Find easy no/low prep Earth Day music activities, songs, and games for elementary classrooms using rhythm, movement, and singing!
According to Earthday.org, “…founders created and organized the very first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Since then, (it) has been mobilizing over 1 billion people annually on Earth Day, and every other day, to protect the planet.”
The Playlist
Continue reading “Easy EARTH DAY Music Activities & Songs For Kids”Find engaging ways for your students to play BARRED INSTRUMENTS with a NEW easy-to-teach rhyme melody and Orff arrangement, that goes with the CLASSIC song Bounce High Bounce Low.
This song is perfect for you to prepare, present, or practice “la” with its so, la, so, mi pattern as well as for you to teach quarter and paired eighth notes.
The new rhyme extends the learning into a beautiful ternary ABA form and is part of this practically no-prep, multi-lesson resource.
Not enough barred instruments? On the bordun, use Boomwhackers or ukuleles. On the melody, use melody bells or Boomwhackers.
❤️❤️❤️ The ukulele part can be played using a C6 chord-ALL OPEN STRINGS! Check it out!
PS. There’s a wonderful call & response creative activity that incorporates rhyming, geography, and music terms! WHAT? Yep, SO fun!
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Here’s a big list of parachute songs, games, and activities to explore form, melodic direction, rhythm, beat, and vocal exploration.
These activities provide a fun application for music elements as well as physical activity for fitness, a brain break, and a social-emotional learning (SEL) outlet.
The Playlist
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Continue reading “Parachute Songs, Games, and Activities In the Music Classroom”Here are some favorite lesson plans and activities for the music classroom to teach The Nutcracker Ballet plus some NEW resources to spark life into our teaching of this perennial classic.
The Playlist
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With its call and response form, this is the perfect barred instrument activity for December!
PLUS, movement ideas using partners and the whole class with and without props!
More December Games & Activities
Find other lesson ideas for December on the Winter, Holiday, and Christmas Music Games & Activities blog post!
Each performance of the Nutcracker uses an artistic director who helps determine the costuming, dancing, makeup, and scenery for the ballet.
The ballet dates back to a time when ethnic caricatures were standard practice in the performances.
This is particularly true in Act II with the dances related to the Chinese, Arabian, Russian, and Spanish dances.
As music specialists, this is important to take into consideration if we choose to use videos in our teaching. Read more.
Here’s an excellent interview on NPR about “Rethinking Cultural Stereotypes in The Nutcracker.”
Adorable character sweatshirt!
Definitely NOT an ugly sweater!
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These items from Oriental Trading Company can be used for Nutcracker Ballet-themed concert and classroom decor, student crafts, and movement activities.
These are two of my favorite books to use in the classroom. Both are so engaging, one with the pop-up feature (on the left) and musical selections (on the right). I even bought a second copy of the pop up book because I used the original one for so many years.
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At this school, students were asked to bring in a family Nutcracker and were put into this fun Nutcracker Museum display! (Remember to have the student’s name and room clearly labeled.)
Add this to your end-of-year evaluation Danielson (or similar) Domain 1b: Teacher-designed opportunities for families to share their heritages.
Motion Terms
March-in place or around room
Flick-hands/fingers flick similar to flicking water on someone
Wind Up Toy-arms bent (mechanical looking) and move from waist up/down like a wind up toy
Scurry-fingers are like a little mouse scurrying down arm
A: March slow 8, then right hand flicks 4 times quickly from high to low, repeat on Lt side high to low, then both arms flick 7 at same time from low to high with a clap on beat 8 (repeat)
B: March slow 4, wind down toy DOWN for fast 4 then UP for fast 4 (repeat) (kind of like the robot dance 🤣)
A:
C: Rt fingers scurry down left arm, repeat on other arm (repeat)
A:
B:
A:
Here’s a video of the movements that I made for a newsletter subscriber while I was on vacation in Moab, Utah!
I used the stretchy bands from Bear Paw Creek and loved them for their durability!
ADORABLE paper plates for the above routine would look spectacular on risers for a concert!
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https://www.pbs.org/video/hip-hop-nutcracker-at-njpac-an-all-arts-presentation-czdp88/
This performance is on PBS and you may need to confirm your local PBS station.
Celebrate the magic of Encanto in your music room with activities that inspire movement, creativity, and cultural exploration. On this page you’ll find engaging videos featuring songs from the movie (movement, parachute, ukulele) plus my original Orff piece The Charm of Encanto, a Latin-inspired song that captures the spirit of encanto (“charm”) while offering a vibrant extension to the beloved Disney film.
Let’s talk about Bruno! 
Here’s a new MOVEMENT video for Bruno with the ending movement matching the contrapuntal lines of the ending. This is for parents, classroom teachers, music teachers, and anyone who
Want your students to play Latin-flavored music?
Not from the Disney movie, this original song inspired by the Spanish word, encanto, is accompanied by an Orff arrangement, Latin rhythm and melodic elements, and is a great extension to the movie that charmed the world.
It’s a perfect concert selection or classroom exploration of Latin-flavored ostinati!
🌺 Find other Latin and Hispanic music connections on the Hispanic Latino Heritage Month blog post.
A bubbly, bouncy instrumental piece that is perfect for movement activities. This instrumental piece posted on Youtube in 2014 and became a TikTok sensation, reaching over 1 million plays in 2021.
Here you will find the piece analysis, links, and teaching ideas!
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
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