady beat, they’re listening to the lyrics to figure out that a cobbler is someone who mends shoes. What does the word mend mean? This is a great opportunity to practice context clues! Once we talk about what a cobbler does, you can ask them to listen again for what time the person wants their shoe back. Noon- what does that look like on a clock?
At this point, I’ve sang the song at least twice for the students- once to hear what a cobbler does and once to hear what time the customer wants the shoe back. Now I’m going to sing it again and allow students to keep the beat while they mend their shoe. They might hammer their shoe, they might paint it, or they might do an action that doesn’t have a steady beat. That’s okay, too!
This next part of teaching the song Cobbler Cobbler is my favorite. We practice keeping a steady beat together…with our shoes. I have my students take their shoes off and keep a steady beat on the ground using their shoes! They LOVE this! Of course, there are some students who don’t want to take their shoes off, and that’s totally okay. They can choose a different way to keep the beat, maybe by patting their shoulders or their toes. But in general, most of my students get a kick out of this activity. Then, after we sing it once or twice I tell them that their feet stink and they need to put their shoes back on! I take my shoes off and do the activity with them, so there is always one kiddo who tells me that my feet stink and I need to put my shoes back on!
Once we know the song really well, I’ll show them the boomwhacker notes and we’ll play the song. Students enjoy playing boomwhackers for just about anything, and I love that this gets them listening to and collaborating with each other.
Teaching Rhythm
This is one of my favorite songs to use when teaching quarter and eighth notes! First, we’ll look at the iconic rhythms for the song. We talk about why some words have hammers and some have shoes. You’ll get lots of different answers about how a cobbler fixes shoes with a hammer. Hopefully you get a student who notices that the hammer has one syllable and the shoes have two sounds on a beat. This is a good time to point out that there are parts where two 1-syllable words are one a single beat. That can be confusing for kids, so plan on taking a minute to explain that.
My favorite way to prep quarter and eighth notes with this song is another one that involves taking our shoes off. I’ll put four hearts to mark out four beats. Then, we’ll go phrase by phrase and use our shoes to show one or two sounds on a beat. This is pretty easy for words like “cobbler” because it’s two syllables, but it gets especially tricky for the beats that have two separate words like “mend my.” We’ll then transfer it to the white board where we can talk about two 1-syllable words that are crammed together in one beat so they are fast (or short-short!)
If you want to extend either of these activities, you could easily add instruments. You could have two instruments- one for the 1-syllable words and one for the 2-syllable words. Everyone play the rhythm on drums or rhythm sticks. Students could create an ostinato to go along with the song. If you’re looking to add a book to this song, you could read students the book, “Pete the Cat: Rocking in my School Shoes.”
Teaching Sol-Mi
You can also teach the song Cobbler Cobbler to use for sol and mi. After the students know the song really well, practice the high and low sounds in a few ways. You might consider:
- Having students show high and low with their bodies. Students can tap their shoulders for high and their laps for low. After they’ve done it with you, let them create their own patterns. They should pick 2 moves- one for high and one for low. They come up with some great ideas!
- Having each student be a note- stand in a circle and go through the song, having each student stand (high) or sit (low) for each syllable of the song. The students will make up one big melody!
- Do this same activity, but instead of students standing or sitting, use a giant piece of yarn to show high and low.
- Use manipulatives to show high and low in phrases- mini erasers from the Target dollar section are a great option!
- Play the song on boomwhackers
- Use popsicle sticks to write out the rhythm of phrases (if they know quarter and eighth notes already.). Then move the rhythms up or down to match the melody. You could do this same activity with whiteboards if you don’t have popsicle sticks.
Cobbler Cobbler is a cute song that can teach several concepts to different grade levels. That makes it a great song for scaffolding! What are some other songs that you love to use for many years? Head over to Instagram and DM me (@caffeinated.j) your favorites!
