American Song · Elementary Music · Grades PreK–6
A name-learning ball game that works from PreK all the way through 6th grade — and gets faster and more fun the better kids know each other.
American name-learning song
About this song
Bounce One, Bounce Two is Deborah's adaptation of the traditional name-learning song "Bounce High, Bounce Low, Bounce the Ball to Shiloh." The adaptation solves several practical problems that came up repeatedly with the original in real classrooms.
Younger children have trouble controlling a bounced ball, so the PreK–1 version uses rolling instead. The phrase "bounce one, bounce two" cues two even bounces rather than one high and one low — which works much better inside a classroom. And by singing the name before the pass rather than during it, there's no confusion about who should catch the ball.
The result is a song that actually works at every age without the chaos that often comes with ball-passing activities. For older grades, increasing the tempo and timing the class introduces accelerando and tempo vocabulary in a genuinely motivating context.
Teaching guide
The rolling vs. bouncing distinction matters more than it sounds — there's a specific PreK simplification that keeps the youngest students fully engaged without chaos. The accelerando teaching sequence has a specific challenge structure that makes tempo vocabulary genuinely motivating for older grades. And the solo singing extension for 4th–6th grade uses the game context in a way that gets even reluctant singers performing without self-consciousness.
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Related songs
A circle name-learning game with a similar rhythmic pattern to Bounce One, Bounce Two — if students enjoy one, they'll enjoy both.
See teaching guide →The classic counting out chant — tiri-tiri rhythm, AA form, and a guessing game element that keeps students engaged.
See teaching guide →A call-and-response ball game in 6/8 — cooperative, with the whole class winning together by getting the ball around the circle.
See teaching guide →Common questions
Younger children have limited control when bouncing a ball and often can't direct it accurately. Rolling gives them much better control and keeps the game from breaking down. The musical content is identical — only the physical action changes. The switch to bouncing at 2nd grade is a natural progression that most students handle easily.
Establish the "no second turn" rule before the game starts — once you've had the ball, you're done for that round. This creates a natural endpoint when every student has been named, which gives the game a satisfying structure and forces students to pass to people they might not otherwise choose.
Once the class has the game under control at a normal tempo, gradually increase the speed over multiple rounds. If they start rushing unevenly, point it out and introduce the term accelerando — speeding up gradually and evenly. Timing them with a clock gives the challenge a concrete, motivating goal that makes the tempo vocabulary meaningful rather than abstract.
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.
One subscription gives you the complete Singing Classroom library — 150+ folk songs and singing games, every one demonstrated on video, either by Deborah or by the bunnies animation of the game, with a teaching guide. Bounce One, Bounce Two is just one of the songs waiting for you.
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