DIY "Peter And the Wolf" - Characters with Instruments

Who doesn't love "Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev? The melodies, instruments, story, etc....
Well, you can create your own Peter And the Wolf-type activity at home with a favorite story of your choosing.  All you need is a favorite book, some various instruments and some kids!
We had a lot of fun with this, hopefully you can too!

I chose a story that was simple, had a few re-appearing characters and was already a well-known story to my kiddos..... "The Little Mouse, The Red-Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear" by Don and Audrey Wood.

They love this story and it leant itself easily to 3 characters who would each get an instrument sound: the mouse, the strawberry and the bear.... and since I had 2 boys participating in this and one would be upset if he didn't have as many as his brother, I also stuck in the page turn as needing an instrument.

First, I printed out a sheet with each "character" (again, pics from a google image search. And yes, I am STILL out of my color ink cartridge!)

Next, I had the kiddos go and gather instruments.

They chose which instruments should be assigned to which characters (It was fun to see which instruments they picked for each one; the drum went fairly easily to the "Big Hungry Bear").

We practiced playing each instrument when the character's name was said before starting the book.

Then, the performance began with a musical introduction (which was incredibly loud and I'm amazed it didn't wake up little brother).

We read through the story once (with me helping them with extra emphasis on particular words and waiting for them to remember which instrument was what), then finished with an exciting musical finale where they all played as loudly as possible.

We went through it again under the instructions that they had to remember to use their instrument on their own, and by this time, they were pro's! :-)

They were uber excited about this and wanted to try it again with "Peter Pan" - another favorite - which has many more characters, so we recruited more instruments and went to round 2, which was a little harder to keep track of, but still lots of fun.

This was great for more opportunities to use instruments, matching instrument sounds with character-types,  practicing listening and remembering skills, and a great, user-friendly connection to a great piece of music - since you can remind them of how Prokofiev used different instruments for his characters in his musical tale,  Peter and the Wolf.

We may try this again this week with "Where the Wild Things Are" since especially that middle "rumpus" section would work well for some instrumental improvising. :-)

What other stories would you use?

Have fun!

Educational Orchestra Concert!

We were invited to an educational concert (featuring the awesome Philadelphia Orchestra) by a dear friend, Lisa, whose enthusiasm for the event overshadowed my own fears about what my 3 little crazies would be like in a concert hall (Thanks Lisa!).  We signed up for tickets and were delighted to receive lots of helpful information in the mail about the event and also some lesson plans to use in preparing the kids for the experience. Loved it!

The morning was a little rougher than I had hoped, with a semi-sick baby M and a wrong turn or two, but we made it in the nick of time!

The performing hall is beautiful, and well, huge! It was filled with excited kids and semi-frazzled teachers trying to keep everyone together. Usually concert halls are filled with polite adult conversations before a concert. It was really neat to see it filled with excited, amazed chatter by hundreds of kids anticipating what was going to happen next and pointing excitedly to their favorite instruments. K and J were taking it all in... a little unsure of what was going to happen, I think. :-)

The concert was based on the story by Classical Kids,  "Beethoven Lives Upstairs". The orchestra performed a medley of Beethoven's music that was all orchestrated around 2 actors going through the story of what it was like having Beethoven live above you - expressively dialoging about his habits, his parties, his moods, how many pianos he had, his difficulty with becoming deaf, and even how he played his music with the pianos flat on the floor so he could feel the vibrations to help him hear what he was writing.

It was very well done - the actors were engaging, the lights were enhancing and the music.... well, it's the Philadelphia Orchestra... need I say more?

Although most of the information was way above where my kids are as far as retaining facts about Beethoven, they listened and were engaged throughout the performance (which was the perfect length for kids, by the way). It was exciting for them to be listening to such great music, hear and see enthusiastic actors, and participate in the experience with friends and hundreds of other kids as well.
On the way home we talked about the actors, the music, what it means to be deaf and why Beethoven wrote both loud and quiet music. :-)

And.... what fun experience is complete without a special treat to end the day? Makes it all the better, I think!

So, may I highly recommend checking out your local symphony orchestra and getting your kids to an educational performance?! Worth the effort for the amazing exposure and wonderful music!

"Pete the Cat" - Song and Activity

I, for one, think there is a shortage of fun song-books out there.... But, I'm glad this one is around!
"Pete the Cat - I Love My White Shoes"  by Eric Litwin (Ill. James Dean) has been around for a few years, but I'm just finding it now... takes me a while.

The illustrations are simple, but effective. The song also, is simple and effective to get you and your kids singing. It's a fun, silly little melody about a cat's shoes that start out white and change color throughout the day as he gets stuck in some colorful stuff.
I hope your library has a few copies of this so that you can pick one up and give it a try!

