A Fun Play-Along for "Puppy for Hanukkah" on Boomwhackers and Classroom Instruments

Join in the fun with this exciting play-along for the song, "Puppy for Hanukkah" written by Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes. Gather your instruments, including C, E, F, and G boomwhackers, tambourines, rhythm sticks, and maracas and shakers, and get ready to play!

The rhythm values are:

• Whole note

• Half note

• Quarter note

• Dotted quarter note

• Eighth note

• Quarter rest

  Plus, keep an eye out for some clips from the original video.

Some items to note:

This 2020 song was created when Jill Hotchkiss, the vice president of creative marketing for Disney Channels Worldwide, wanted a Hanukkah song that celebrated the diversity of the Jewish community. She reached out to Daveed Diggs and his band, Clipping, to write the song. Due to the pandemic, Diggs was unable to perform in the video, so Hotchkiss found diverse children to lip-sync and dance throughout the video.

When I use this in my classroom, I ask my friends who celebrate Hanukkah if this song would be appropriate to play in the classroom. They agreed that it is, but to stress to the students that puppies are not a gift given lightly and a lot of thought and care has to go into that decision. Plus, they asked me to play a traditional Hanukkah song as well.

If your students enjoy play-along videos, check out this one and enjoy it!

Happy Hanukkah!

Resources:

Grisar, P. D. (2020, December 11). How a search for Jewish inclusion helped create “Puppy for Hanukkah.” The Forward. https://forward.com/culture/music/460058/how-puppy-for-hanukkah-diversity-disney-channel-daveed-diggs/

Original Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbxyZAduGvY