I have a few littlies I teach. Some do Kinder Beat, some learn violin and other learn piano.
I wanted to do some fun activities with them that they could all do. Here is what we did:-
Activity song: Dr Knickerbocker. (The Wiggles have a fun version, if you google it).
Game: Happy New Year (found here: Happy New Year Game on the Susan Paradis website)
Students had to name and place the token on their game board. They were very good at naming everything by the end because they decided to help each other!
Game: Wiggly Worm Game (found here: Wiggly Worm Game). Students had to pick up a card. If they could name it, they got to hold on to it. If they couldnt’, they had to put it back at the bottom of the pile. If they picked up a worm, they got to ‘steal’ someone else’s card if they could name it first. Lots of giggles in this game when they picked up a worm card, and they were such good sports, it was lovely to play with them.
Game: High or Low sounds. This was an Aural exercise for them. I printed up some ‘High’ or ‘Low’ cards for them, laminated them and stuck them on paddle pop sticks. I played some sounds (chords, single notes, melodic passages etc) on the piano and the students had to figure out if I was playing up high, or down low and hold up the relevant sign. To print out a copy of the ‘High’ and ‘Low’ cards, click here: High and Low signs
Song/Rhyme: To finish off with, I decided to do something quiet. I printed out some daffodils from a clip art site on the computer, and I said this poem, taken from the ‘Sing a New Song’ website:
Daffodils Fingerplay
One little daffodil had nothing much to do,
Out popped another one, then there were two.
Two little daffodils were smiling at a bee,
Out popped another one and then there were three.
Three little daffodils were growing by the door,
Out popped another one and then there were four.
Four little daffodils were glad to be alive,
Out popped another one and then there were five.
Five little daffodils were wearing golden crowns.
They danced in the breeze in green satin gown.
My students did the actions with me on their fingers, and they were quite mesmorised after such an intense session with me. We had some younger siblings join in as well, so it was a great way to end.
If you want to relate it to the ‘Theme’ of The Great Music Dig, I explained that we find worms in the ground, which is where archaeologists dig, and daffodils grow out of the ground as well.