Once you've got your hands on the book, go to this site from the publisher to hear the song and the story being read. Once you've got it in your head, read/sing the book to your kiddos - with a cool groove, of course. :-)


We had lots of fun with the story and song.
They especially liked making sound effects for the wet, squishy shoes. :-)

Then, we colored our own shoes and sang about them. No, not our real shoes, silly.  Just paper ones.

If you'd like to join in the fun, find a black and white printable image of a shoe online, print out a few pairs and have kids color or paint them.

K wanted his to be green, so we figured that he got stuck in a pile of mushy peas (ick).
J wanted his to be gray, so for lack of a better option, we figured he got stuck in a pile of fire ashes (better option, anyone?).
Then K wanted to make another pair and just call them "Cool Scary Star Wars Shoes."
So, we had fun singing about our shoes (I colored a pink pair!), including the Star Wars shoes.

Give the book a try, even if you don't like cats! It's fun to sing about shoes!

"Head and Shoulders" a la Haydn

Probably the most meaningful way to understand music is to MOVE to it. I was just telling a piano student yesterday, as she was struggling through a Minuet, that it's really silly that we sit and struggle over music when in fact, Minuets were meant to be "felt" as you danced to them, rather than labored through in painstaking repetition. When it comes down to it, making meaningful movements to music enables the mind to feel and understand rhythm and melody better than anything else!

This activity today is a short example of getting kids moving to music - in this case, a very well-known classical melody: the 2nd movement of F.J. Haydn's "Surprise Symphony." It's my simple version  from a more detailed presentation of this activity presented by John Feierabend  (John Feierabend is one of my favorite Music Ed. guru's out there. He and his wife have a passion for music, movement and getting the littlest among us involved in music making. Pick up any of his recordings, books, etc. for a broad and meaningful beefing up of your little one's musical experiences).

So, again, for this activity, we used the 2nd Movement from the "Surprise Symphony"
(For those out there wondering, "what is a movement anyway?" A movement is a part of a symphony. There are usually 4 movements (sometimes more or less), which make up the classical model of a symphony. Kind of like a book with 4 chapters. Each is a little different, they may have new characters or settings, but they are all connected to the main story).

The materials needed are only: a recording of this movement and some little kiddos!

What makes this a "surprise" symphony is that Haydn sticks loud chords in an otherwise quiet piece of music (when he was composing this, he was reacting to the annoying tendency of some audience members to fall asleep during the typically slow 2nd movement... he was a funny guy, that Haydn).
The rhythm and structure of the opening line lends itself to a simple sound-description using "Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes"

First - Teach kids the actions and the words:

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes, (tapping for each syllable)
Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes,
Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes,
Now a quiet splat.    splat.  (stay down on "toes" then say quietly, "splat")

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes, (same: tapping each syllable)

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes, 

Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes, 

Now a great big splat.   SPLAT!!!  (stay down on "toes", then jump with a loud, "SPLAT!")

When I told the boys we were going to play a game with "Head and Shoulders" and a SPLAT!, they were very excited... mostly for the "Splat" mystery. :-)  

Practice the motions, then tell them we're going to do it with the "Surprise" song. Tell them to listen to the piece (the first 35-40 seconds) and tell you when they hear the loud "Splat." Usually their faces will light up in a big smile when it happens. :-) 

Next, try this activity with them... keeping it quiet until the big splat! 

See the video below for how we did it (and you will see baby M wandering around too, with his hands on his head to be like the brothers... it's a family affair here!) 

Give it a try - it's especially fun in these winter months to have a few movement activities up your sleeve when you're spending more time indoors. :-) 

Simple Activities to Encourage Musicality

Sometimes it's good to review rather than do new things all the time. We've been visiting some older exercises and songs to strengthen our musicality throughout the week.

Here are three ways to get it going at your house/school/playgroup/daycare too:

1. Read Rhythmically and Rhyme often! 

The natural rhythm and rhyme in our language can ignite the musical sense inside every child, so to get those going, try the following:
Read to your child. Get books that flow in rhythm and rhyme and read them that way.
For Rhythm Reading Ideas- Go Here!

Practice songs with rhyming words, like "Down By the Bay" that are silly and creative.
Rhyming and Song practice: Go Here!

2. Play and Sing -  Sing songs that involve movement, story and are easy to sing. 

Try out songs that are easy to sing and encourage activity!
Playing and Singing exercises: Go Here! and here!

3. Do simple musical skills with age-appropriate activities 

To get their ability strengthened to receive musical influences and handle them well, do simple activities to develop voice production and rhythm.
Check these out: Get their rhythm going and their voice moving!

These are some simple reminders of activities to spread once or twice throughout the week which will reap many benefits as your child soaks them in.

Have fun!