Obviously they are crucial to vocal health, especially when caring for growing voices. But there's something so annoying to me about singing nonsense syllables over and over again. That said, here are my favorite exercises to warm up different facets of the voice.
Birthday Candles
Tell the group to imagine a small birthday cake in front of them and it has three candles. I always ask them to make a three year old wish and blow out the candles. I increase the number of candles at mostly random intervals. (7, 12, 16, 21, 30....etc). Kids sometimes like sharing their made up wishes for each age.
I usually ask what they noticed about their breath as the number of candles increased. You can use this later on when discussing ways to breathe throughout your show (e.g. "this is a 20 candle breath" or "take a short 2 candle breath").
Dandelions
Using the same idea, but with dandelion seeds; first they're holding one flower, and increasing from there.
Sirens are one of the most thorough stretches for your vocal chords. They make complete use of the range while encouraging healthy placement and breathing. It's just as effective to run kids through a few generic sirens, but I like to use these activities to mix it up.
Flowers
Tell the group they are walking through a mysterious forest when they come upon a flower. It is so beautiful they pick it and hold it high above their head to see it in the sun (this stretches the torso as well!) and they sigh "ahhhhh" (using the top of the range and falling down)
Then they find a flower that is magical and they also pick it up and hold it to the sun and say "wooooooooh" (using the bottom of the range and sliding up
Then they find a flower that is extremely ugly. They pick it up and hold it to the light and say "uuuuuugh" (starting at the bottom sliding to the upwards and back down again)
Repeat at least once!
Fireworks
Tell the group it's the fourth of July and they're seeing a fireworks show! The first firework they see is amazing and they say "Ooooooh" (start at the bottom of the range, sliding up and back down again)
The second firework they see is beautiful and they say "Ahhhhh" (using the top of the range and falling down)
The third firework is really weird and they say "uuuuuuuuh?" (starting at the bottom and sliding up)
Restricted warm ups are really good for strengthening and deepening breath support. I always at least do one of the following.
Hums
Lip Trills
N or V Consonants
Singing through a straw
Open vowels in whatever pattern you feel like!
Have students choose vowel/consonant combinations
Use the open 'Ah' when stretching ranges (top and bottom)
The world's shortest Opera: "Hello, I love you, goodbye"
Anything to get the articulators working and moving.
Tongue Twisters
Alphabet
Short Warm up songs
I also like to add emotions to these