Originally published April 4, 2021
Last Update April 9, 2026
Looking for simple and fun ways for your music classes to be active and engaged outdoors? Check out these easy outdoor music and movement activities for kids! Why outdoors? To enjoy the weather, quiet time during testing, or just a change of scenery for a brain break.
Table of Contents
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Net Games
Use multiple setups for whole class play or just one for a station in learning centers. (see images & video below)
The GOAT (A Reverse HORSE Steady Beat Challenge)
The GOAT is a cooperative elementary music passing game where students work together to keep a steady beat while singing. Inspired by the basketball game HORSE, this version flips the idea: instead of earning letters for mistakes, students earn letters when they succeed.
🏆 The goal is simple: earn the letters G-O-A-T by singing and passing the ball correctly.
📋 This game encourages students to focus on the beat, teamwork, and accurate singing while staying fully engaged.
🔹 How to Play the GOAT Game
- Students are in 2-person teams on opposite sides of a net. (4 total)
- Both teams sings a familiar song or chant a rhyme while passing a ball on the *main beats.
- Each pass or bounce should match the beat of the song.
🐐 If the teams sing the entire song without mistakes, they earn a letter. G.O.A.T.
🐐 When the teams spell GOAT, they win the challenge!
🔹 You have to start the song over if:
- the hand touch on the ball isn’t on the *main beat (if the hand touch is on beat 1, the bounce is probably going to be on beat 2)
- everyone isn’t singing
- the ball doesn’t go over the net
*Passing to a STEADY beat isn’t the goal. Passing on the MAIN beat is the goal so their singing tempo may adjust to make it work.
🔹 What songs should I use to play GOAT?
Choose songs already in your elementary music curriculum that have a strong, predictable beat. Folk songs and rhythmic chants work especially well because they are repetitive and easy for students to remember. Examples are Big Fat Biscuit, Dusty Bluebells, Pease Porridge, and I Never Saw a Purple Cow.
How to Set Up the Net
You can use 2 chairs and a piece of yarn for the cheapest and easiest setup!
Ask your PE teacher if they have these special nets or purchase for yourself.
I created GOAT after watching this PE class game in the video!
“Rock” Music Activity (K-5)
Students will compose short melodic phrases using commonly found household items, such as a rock to create “Melodies that Rock.” Younger students can explore music contour in relationship to high and low notes, while older students can write melodic patterns related to their grade level concepts.
Check out the full lesson plan at the VDOE Link below. Lesson plan was altered and adapted for outdoor sidewalk chalk activity.
Resource Attribution
- Resource Title: Melodies that Rock!
- Creator: VDOE Fine Arts
- Source: #GoOpenVA / Virginia Department of Education
- License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
- Disclaimer: The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has not evaluated this resource for content nor accessibility. This material is provided “as-is” without warranties of any kind. Use professional expertise in evaluating and using this resource.
Big Fat Biscuit
This jumping game is perfect to take outside for a fun competition! Check out the origin and game instructions on The Big List of Elementary Music Games!
Pat, Clap, Snap (Rock, Paper, Scissors)
I learned about this game from our PE teacher and kids LOVE it. I tried to reconfigure it for music and came up with Pat, Clap, Snap. The objectives-
- brain break
- using body percussion
- team building
Directions:
- Two teams in rows. (red and blue above) The object of the game is to get your player from one end of the hula hoops to the other before the other team. Players must jump (2-footed) from one hoop to the next.
- One person from each team begins. Those out go to the end of the line & the next person on your team begins at the beginning.
- The red team begins at the green hoop. The blue team begins at the yellow hoop. The configuration of the hoops can be in any design as long as there are starting (ending) points for both teams. (In the gym or outside you have lots of room to curve the course all over the place.)
- If your music room isn’t very big or you can’t use the gym or go outside, I think sit spots or bean bags would work. Instead of jumping IN the hoop, you’d jump over each spot/bag.
- At some point the two players will meet (be facing each other) and that is when they’ll play Pat Clap Snap.
- Instead of Rock, Paper, Scissors’ fist-fist-rock/paper/scissors, they will clap two times and then the third beat will need to either be a pat, clap, or snap. If they do the same motion, it’s a tie and they do it again until there’s a winner. The image above is a visual to help them remember what beats the other.
- The winner keeps jumping, the loser goes to the end of their line and a new player for that team begins jumping, hoping to stop the other player. Here is the Rock, Paper, Scissors version.
Earth, Wind, and FIRE
Take any upbeat song such as Earth, Wind, and Fire’s “Let’s Groove Tonight” and create easy movement.
How to Move
- Intro (stand and bounce to the beat)
- Verse (lots of words so keep it simple-WALK to the beat)
- Chorus (easier lyrics so stop and do simple choreography)
- arms up, arms out, arms down, arms out (repeat)
- Bridge (freestyle)
Walking and freestyle are a snap! Just something simple for the chorus and BAM, you’ve got it.
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