Structure:

Coffee, snacks and socializing.  During this time we played oldies music on youtube.

Name that Tune. While guests sat we played “Name that tune.”  During this activity I chose 10 recognizable songs and played them on youtube while covering the screen.  Here is the Playlist. Guests were encouraged to guess the song.  They were told that if they didn’t know the title, perhaps they could say the name of the artist or sing a line.  Many participants sang along as each new song came up.

Water Xylophone. Next we made water xylophones with the group.  I found this activity on pintrest and it was cheap and easy to set up.  I bought a case of large mason jars and set 4 jars down in front of each small group (we broke into four groups).  Next I filled each of their set of water jars to a different level.  Water levels ranged from ¼, ½, ¾ and almost full.  I came around with food coloring and let our guest squeeze the color of their choice into one of the jars.  Soon we had four jars with varying amounts of water and all a different color.  We arranged the jars in descending order.  I gave each group a rubber mallet.  Before striking the jars we asked if anyone could guess which jar would make the lowest pitch (the one with more water) and which jar would make a higher pitch (less water).  Finally, we told them to go ahead and play the jars.  You can create songs or simply run the mallet back and forth over the jars.

Musical Guest. We had a special guest Melissa Mills come and play ukulele and sing for our guests.  Melissa is a trained singer and she sang Smile by Charlie Chapman and other classic oldies.  The group listened closely, cheering when she finished.

Karaoke. Next we did our own karaoke.  The leaders sang songs to get the crowd going and then we invited them up to sing.  Only a handful of people “took the stage” but many guests sang from their seat, clapped and cheered us on.  I also lead group songs where all the staff sang and we walked around with the microphone encouraging guests to sing a line.  Here is the link to the karaoke playlist.   I would recommend choosing songs that have low vocals instead of absolutely no vocals as they were more challenging for guests.  It seems that due to timing and tempo, traditional karaoke with no words can be a little too difficult.

We wrapped up by telling the guests what next month’s theme was and staff cleaned up.