Caitie is sharing tips for using the preschool song “Say Cheese” in the classroom and at home for lots of fun learning with little ones. She has lots of great ideas! And she’ll lead us through the song using gestures – an excellent way to introduce a song to children. “Say Cheese” is a fun song that is perfect for teaching some simple language that is often used during picture-taking time.
Try these ideas in the classroom or at home!
- Try playing this song before picture time to get students excited about having their picture taken. It can help them prepare for what is coming next and better understand what is expected of them. It’s great on picture day, or anytime you want to take a photo in class or at home.
- For a fun activity where you can review facial expressions, practice making different faces as you sing the song and pretend to take photos. In the song we make a happy face, a silly face and a scary monster face. But once your students are familiar with the song, you can sing it without the music, and swap in any kind of face you like, for example, an angry face, a nervous face or an excited face. For more facial expression practice, pair this song with the Super Simple Songs This Is A Happy Face and Can You Make A Happy Face.
- You can also encourage your students to pretend to take photos themselves. Go outside and pretend to take photos as a group.
- If you have a digital camera you can use, take photos together as a group and then bring them back inside to view as a class.
- For a fun classroom activity, have your students take turns pretending to be the photographer and have them take pictures of their classmates. They can sing a verse from the song to get everyone to look at the camera, and count to three so everyone knows when the picture is being taken. The pretend photographer can choose a face for everyone to make together.
More resources for this song (1)
