United States · Elementary Music · Grades 3, 4, 5, 6
Full lyrics, teaching guide, and step-by-step video demonstration for elementary music class. Everything you need to teach Bim Bum with confidence.
Lyrics & game guide
About this song
Bim Bum is a traditional song from the United States used in elementary music classrooms for students in grades 3–6. Teachers use it for body percussion, learning form, and practicing the fa solfège pitch in 3/4 meter.
Like all the songs in The Singing Classroom library, Bim Bum has been carefully selected and sequenced by Deborah Skydell Pasternack, a Kodály-certified music educator with decades of classroom experience. Every song is demonstrated on video, through Deborah's teaching videos or the bunnies animations, all created by Deborah Skydell Pasternack, so you can see how to introduce it and connect it to music literacy goals.
Whether you're a music specialist or a classroom teacher without formal music training, The Singing Classroom gives you the tools to teach Bim Bum and 150+ other folk songs and singing games with confidence.
Teaching guide
The complete step-by-step video demonstration is available inside a Singing Classroom subscription.
Sing or chant the song yourself first, then have students echo phrase by phrase. Keep the tempo comfortable and make sure students are secure with the words before adding movement.
Use the body percussion patterns to help students feel the 3/4 meter and phrase structure in their bodies. Movement makes abstract musical concepts concrete and memorable.
Use Bim Bum to teach or reinforce form and introduce fa in solfège. The clear phrase structure makes it excellent for form analysis.
Challenge students to create variations or compose new sections. Creative extension activities deepen musical understanding and student ownership.
By grade level
Introduce Bim Bum through echo singing and movement. Begin connecting to form concepts and practice fa in solfège.
Use Bim Bum to teach form analysis and reinforce fa. Add body percussion layers to deepen engagement.
Older students can analyze form in detail, connect to notation, and create their own musical variations.
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See teaching guide →Common questions
Bim Bum is designed for grades 3–6. It can be simplified for younger students or extended for older ones depending on your learning objectives.
No — The Singing Classroom is designed for both music specialists and generalist classroom teachers. Deborah's video demonstration shows every step of the lesson, so you can follow along even without formal music training.
Bim Bum is particularly good for teaching form and introducing the fa solfège pitch. It also works well for exploring 3/4 meter through body percussion activities.
The Singing Classroom is a subscription service giving you access to 150+ folk songs and singing games, each demonstrated on video. The subscription costs $22.95/month or $199.95/year (just $16.66/month). You can start with a free 7-day trial — credit card required, cancel anytime.
The real problem
Every teacher knows this feeling. You find a song, try it on Monday, and something goes sideways — the kids don't engage, you're not sure how to introduce it, the lesson loses momentum. It's not that the song was wrong. You just didn't have a clear picture of how it actually goes.
That's what makes The Singing Classroom different. Every song in the library, including this one, is demonstrated on video, either by Deborah walking you through how to teach it or by the bunnies animation of the game, and many songs have both. You don't have to guess how to introduce it, how to structure the activity, or how to handle the tricky moments. You watch it. Then you teach it.
150+ songs. Every one demonstrated. No more hoping it works — you already know it will.
Watch Deborah demonstrate how to teach Bim Bum. Bim Bum is just one of 150+ songs in the complete Singing Classroom library — every one demonstrated on video, with a teaching guide.
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