Super Star Phonics Kids Corner Back Print

Introducing Music to Children

Music is very important to introduce to a child. Everybody loves music, and if a child is able to create music, it gives the child a sense of acomplishment. Music helps to develop children's creativity, and it is a way of communication and expressing one's self. Music will help build your child or student's self esteem, and not to mention, it is a lot of fun!

Here are a few things that children learn from music:

  1. Music is a language.
  2. There are all different kinds of music, just as there are all different kinds of languages.
  3. Music Tempos: Songs can be played fast, medium, and slow. (Or, in Italian, Presto, Moderato, and Adagio.)
  4. There are many types of instruments. Each instrument makes all kinds of different sounds, and the sounds are callled tones.
  5. We can make music using our bodies. Fingers can snap, hands can clap, our feet can stomp and march, and our mouths can whistle and sing.
  6. Different equipment is used for playing and recording music. We can tape music with a recorder. We play music on a tape, record, or compact disc.

1. Water Music

Fill four or more crystal glasses with water. Each glass should have a different amount of water in it. Let the children trace around the rim of the glass with their wet finger. Each glass will have a different tune.

2. Soda pop bottle music

Fill six 12 oz pop bottles, each with a different amount of water. Younger children can tap on the bottles with a spoon. Older children may blow into the bottle for a different effect.

3. Identifying Instruments

Prepare a tape or recording of instruments that you may have around the house or classroom. Play the tape, and encourage the children to identify the correct instrument related to each sound.

4. Learning the notes

In a large area, take some masking tape and make 5 lines about 1 foot apart. Each line represents a note. Each space also represents a note. This is how it should look:

Starting at the bottom line is the E note, the next line is the G, the next is the B, then D, then F. Notice the phrase "Every Good Boy Does Fine". That is an easy way to remember how the notes are placed on the stave. The spaces spell out the word FACE.

Make each letter on the staff you made of masking tape. Once this is done, call out a letter on the staff and have the children jump to it. The F note may get confusing if you call it out since there are 2 of them. The F note on the line makes a higher sound, so you may call it "high F" and the bottom the "low F". Change the pitch of your voice when calling out the names of the notes to what you think it might sound like.

Creating your own percussion

1. Drums

Create drums out of empty coffee cans with plastic lids, plastic ice cream pails, or oatmeal boxes. The children can decorate the cans with paper, paint, felt-tip markers, or crayons.

2. Tamborines

Two paper plates can be made into a tamborine. Begin by placing small stones or pop bottle caps on one of the plates. Staple the paper plates together. Shake them to produce the sound.

3. Cymbals

Make cymbals out of old tin foil pans. Attach a string for the handles. Or you can use the lids from pots and pans. These make a great cymbal.

4. Kazoos

Kazoos can be made with empty paper towel rolls and waxed paper. The children can decorate the outside with crayons and felt-tipped markers. After this, place a piece of waxed paper over one end of the roll and secure it with a rubber band. Poke a couple of holes into the waxed paper, allowing the sound to be produced.

Using the instruments you have created, start up a marching band. Or sing songs and play the instruments along with the songs.

Songs to Sing

Here are some familiar songs to sing with the children. Make up your own rhymes to stimulate creativity and language. See how many rhymes you can come up with.

Down By The Bay

Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow
Back to my home, I dare not go
For if I do, my mother will say:
Have you ever seen a whale with a polka-dotted tail?
Down by the bay

Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow
Back to my home, I dare not go
For if I do, my mother will say:
Have you ever seen a fly, wearing a tie?
Down by the bay

Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow
Back to my home, I dare not go
For if I do, my mother will say:
Have you ever seen a moose, kissing a goose?
Down by the bay

(You can keep the song going by making up your own silly rhymes.)

(Name) Had A Band

Sing this song to the tune of Old McDonald. Use a teacher's name or your own instead of Old McDonald. Example:

Mrs. Williams had a band, E-I-E-I-O
And in that band she had a drum, E-I-E-I-O
With a boom boom here and a boom boom there
Here a boom, there a boom, everywhere a boom boom

Mrs. Williams had a band, E-I-E-I-O
And in that band she had a flute, E-I-E-I-O...

(Continue adding instruments to the song that the children can think of.)