Mini Lesson Plan: Musical instruments
“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.”― Lao Tzu. Such is the wonder and beauty of music that it has enraptured many since time immemorial, including our most beloved little kids. And now, in addition to singing along to their favourite music, let’s teach them how to make music and some DIY musical instruments!
Activity 1: Introduce them to musical instrument families!
“I’m so glad you’re back to join us!” First of all this episode of the LittleLives Twinkle Trails series brings us to a concert hall where a musical concert is playing.
Now, we all probably know how dizzyingly high the number of musical instruments present in an orchestra is. And, this can be confusing for the children if not introduced clearly. Good news! This video does it just the right way, giving a brief overview of each instrumental family within the orchestra, citing the purpose of each family and naming some famous members. Love it!
Tip: Depending on the level your class is at, you can go further in-depth! Try introducing the kids to the concepts of pitch and even music from different eras and different cultures.
Activity 2: Form your own band!
Bring some musical instruments for the kids to try out in class! Percussion instruments are often the best to start children off with for it improves coordination most of all and is the handiest!
Triangles, tambourines, maracas, cymbals… Percussion is one of the more versatile musical families and sure is a whole lot of kiddy fun! While there are many ways to go about letting the children test out the instruments, here’s one way to make the learning extra fun by letting them chime along to their favourite songs:
Prepare a list of children’s songs like Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars, Baa Baa Black Sheep and more before class. In class, group the children into mini-bands of 4 or 5 and hand each of them an instrument. Let each mini-band work as a group to pick their favourite song from the list to play their percussion instruments. Let them explore and play among themselves. At the end of the lesson, invite each group to do a small performance of their song for the class. Tada! You’ve organised a mini talent showcase!
This way, not only will the children learn to play music, they will also get their collaborative skills and showmanship put into extra practice.
Activity 3: DIY some musical instruments
Now that the little tots have learnt and tried playing some musical instruments for themselves, it’s time for them to make an instrument and bring them home to proudly show Mummy and Daddy!
There are many simple and children-friendly ways to make your own musical instruments. For example, you can make…
- Guitars out of a container and rubber bands.
- Cute castanets that look like alligators using cardboard and bottle caps
- Chinese gongs and rainsticks and more!
Also, this probably is the coolest one just yet — a DIY xylophone! Made simply from glass bottles filled with different amounts of water, this craft makes your music lesson overlap nicely with Science. Remember how the pitch increases as you strike the glasses containing less water? While some kids are just simply fascinated with this phenomenon, you can actually explain it to them like how Science Kids does:
Small vibrations are made when you hit the glass, this creates sound waves which travel through the water. More water means slower vibrations and a deeper tone.
And there you have it — the kids’ curious minds satisfied! Well, for the moment, at least. ;)
Want more ideas on what you can do for music lessons? Find printable piano keyboards, posters and picture books for your classes here! Hope you’ll have scores of fun (pun time!) with the kids in your music lesson. Do check out our previous mini lesson plans on Metamorphosis, Volcanoes and the Solar System! Till our post next week!
SOURCES
Science Kids
PICTURES
Pixabay
Flickr
