Music - EYFS - Music Playtime

Have You Brought Your Singing Voice? (pitch)

This is a good introductory activity for helping children to 'find' their singing voice and humming voice as opposed to their talking voice. It's one of the first things to do in music with a new group of children. It's also a good attention-grabber to use at any time to settle the children down. Whatever voice the teacher uses, the children copy it when they reply.

• Teacher says: Have you brought your talking voice?
• Children say in a normal talking voice: Yes we have! Yes we have!
• Teacher sing-songs: Have you brought your singing voice?
• Children sing-song: Yes we have! Yes we have!
• Teacher whispers: Have you brought your whispering voice?
• Children whisper: Yes we have! Yes we have!
• Teacher hums: Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm?
• Children hum: Mm mm mm! Mm mm mm!
• And so on ...

Hickory Dickory Bumble Bee (rhythm)

Ideally, you need a furry bumble bee to help you to indicate which child you are focusing on. When the bumble bee looks at each child in turn, you sing, 'Hickory dickory bumble bee, won't you say your name for me? The child replies by saying their name. It's fun (and good for learning to count sounds) if you ask 'How many claps was that?' after each name is clapped. You can decide in what ways you want the children to copy the name pattern eg talking, humming, clapping, whispering.

• TEACHER - Hickory dickory bumble bee
• Won't you say your name for me?
• CHILD: Edward
• TEACHER: Everyone say it
• CHILDREN: Edward
• TEACHER: Everyone clap it
• CHILDREN: Clap clap
• TEACHER: Everyone whisper it
• CHILDREN: Edward

Getting to Know You

Pat Pat - Names (pulse)

Everyone sits in a circle, cross legged and spaced as widely as is practical. Pat your knees twice, making big movements, and then gesture in a welcoming way towards each child in turn, for just long enough for you to sing-song that child's name. Keep going, round the circle in order, until all the children have been included.

The children join in with patting their knees, in time with you. They could optionally join in with singing each child's name.

• Pat pat
• Arms wide and sing-song Holly
• Pat pat
• Arms wide and sing-song Sophie

The aim is to keep the pulse steady and keep going. If this happens, you can praise the children by saying, 'We're keeping a steady pulse going round the circle - well done!' Children are learning new words all the time and they will pick up meaning of pulse if you use it in context.

Fast, Slow and Walking! (tempo)

Mrs Crocosaurus helps to explain fast and slow tempo in terms of movement. You can follow this up with singing a song at a fast tempo, and then sing it slowly.

Copy Me (rhythm, pulse)

Using a 'sing-song' voice the teacher sings the first line, Copy me, copy me, clap like me, then claps three times, which the children copy. For subsequent lines, the teacher sings then does something different, which the children copy. The idea is that the teacher does the singing and the children copy the actions, in time with the pulse.

• Copy me, copy me, clap like me
• Copy me, copy me, stamp like me (stay sitting on bottoms)
• Copy me, copy me, tap like me (tap on knees)

Copy Kitten (pitch, rhythm, timbre)

You need a toy fluffy cat for this game. Begin by asking the children to show you all the sounds they can make using their mouths and voices. Ask them to decide which is their favourite sound and then everyone practise copying each other's sounds.

Next, teach the song with everyone sitting in a circle. Child 1 holds the furry 'Copy Kitten' and makes a sound at the end of the verse for everyone to copy. Child 1 passes Copy Kitten to the second child in the circle; all sing the song again and Child 2 makes a sound for everyone to copy, and so on.

This activity also focuses on timbre, the essential difference between sounds made in different ways.

• Copy kitten, copy kitten
• Miaow miaow hiss
• Copy kitten, copy kitten
• Sounds like this

Do you like copying games?

Here's Maestro the Music Dog playing a copying game with his new friend, Coppie the Cat.

• All Maestro the Music Dog materials ©E-MusicMaestroPublishing Limited
• Original watercolours and story: Sandy Holland
• Original music: Peter Noke

Copy Cats

Number Copy Cat (rhythm, dynamics)

Begin with clapping, asking the children to copy you (eg you clap twice - they clap twice, you clap once - they clap once). Then transfer this to other body sounds eg stamping. Next, this can transfer to untuned instruments (eg wood block, shaker), asking the children to copy the way you make the sounds. If they manage this easily, try varying between louder sounds and quieter sounds too (the term for louder/quieter is dynamics).

Name Copy Cat (rhythm)

Model how to clap the rhythm of your own name (eg Fiona = clap clap clap, Miss Jones = clap clap). Next, go round the group in a circle - say, then clap each child's name. The child claps their own name and everyone joins in. The children might notice that several names have the same number of claps.

Untuned instrument Copy Cat (timbre)

This is a music corner activity that needs an adult's help. The idea is to explore the sound (or timbre) of the instruments Put out pairs of the same instruments eg two wood blocks, two drums, two shakers.

First let pairs of children experiment to hear the different sound the instruments make. To introduce the word, timbre in context, you can say, 'The wood block has a different timbre from the drum - listen to how different they sound!' Next see if the children can guess which instrument you play if they cover their eyes.

Help Child 1 to say and play their name (Lyndsay = tap tap) on the wood block. Child 2 copies on the other wood block.

Child 2 says and plays their name on the drum (Jack Fazoli = bang bang bang bang). Child 1 copies on the other drum.

Chime Bar Copy Cat (pitch)

This is a pairs or small group activity, needing an adult. Put out any two different chime bars (C and G OR D and A, so they sound very different) in the music corner. If the chime bars are in a case, it's best to take the two out. First model for the children how to play a chime bar with a beater - the beater needs to bounce off the bar otherwise it will clunk instead of chime!

When the children have their go, it's a great opportunity to say, 'That chime bar has a higher pitch and this one has a lower pitch!' Ask which of the chime bars sounds lower and which sounds higher - the long ones sound lower than the shorter ones. It's important that the children understand that the size makes the difference, not the colour!

1/ Child 1 plays the two chime bars in any order. Child 2 copies what they do. Then swap over.

2/ Child 1 plays the two chime bars in any order. Child 2 covers eyes or turns away then guesses and copies what Child 1 did. Swap over.

A Dance With Friends! (structure)

Here's a circle dance with different actions that fit with each section of the music, helping to draw attention to the structure of the music. The music is from Rondo Alla Turca by Mozart, the second movement from his piano Sonata in A major. A rondo has a tune that keeps coming back at least three times, interspersed with different tunes, but I have not included the whole movement here, for the sake of simplicity.

When I started teaching this dance I thought the children would never get it, yet after just a few tries they were managing pretty well and loving it! The idea is that doing a different movement to each part of the music helps draw attention to its structure.

Free Dance

After the structured dance, I asked the children to do their own dance and there's an interesting variety of responses. One little boy who had just started nursery was a bit bewildered and walked around but, towards the end you can see one of the older boys (having slid around a bit previously) spontaneously clapping in time with the pulse of the music.

Hide and Seek (tempo)

Ask the children to find one of these things, hidden around the room (hide more objects than children eg 6 white spoons, 3 pink mice, 6 blue beanbags)

For this game, play The Runaway Rocking Horse by Edward White. First the children listen, without moving, to the slow introduction. When the tempo becomes fast, they go and seek. When the music stops they sit down with what they have found.

To put away what they have found, the children listen again to the slow introduction then put the objects away in the right place as the quicker music plays. If the music is still playing, they sit down and watch the video. The music is played on an organ, which is interesting for the children to watch as many will not have seen an organ.

Scary Hide and Seek! (tempo)

The children watch the video of Hide and Seek by Schumann, played on piano, looking out for the eyes peeping from the trees! The could watch again and count how many pairs of eyes they see. Where was the quickest part of the music?

Quick and Slow Sounds (tempo)

Every child needs something that makes a sound - an instrument, a 'found sound' such as a rustly bag, or body sounds eg clapping hands. The teacher is the conductor - when you make big, slow hand movements, the children make slow, smooth sounds and when you make quick, jumpy hand movements they play quickly. Keep changing randomly from one to the other.

My Hand-print Tree

Use finger paint in a tray. Each child puts the palms of their hands into the paint, then presses them onto a big piece of paper, with their name on, to make six prints. When the paint is dry, cut out the handprints. Each child paints a brown tree-trunk on paper and sticks the prints at the top, like leaves.

A poem and picture about me! (literacy link)

Everyone, including the teachers, make a picture or yourself to show how you look in the mirror!

• In the mirror on the wall
• There’s a face I always see
• Round and pink, and rather small
• Looking back again at me
• It’s very rude to stare
• But she never thinks of that
• For her eyes are always there
• What can she be looking at?

What Would You Like To Be? (PSED Link)

What sort of person would the children like to be? Here's a version of a song that we used to sing in my family when my sister and I were children. I wanted to be a cowboy so that I could ride horses all day and rescue people from danger (I didn't realise it had anything to do with cows or being a boy!) It's an opportunity for the children to talk about what kind of person they want to be when they grow up.

Who is Maestro the Music Dog?

Here's Maestro the Music Dog, having an adventure in the playground. Every class needs a Maestro Dog!

Maestro Likes to Hear Us Sing (singing in tune & pulse)

Everyone sit in a circle. Put Maestro the Music Dog in the middle of the circle. The song uses just your sing-song voice. To teach it, sing one line at a time in a first me, then you way. Ask the children to listen carefully and sing exactly the same notes as you. Persevere with reminding the children sing in tune because even very young children can, if the song is simple enough. Demonstrate not-in-tune! If you sing it wrong on purpose, the children will enjoy correcting you!

• MAE-stro LIKES to HEAR us SING
• IN the MID-dle OF the RING

When the children know the song, everyone tap the pulse using hands on knees. Tap on the CAPITAL LETTER part of the words above, and use big movements so that the children can copy you. Remember to tell the children, 'Well done with clapping the pulse,' so that they learn the word, pulse.

Passing Maestro On

On another day when the song is secure, every time you all clap, Maestro is passed from one child to the next, naming each child, like this:

• Maestro likes to hear us sing
• Pass him on to Lay-la (or Jon-a-than, and so on)

My Puppy

Here's a poem for children to chant rhythmically and you can help them to keep a steady pulse by tap their knees on the strong beats (shown in capitals).

• My PUPPY has a WIGGLY tail
• He WAGS it when he’s HAPPY
• But WHEN my kitten WAVES her tail
• It MEANS she's feeling SNAPPY

Pass the Animals Round the Ring

Everyone sit in a circle. Have several plush animals in front of you, fewer animals than children. First, go through who the animals are: Who is this? ... Yes it's Froggy! The children need to know what each animal is before you begin. Pass an animal to each child, one at a time, ask in a sing-song voice 'Who's got the elephant?' and model how to reply, 'I've got the elephant'.

Next teach the song a bit at a time, using First Me, Then You. When the song is known, pass one animal to the child on your right, who passes it to the next child, and so on. When you can see that the first animal is moving round, pass another one. If your group is around 15 children you need maybe 7 animals, otherwise you'll find one child holding onto a whole zoo! Before starting each new verse, it helps the children to start all together if you first sing, Ready! on the note you'll begin with. Here are a few favourite characters from my plush animal collection:

• Pass the animals round the ring
• round the ring
• round the ring
• Pass the animals round the ring
• And then STOP
• Teacher: Who's got the tiger?
• Child: I've got the tiger

This was the children's first attempt. The song quickly became their favourite and they organised it for themselves when I wasn't there!

Here's the Froggy Again!

The children can do actions to this little song. If you can use an outdoor space the children can be spread out. In a hall, each child can have a hula-hoop 'water lily' to sit in and do their hopping and jumping.

• A little frog in the pond am I
• Hippety hippety hop
• And I can jump in the air so high
• Hippety hippety hop

Tommy Tucker's Dog

The song is easy to learn if you teach it a step at a time, First me, then you. You have to be up for a challenge to teach the movements, but it's all good fun! (Watch the video first and try the actions out yourself with a partner.)

When the children know the song reasonably well, put them into pairs and sort out who will cross their hands (this is the tricky bit) and in which direction they will turn. At this point the singing tends to deteriorate and you'll need to do a bit more work on it. Eventually it will all come together and the singing will be good as well as the movements being great fun. There is a 'progressive' version of this game in which each child turns 180 degrees to a new partner after every verse but, unless you are braver than I am, I think you will decide not to try it with this age-group!

• Bow wow woo
• Whose dog are you?
• Little Tommy Tucker's Dog
• Bow wow woo

Here's one of our early attempts!

Solo Version

You can easily do this game without the children having partners. The children all stand in a space, inside their own hula hoop. The actions are similar to the paired game so that they can transfer readily, at some point, into working with a partner:

• Bow wow woo - clap hands
• Whose dog are you? - point ahead and wag your finger
• Little Tommy Tucker's Dog - turn around
• Bow wow woo - clap hands

A Great Big Pig

The best way to teach this song is to use the first me, then you method, taking a line at a time and starting with just the words (Check that the children understand the word, 'sty'):

• A great big pig once lived in a sty
• And three little piggies had she
• She waddled about saying 'Oink oink oink'
• While the little ones said 'Wee! Wee!'

Big Pig, Little Piglet - Music corner activity

Loud and Quiet Pigs! (dynamics)

Put out a selection of instruments. In pairs the children each choose an instrument - one loud for the big pig and one quiet for the little piglets. Make up a little sequence together:

Big Pig (loud) - Piglets (quiet) - Big Pig (loud)

Then swap over instruments and try again.

Fast and Slow Pigs! (tempo)

Make up another sequence:

Big Pig (play slowly) – Piglets (play quickly) – Big Pig (slowly)

Swap instruments and try again.

Piggy Sounds to Symbols

To begin helping children to relate sounds to symbols, have finger paint and big sheets of paper ready. Ask the children make pictures of their three sounds, in a row, in the order they played them (eg loud-quiet-loud). They will need to think how a loud sound might look different from a quiet one, and how quick sounds can be shown as different from slow ones.

Your Piggy Song (pitch, structure)

Everyone practise making high pitch and low pitch piggy sounds: grunt, squeal, running on trotters, talking 'like a pig' and so on. Make a 'pig sty' out of boxes then give each child the chance to go inside the pig sty and make up their own piggy song using words and noises.

Big Pig, Little Piglet - Solo Version

For 'Loud & Quiet Pigs' and 'Fast & Slow Pigs', the children listen to the song first then individual children choose just one instrument each for making up the sequences. You will need to put out instruments that are capable of playing loud and quiet, and fast and slow. 'Piggy Sounds to Symbols' is essentially a solo activity.

Who Said Mice? (dynamics)

Watch the video and listen to this music about a cat and a mouse. What do the children think is happening when the music gets louder? In pairs create a 'still image' of the cat and the mouse. (A still image is like a snapshot of something happening, frozen in time, that shows how each person or animal is feeling and what they are doing.)

Tortoises (tempo, texture, timbre)

Everyone listen to Tortoises from the Carnival of the Animals by the composer Saint-Saens. The children move their arms and legs on all fours, as slowly as a tortoise, then pretend to go to sleep at the end. You may notice that the tune is a slowed down version of the Can-Can tune!

Ask what makes the music 'sound like' the way tortoises move. You can introduce the phrase 'slow tempo'. Draw attention to the piano playing at the start of Tortoises and listen as it continues in a plodding way at the same time as the other instruments (more instruments creating a thicker texture). If you have a piano available, let the children hear the sound when they press the keys. Then take off the big panel under the keyboard and ask them to say how it sounds different when they pluck or strum the strings (don't worry - pianos are very robust!).

Maestro the Music Dog and the Christmas Tree

This story just happens to be set at Christmas time but it has no religious connotations - it's just a bit of make-believe.

• All Maestro the Music Dog materials ©Music-Playtime: Arts Enterprise Limited
• Original watercolours and story: Sandy Holland
• Original music: Peter Noke

Choose a Sound for Maestro (timbre)

Ask the children to make a wax crayon picture of each of the characters in the story. In the music corner, put out a range of instruments that make different sounds and are played in different ways then, individually, the children choose an instrument that they would like to match with that each character. It's good to have an adult available so that the children can talk about how they made their choices.

Music Dog

This song is sung to the tune of Jingle Bells:

• Music Dog Music Dog
• Maestro is his name
• Maestro came at Christmas time
• To live with Hannah Lane
• Oh!
• Music Dog Music Dog
• Maestro likes to play
• Hannah Lane was happy
• That he came on Christmas Day

• All Maestro the Dog materials ©Music-Playtime: Arts Enterprise Limited

Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star

To the tune of Twinkle Twinkle, a firm favourite with children and an ideal song for the children to mime.

• Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star
• Way up high is where you are
• Shining bright for us to see
• On the top of the Christmas tree
• Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star
• Way up high is where you are

Hannah Played Piano (structure)

Here's an action chant about the Maestro story. The children do actions for both verses - I suggest actions but you can, of course, make up your own. For verse 2, hand out some jingle bells to a few children to play on the second line.

• Hannah played piano (piano arms, out and in)
• Charlie played the bells (shake arms up and down)
• Maestro came at Christmas time (look into the distance, shading eyes)
• That's what the story tells! (pretend to read the book)
• __
• Clap our hands for Hannah (clap hands)
• Then we shake the bells (shake arms up and down)
• Point up to the Christmas star (point upwards)
• That's what the story tells! (pretend to read the book)

• All Maestro the Music Dog materials ©Music-Playtime: Arts Enterprise Limited

We Wish You a Merry Christmas (pulse, rhythm)

The tune is the one we know and love, so there's no recording, but the words are different and there are actions to be done in time with the word, LET'S in each verse.

• We wish you a Merry Christmas
• We wish you a Merry Christmas
• We wish you a Merry Christmas
• And a Happy New Year
• __
• Now LET'S all do a little clapping
• Now LET'S all do a little clapping
• Now LET'S all do a little clapping
• And spread Christmas cheer
• __
• Now LET'S all do a little jumping
• Now LET'S all do a little jumping
• Now LET'S all do a little jumping
• And spread Christmas cheer
• __
• Now LET'S do a little waving
• Now LET'S do a little waving
• Now LET'S do a little waving
• And spread Christmas cheer

Christmas Instruments (timbre, dynamics, tempo, texture)

This is a for groups of three or four that can be done as a class if you have teaching assistants, or as a music corner activity. First put out a range of instruments and objects such as jingle bells, wood blocks, shakers, chime bars, shells on a string, paper for rustling. The activity has added value if an adult supplies the children with useful words to describe what they are doing eg loud/quiet, fast/slow.Then ask the children to find out how the instruments can make Christmas music.

The suggestions made by the children here included the sound of a tree (who are we to argue?), snow falling, reindeer 'feet', Santa singing and laughing, sleigh bells, a clock striking midnight.

The Snow group

This group decided to make Snow Music. Notice that they all played at the same time (thick texture) and that some children varied how they played their instrument.

The Santa group

The children in this group were asked to create a musical story line. They talked first about how they could show it was midnight (the bells chiming midnight), then came reindeer hooves on the rooftop (wooden claves), Santa and the elves laughing and singing (chime bars and voice), and finally sleigh bells as they all go off into the sky again. Notice the thinner texture when they play one at a time and how this changes at the end when they all play bells.

Peer Evaluation

It's not too early to begin asking the children to comment on the musical creations and performances of other groups. You'll hear me ask this group what they liked, for the first time, after the Santa group's performance. Whatever the children say is fine so accept all responses as valuable. It's a great to hear how these children realised straight away that they could talk (however simply) about music.

Spontaneity

I hadn't planned beforehand that we would sing Jingle Bells but didn't they enjoy it? This was my final session with this lovely group of children.

The Nutcracker

Hannah and Charlie were playing Christmas music on Christmas Eve. A piece of music from a ballet that is often performed at Christmas time is The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky, about a nutcracker toy that also arrived on Christmas Eve. Here's the part of the story where Clara, the girl in the story, finds the nutcracker. Clara goes to sleep and dreams that some little mice are dancing. The children could watch this video first, then listen to the music again and dance to it, pretending to be the little mice with one child (or a doll to prevent falling out!) chosen to be Clara.

Mouse Music (pitch, tempo)

Input from an adult is recommended for initial discussion about what sort of sounds small animals make with their feet and voices. The children could work individually or in pairs, first choosing instruments that make high-pitched, quiet sounds then creating a little piece of quick-moving music. A keyboard can be useful here, or a set of chime bars. Many children start to make up a story-line as the basis of their playing and later they might paint or draw a representation of the story or the sounds.

Christmas Elves (structure, tempo)

An Elf and Fairy Dance

Wrist bells needed - you can buy a pack of ten online, with small size adjustable fastenings.

This picture is from a very old Christmas card. The elves and fairies are doing a circle dance on the toadstool. In a large space such as a hall, help the children to dance a simple circle dance, accompanied by the bells on their wrists. They need to be evenly spaced for the dance with lots of room to shake their bells as you say the words that give the instructions:

• elves and fairies walk in a ring, this way (circle anticlockwise, then turn)
• elves and fairies walk in a ring, this way (circle clockwise)
• elves and fairies face the middle and clap your hands (clap clap clap)
• everyone bow to the fairy queen and then sit down.

A Maestro Frieze (art link)

Make a frieze all around the room of characters from the Maestro story that the children have painted. These could alternate with potato stencil 'paw prints' using potatoes that you have prepared in advance, dipped into a tray of finger paint.

The Chinese Zodiac Story

Tell the story of how the Jade Emperor chose the animals of the Chinese New Year. You can learn or read the story using the Chinese Zodiac Animals pdf download.

Chinese New Year Song

I sing the Year of the Tiger here but, depending on which year it is, please choose the appropriate animal from the Chinese Zodiac. The song is best sung unaccompanied but the tune is easy to work out and play on the black keys of a keyboard or piano, if you have one available.

• It's New Year in China
• So we hear
• It's the year of the .........
• Happy New Year

• Chinese New Year Song ©Arts Enterprise Limited

Chinese Happy New Year Song

This Chinese Happy New Year Song was sung, in Mandarin language, especially for us by Cheung Cheuk Hei Gordon from Hong Kong. Mandarin is the official language used in China, including Hong Kong, but Cantonese is often used and preferred for conversation in Hong Kong. Here are the words in English:

• Every street, everybody's mouth
• The first sentence to meet is congratulations!
• Congratulations! Congratulations! ...

This is how the words look in Mandarin Chinese characters:

• 每條大街小巷 每個人的嘴裡
• 見面第一句話 就是恭喜恭喜
• 恭喜恭喜恭喜你呀 恭喜恭喜
• 恭喜你
• 恭喜恭喜恭喜你呀 恭喜恭喜
• 恭喜你

Catch The Dragon's Tail

A traditional Chinese children's game for you.

Teaching in China (rhythm, pulse, structure)

Here's an idea from Michael Roxas, teaching little children to speak English in a playful way, using an action song. The musical value is in matching actions with the rhythm, pulse and structure of a song. It's also an ideal way to help children whose first language is not English, who attend an English-speaking school.

Learning through songs is very powerful - I know the German alphabet much better than the French one because that's how I learned it! The song used here is Frere Jacques, a tune you will know, so you could also use this model to create your own action song for things you want the children to learn, such as right and left. It's important to have a helper to do the actions in front of the children, facing the same way as the children otherwise left and right will become very confusing! Here's an example:

• Wave your right hand
• Wave your left hand
• Touch your nose
• Touch your toes
• Now stand on your right foot
• Now stand on your left foot
• Sit down please
• Stand up please

Songs like this are best sung unaccompanied (as are most songs for this age-group) - this gives you much more freedom to stop and start according to the children's needs.

Be a Dragon! (tempo, pulse)

Choose one child to be the dragon's head, wearing a dragon hat or mask that you have previously made. As you all listen to the Chinese Festival music, the children dance in a space on their own, pretending to be dragons. Only the child with the dragon's head moves around the room and each child she passes by joins the chain as the children, one by one, hold each other round round the waist, becoming a long dragon in a procession. Ideally, every child will take a turn at being the dragon's head over the next few days.

Which Animal? (pitch)

First ask the children to listen to the music and to stretch up high when they hear high sounds and crouch down low then they hear low sounds. You will need to model this as the children join in with you because many children of this age will have no concept of low and high pitch in music.

Before the next part of the activity, you'll need to have shown the children pictures or videos of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, and discussed how they sound and move. As the children listen again, ask them to move around the room pretending to be the animal they think of when they hear the music. You could circulate and guess which animal each child is being, asking individual children to show what they were doing, for others to guess too.

Pentatonic Tune by Bartok (played on piano, which has become a very popular instrument in China).

The Panda

This Chinese music is about everyone's favourite bear, The Panda!

Make Chinese Fans (art link)

You need rectangular pieces of paper around 40cm by 15cm. The children make Chinese pictures choosing from these alternatives:

• Use wax crayons to draw tree branches and leaves, then finger paint to add blossom
• Painted dragons
• Wax crayon lanterns

Next, fold the paper like an accordion to make fans. Secure the fan at the bottom by wrapping it with a thin strip of paper, glued in place. Pull out the folds to make the fan.

The Chinese Zodiac Story

Tell the story of how the Jade Emperor chose the animals of the Chinese New Year.

What's That Noise? (timbre)

What sound could this be? The children guess. It's a dinosaur (well not really, but it might have sounded like this!)

Timbre

Timbre is the distinctive sound that enables us to tell one voice, instrument or sound apart from another eg mum's voice sounds different from teacher's voice. Animals do this too, of course - lambs and ewes recognise each other's sound from all the other sheep in the flock.

Dinosaur Rhythms (rhythm, pulse)

With everyone sitting in a circle, first model (demonstrate) for the children how to clap some dinosaur names. I've chosen three that sound different because they have a different number of syllables. Then everyone tap a steady pulse on knees as you say the names in random order and the children clap the name-rhythms in response, like this:

• Rex
• Rap-tor
• Din-o-saur

I find that the children enjoy saying how many claps each word has. The youngest children take a while to learn to count sounds and may randomly say the first number that comes into their heads. They soon learn from other children by hearing the right answers, and saying and clapping each name twice also helps.

Dinosaur Lullaby (timbre, pitch)

First ask the children Have you brought your talking voice? Get them into the habit of replying Yes we have, Yes we have! Then teach Dinosaur Lullaby using sleepy voices for the first two lines, with a scary roar at the end of line 3, then a Mummy speaking voice for the last line, when the children all stand up. You can choose a small group of children to be Mummy Dinosaur. Sophie wanted Daddy Dinosaur to have his turn at roaring too so we did it again!

• Dinosaur asleep in bed
• Has a pillow for his head
• In the morning mummy roars
• Get up little dinosaurs!

And this is what we did with the song ...

Extension

The children could learn to play the tune on chime bars using G and E.

• Dinosaur Lullaby ©Music-Playtime: Arts Enterprise Limited

Dinosaurs' Jaws and Paws (rhythm, pulse)

Mime a Dinosaur

First of all say the words in a rhythmical way and show the children how to mime the actions of 'great big jaws and pointy teeth', 'little paws and great big feet' and looking horrified (or pleased, or excited) if you saw one one your street.

Body Percussion Dinosaur

Everyone practise tapping knees straight after you say the words, pointy teeth, great big feet and on your street. Then ask the children to make body sounds too, at the end of each verse eg 'little paws and great big feet' could be lighly clapping hands and then stamping feet.

Instruments Dinosaur

Divide the group into three and give out different sounding instruments to each group. After the last line of each verse, the corresponding group plays:

• pointy teeth - claves (tap, tap, tap)
• great big feet - drums (boom, boom ,boom)
• on your street - bells/tambourines (sshhhhaakkke)

• Dinosaurs have
• Great big jaws and
• pointy teeth
• ___
• Dinosaurs have
• Little paws and
• Great big feet
• ___
• What would you do
• If you saw one
• On your street?

Sing the Song (pitch)

Finally, sayHave you brought your singing voice? and teach the tune too. When this is known the children could add the instruments or boady percussion again, at the end of each verse.

• Dinosaurs Jaws and Paws ©Music-Playtime: Arts Enterprise Limited

Dinosaur Body Sounds (dynamics)

What body quiet/loud sounds can we make with our hands? (washing hands movement: quiet clapping: loud). With our feet? (stamp: loud, shuffle: quiet). With our voices?

With everyone in a circle, the teacher alternates, at random, saying:

• Some dinosaurs are quiet (children make quiet sounds)
• Some dinosaurs are loud (children make loud sounds)

Loud and Quiet Dinosaurs (dynamics)

Here are some ways in which the children can explore dynamics. For the best learning experience, children need to talk about what they are doing, with the teacher there to supply new words. This works well in a small, supervised group. Ask the children to:

• Find out how to play a drum louder: hit it from a greater height, then quieter: hit it closer to the instrument.
• find an instrument that makes quiet sounds
• find an instrument that makes loud sounds
• find an instrument that can make loud AND quiet sounds

Next demonstrate, then encourage children to play the rhythm of Din-o-saur with a little wait in between each time (shake, shake, shake … shake, shake, shake)

Everyone sit in a circle with an instrument each. When the leader plays loudly the children play loudly. When the leader plays quietly, they play quietly.

Book suggestion

Noisy Dinosaurs – Noisy Books (Board book) by Felicity Brooks ISBN 9780746097847 Publisher: Usborne

What sort of songs do dinosaurs sing? (pitch)

This is each child's chance to take a turn at making up a dinosaur song. First you will need to model how to make high and low vocal sounds then ask the children take turns at making up a dinosaur family song using high and low sounds. Don't worry about whether the children will be able to think what to do because this is an improvising activity where they make up and structure the sounds as they go on.

Dinosaur Hunt (mathematics, counting and sorting)

Use Early Years Dinosaur Counters (eg C&D make). Hide different coloured dinosaurs all around the room and provide same-colour boxes. When the children find a dinosaur they put it in the matching-colour box. Count the dinosaurs up in each box at the end of the morning/afternoon.

The Music Dog Goes Round and Round (pulse)

Our pets are part of the family too! Here's a passing game and song about Maestro the Music Dog. I start off here with tapping the pulse on knees and many children eventually learn to pass the music dog in time with the pulse of the music.

Instrument Twins (timbre)

You need a set of identically paired instruments that make a different sound (timbre) eg two drums, two wood blocks, two scrapers, two maracas. Supposing you have six pairs of instruments, give one of each pair to a child, invite them to explore the sound the instruments make and help the children to name them all.

Put the other set of identical instruments behind a screen, keeping the others in the circle. One child hides behind a screen and plays an instrument from the identical set.

Ask the children 'Which instrument was that?' (invite hands up). Ask both children holding the identical instruments to make a sound on them again. Then a different child hides behind the screen and the game begins again.

Organisational hint - ask the children who have already played to put the instrument behind their back so they are not tempted to continue playing it once you have moved the game on to the next pair.

Copy Cats

Copy Cat Mirrors (structure)

This is a game to be played standing up, facing the children. The aim is for the children to copy you, as if in a mirror, as you do a sequence of movements. First you do one action and the children copy it after you, then you do a different action for them to copy. Next you do both actions over and over again without stopping as the children copy you at the same time, as if in a mirror. Build up to four movements, then do them again without stopping.

Copy Cat Sounds (dynamics, pitch, duration)

Next, you might do some movements with sounds, such as clapping and stamping, as well as some without sounds, such as touching your shoulders. You could vary loud and quiet dynamics, high-pitched and low-pitched vocal sounds and long-duration and short-duration sounds.

Long and Short Sounds (duration)

Start with modelling short and long sounds, before asking the children to experiment, with a partner, making short and long sounds. Next you could teach the song, Some sounds are Short. Finally, ask the children to take turns with their partner at making short and long sounds, first with body sounds and voices and later with instruments.

• Some sounds are short
• Some sounds are long
• Which sound will you make
• After the song?

Music Corner Sorting activity (timbre, dynamics, duration)

Pairs of children go to the music corner, with an adult, and sort the instruments into families. It's an open-ended choice because they can base their sorting on similar-timbre sounds, on whether the instruments can play short or long sounds, or make loud or quiet sounds, or on what they are made of eg wood or metal.

Conversations (timbre, dynamics, tempo and PSED link)

What kinds of conversations can you have with your friends, teachers, mums, dads?

Role Play In pairs, the children have a pretend conversation using puppets. The teacher could model this first, using a puppet in either hand.

With their partners, the children then make their puppets have a conversation by playing an instrument instead of talking to each other. Were the puppets asking questions, just chatting, or arguing? How does your partner's puppet feel about ...?

Rock-a-Bye Maybe (tempo)

This little baby will not go to sleep! First let the children listen to the music and ask them if they recognise any of the tunes. Then they children move around the room, changing their speed as the speed of the music changes. Ask the children why they think the music is called Rock-a-Bye-Maybe? Encourage them to use describing words such as fast, slow, loud, quiet, smooth, jumpy.

Berceuse from Dolly Suite by Faure (mood & character in dynamics & tempo)

The title of this music is Berceuse, which is the French word for lullaby. It's played here as a piano duet by brothers, Lucas and Arthur Jussen. The children each stand in a hoop, which is their 'baby's cradle', and make expressive movements to the music using their floaty scarf. They should move very quietly and not too quickly to the music. You can buy a set of different coloured dance scarves very cheaply or, if you cut up a large piece of chiffon, each strip makes a floaty scarf.

Lullaby Corner (dynamics, tempo)

Put out a range of tuned and untuned percussion instruments in the music corner. In small groups, the children work in pairs, taking turns to make Lullaby sounds that are quiet and sleepy and Wake Up! sounds that are louder and quicker. They might then show the other children in the group, who guess whether the sound is Lullaby or Wake Up!

The Three Bears (pitch)

Tell the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. You could tell this from memory or use the suggested story book. Whichever way you choose, it would be great if you could differentiate each character strongly by high, low or medium pitch voices. Afterwards you could ask the children about the three bears' different voices:

• Which bear had the highest voice? The children could think of of words to describe baby bear's high voice: high is like a cat's mew, a tweeting bird, a tinkling bell.
• Low is like a dog's growl, grumbling thunder, a big drum … the children could think of more.

Tip - High and low pitch are often confused with loud and quiet volume, like the TV.

My Little Bear

This is a counting song to the tune of Alice the Camel.

• My little bear has one nose
• My little bear has one nose
• My little bear has one nose
• I love my little bear
• __
• My little bear has two eyes
• __
• My little bear has two ears
• __
• My little bear has four legs
• __
• My little bear has four paws

We don't sing all the verses here because it was the first time the children had sung My Little Bear but you can listen to it all here:

Walking speed (tempo)

After the song, I took the opportunity to add on an activity that demonstrated slow speed and walking speed by passing the bear round the circle.

High & Low Bears Chant (pitch)

To encourage the children to control the pitch of their voices, recognising high and low, point to baby bear and mummy bear in the picture, switching from one to the other. Everyone chants:

• Baby Bear are you there? (high voice)
• Mummy Bear are you there? (lower voice)

What would Daddy Bear sound like? Why do bigger bears have lower voices? The children could compare chime bars - the longest bars have the lowest pitch.

Bounce the Teddy (pulse, pitch)

You need one teddy for this passing game. Children love taking their turn at bouncing the teddy and you'll see that some children will naturally bounce the teddy in time with the pulse of the song. The tune is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star but we began by chanting the words and helping the children to bounce the teddy at the right time and then pass it on.

High and Low Bears (pitch)

You'll need two chime bars, the smallest and the largest to give a significant difference in pitch. Play each chime bar for a few seconds, alternating between the two as the children move around the room into a space, putting their hands high in the air for high sounds, and crawling low down for low sounds. It's good to give the children the correct words, high pitch and low pitch, when you first demonstrate what to do.

You could play to the rhythm, in your head, of any phrase (eg Walking like a teddy bear). It's important to play at the same speed and loudness to avoid confusion over what high and low pitch means.

High and low Sounds (pitch, dynamics)

Put out some pairs of musical instruments and pairs of everyday objects that can make a high or low sound eg big/small chime bars, big drum/little bells, little plastic bottle/big plastic bottle, big kitchen pan, little kitchen pan. Remember to put out beaters too. These are things that you could ask the children to explore:

• Which are higher/lower in pitch?
• Which size makes the highest/lowest sounds?
• Put them in order of high to low.
• Do the high-sounding things sound louder too, or not? (Larger = greater capacity for loudness, but can also make quiet sounds. Small = lesser capacity for loud sounds.)

Make a sequence

In pairs, or in a small supervised group, children play:

• High / low / high

Then change the sequence to:

• Low / high / low

Hint - It's really helpful if you model the activity first - as you play the high note, sing: This is a high note, then as you play the low note, sing: This is a low note. Children can easily distinguish high from low pitch, even as babies, but they need lots of opportunities to understand the words high and low in relation to pitch. High and low in music always describes pitch, never volume.

More sequences (dynamics, timbre, tempo, duration)

What other sequences could the children make up? They could experiment with using different instruments, or body sounds, for sequences focusing on these elements:

• Loud / quiet / loud (dynamics eg using drums)
• scratchy / hollow / scratchy (timbre eg using found objects)
• fast / slow / fast (tempo eg using claves)
• long / short / long (duration - you'll need an instrument that can make a long sound, eg jingle bells)

Here's an example of hollow / scratchy / hollow using found sounds:

Graphic Scores (structure)

This is an ideal opportunity for the children to make graphic scores of their sequences, using whatever medium you choose. This is Holly's graphic score of Loud Quiet Loud.

Holly wrote the words, loud quiet loud on her score but, if the scores have no writing, it's fun for the pairs of children to swap and try to re-create the original meaning in music. You may be surprised at how accurate they are!

Teddy Day (pitch)

Every child could bring in a teddy on an agreed day (please have spares in case anyone forgets or doesn't have a teddy). Ask the children, using your sing-song voice, to tell their teddies what to do today using their sing-song voices. At the end of the day, each child makes up a little lullaby to put teddy to bed. You could suggest the words:

• Sleepy time for teddy bears
• Time to go to bed

Paper Plate Bear (art)

You can used a variety of material, depending on the bear you want. Each child needs a selection of these:

• one paper plate
• tissue paper (brown bears and noses
• cotton wool balls (polar bear)
• eyes (felt circles, tissue paper or bought 'eyes')
• glue

Here's Lindsay's polar bear!

One Two Buckle My Shoe - three ways!

Pulse

A rhyme for going places! It's ideal for doing actions or for tapping knees in time with the pulse. You'll need to model keeping a steady pulse by doing big actions for the children to copy. Here's how it sounds:

Rhythm

The children encounter the same rhythms again later in this unit, in the Creative Music section so this chant is good preparation, followed by later consolidation. Once the children know the words, they can tap out the rhythms too - I suggest you do this just one line at a time in a First Me, Then You way.

Pitch

You can also sing-song this rhyme:

• One two, buckle my shoe
• Three four, open the door
• Five six, picking up sticks
• Seven eight, go through the gate
• Nine ten, say it again!

On the Bus - for developing listening skills

This is an active listening game, good for expending some energy. First, lay parallel lengths of skipping rope to make the 'road', the 'bus' and the 'train'. With the children facing you, show the 'road' in the middle, the train on one side and the bus on the other side and have a little practice moving from one to the other. To play the game, call out in random order:

• 'On the bus'
• 'On the train'
• 'In the road'

It's surprising how much fun this game can be!

Can You Hear the Train? (dynamics, tempo)

The original song, included here with the permission of Lancashire Music Service, the original publishers, was just one verse but I liked it so much that I made up extra ones. When the children know the song, practise singing it slowly and then gradually quicker.

After singing the song, everyone chant 'Chugging along, chugging along' starting slowly and quietly then getting louder and quicker as the train comes closer, then gradually slower and quieter as the train goes away. The teacher leads the tempo (speed) and dynamics (volume changes) by making a big arc shape with arm movements. For the changes in loud and quiet, encourage whispering through to loud voices, but never shouting.

• Can you hear the train?
• Can you hear the train?
• Speeding through the town and then
• Slowing down again
• __
• Can you hear the bus?
• Can you hear the bus?
• Taking children home from school
• Hope it stops for us
• __
• Can you hear the plane?
• Can you hear the plane?
• Taking us on holiday
• Hope it doesn't rain
• __
• Can you hear the car?
• Can you hear the car?
• Driving to the swimming pool
• Hope it isn't far

Lightly Row

This tune seems to appear in virtually every tutor book for every instrument so it's really well-known but I didn't realise for years that it's actually an old song! Verse 1 lends itself to doing rowing and gliding actions and verse 2 could have splashing and swimming actions. I've altered some of the words to make them more suitable for children.

• Lightly row, lightly row
• Over the glassy waves we go
• Smoothly glide, smoothly glide
• On the silent tide
• __
• Watch me splashing in the sea
• Swimming round so easily
• Then I float in our boat
• On the salty sea

Roll the Ball (pulse, tempo, structure)

For this game, you need sing-song voices and medium sized, spongy balls, one between two. In pairs, the children sit facing each other with wide, outstretched legs and feet touching. The idea is to roll the ball in time with the singing, giving an idea of timing and structure. The best way to teach this is to model it with one of the children as your partner.

Hint - there's a little wait, just enough time to take a big breath, after the word 'again'. If the children rush on, you can put in an extra word 'and' before starting the next time.

• Roll the ball
• Hold it still
• Roll it back again

Hi-Lo, Hi-Lo (pitch)

You need hula hoops for this game, enough for one per child, and a fairly large space is needed to lay them on the ground. Although I don't generally use a piano much in my teaching, it's useful for this game because there's a lot of difference between high and low pitch notes (cover the middle keys with a cloth so that they can't be used). If you don't have a piano, use the longest and shortest chime bars you have, or the biggest xylophone (take the middle bars off first). You will first need to play and sing some high and low pitched notes and name them as high or low until the children begin to understand that it's pitch that changes, not volume - the game then reinforces their perception of pitch.

Everyone sings the song as they walk round and round, weaving in between the hoops. At the end of each verse, choose a different child to come out and play either very high or very low notes. If the note is high, the children jump into a 'boat' (a hoop) and stretch up high, and if the note is low, they crouch down low in the 'sea' (not in a hoop).

Down the Road (pulse)

A song for practising walking in time to a song.

• Down the road
• Down the road
• Everybody walk together
• Down the road

The Train (pulse, rhythm, tempo)

First say the poem and encourage the children to walk in time to the beat by copying you - they will need lot of practice doing this but it's good practice for keeping a steady pulse!

Next, demonstrate how to the make the rhythm of the word, tickerty-tack by slapping hands on thighs (easier than clapping). Then help the children to do the same – this is great for motor skills because it involves alternating hands!

Say the poem every day for a while, teaching it a line at a time if necessary. Practise starting slowly and very gradually speeding up, like the train gathering speed. Remember to say something like, 'We're making the tempo faster and faster,' so that the children learn the meaning of tempo from the context.

• Tickerty-tack, over the track
• Far away, puffing all day
• Tickerty-too, hurry up, do!
• People can't wait, mustn't be late
• __
• Tickerty-tack, nickerty-nack
• Speeding along, singing a song
• Tickerty-tackerty, pickerty-packerty
• Tickerty-tackerty, TOCK!

My Train Music (structure, rhythm, texture)

When they know the poem, the children can go in pairs or small groups to the music corner to make up their own train music, choosing untuned percussion instruments. At this stage I wouldn't expect all the children to be capable of using 'tickerty-tack' rhythms but that's not important - their music will mean something to them! If the children can work in pairs or groups they might create different textures by playing instruments on their own and also together. Giving a basic structure to the task can enhance creativity (rather than limit it, as you might expect) and you could ask the children to follow a simple story board:

• The whistle blows
• The train starts up
• The train goes very slowly up the hill
• The train comes quickly down the hill
• The train stops

Train Music

Pleasure Train by Johann Strauss II (tempo)

During the 1860s the Southern Railway in Austria ran popular 'pleasure trains', offering surprise journeys with mystery destinations. The title of this piece in the original German language is Vergnügungszug - Polka-schnell, meaning Pleasure Train - Quick Polka. The polka is a lively dance and this one was composed by the younger Johann Strauss (the elder Johann Strauss being his dad) for a grand ball, held in 1864.

I was very surprised to notice that all the musicians in the video are men! There are statistical gender differences in girls' and boys' choices of which instrument they would choose to learn but most European and USA orchestras actually employ a fairly equal balance of men and women.

What to do (tempo, pitch)

The children could imagine where they would like to go on a train journey with friends. Then put them in little groups of three or four to play follow-my-leader, moving quickly as they listen to the music. It is good for the children to watch the video too to become familiar with which instruments make the sounds - ask them if they can spot the glockenspiel. You may have a glockenspiel at school - they are identified by having shiny, smooth metal bars whereas xylophones have wooden bars and metallophones have frosted metal bars.

This is a good time for the children to explore any tuned instruments you have available and for you to help with describing words for high pitched notes, low pitched notes and playing at a fast or slow tempo. Children need lots of exploration and feedback to reinforce the concept of high and low meaning pitch as in notes, not volume as in loudness.

Playing outside (PSHE)

The children may be lucky enough to have a play-train in an outside play area. If not you can improvise using chairs put in pairs to make train seats in a carriage. They take turns to be the engine driver and the ticket collector.

Indoor play

Make toy vehicles from Lego.

Ten Little Oranges

Holly would like to sing this delicious counting song for you!

What Would you Like for Tea?

The credit for this song goes to my mum, who sang all kinds of versions of it with us when we were children! Mmm - beans on toast!

I Like Apples

You can substitute the word 'apples' for any different, healthy food eg broccoli for as many verses as you like. This structure of this song is, appropriately, like a sandwich – the verse is sung at the start and at the end each time.

The original song is by Beth Bishop and the version recorded here, with our own extra verse, is included with the kind permission of Lancashire Music Service.

• I like apples with my tea
• Eating apples is good for me
• Ice cream is ok
• As long as I don't eat it every day
• I like apples with my tea
• Eating apples is good for me

Does Your Doggy Like Eating Bones? (timbre)

Everyone sits in a circle. One child is in the middle, holding the Maestro the Music Dog. She keeps her eyes closed while the teacher gives the (plastic!) bone to another child. Start the game by singing Ready? just on one note.

• Everyone: Doggy Doggy where's your bone?
• Child in the middle: Someone stole it from my home
• Everyone: Who stole your bone?
• Child with the bone: I stole your bone

The Doggy child guesses, from the timbre of the thief's voice, who stole the bone (you will find that the children are good at guessing). Then the thief becomes the doggy in the middle, the bone is secretly given to a different child and the game starts again.

Down to the Baker's Shop (pulse)

An action song that children can sing, as they walk in time and hop. To help the children to walk in time, model it first so that they can copy your feet. You could also think of actions for the words, for my mother said, "Buy a loaf of bread'.

• Down to the baker's shop
• Hop hop hop
• For my mother said
• Buy a loaf of bread
• Down to the baker's shop
• Hop hop hop

Kitchen Music (timbre)

First allow the children exploration time to make different sounds with safe kitchen utensils.

Working in pairs dynamics, tempo, texture)

In pairs or threes, the children next find out which utensils can make a loud or quiet sound, and they try playing fast sounds and slow sounds. They might also experiment with making two or more sounds at the same time.

More Kitchen Ideas

Try using a graphic score as a timeline to suggest when children might play each 'instrument'.

Individual exploration - Listen to Hannah playing My name is Hannah, using a beater on three saucepans that were hanging in a row from a bean pole. They only make a good sound if you hang them up.

I'm a Little Teapot (rhythm, pulse, dynamics)

• I'm a little teapot
• Round and stout
• Here's my handle
• Here's my spout
• __
• When the tea is ready
• Hear me shout
• Pick me up and
• Pour me out

Because this is a traditional rhyme, there are several versions of the words and various tunes have been made up for it. It goes well with imaginative play and lends itself to a range of music activities. I suggest you first teach it as a rhyme then - for the creative part of the activity - ask the children to invent actions they could do to each line as they chant it. Demonstrate how to say the last two lines louder. Next practise tapping the pulse and clapping the rhythms - each line of verse 1 sounds the same as the corresponding line in verse 2.

Some children may be able to make up their own tune to go with the words. 'How do I get them to do that?' you may be wondering. Not every child will want to try and not every child has 'found' their singing voice at age three but a few children will probably, spontaneously start to sing their own made-up tune when they are playing at making tea later. This is the opportunity for you to show how delighted you are with their tune - it's the beginning of something wonderful!

Cooking Quiz (timbre)

Everyone listen to the sounds of cooking. Can you guess what is happening?

Answers

1. Eggs boiling
2. Frying an egg
3. Emptying oil from a bottle
4. An electric blender

French Pastry (pulse)

This music is called French Pastry! Because it has a steady pulse, it's good for learning to march in time. In the middle section, you could ask the children to listen out for the boom of the drum and do a 'bang the drum' action when they hear it - this is easier if you march too and model how to do the drum action. Take the opportunity to tell the children that the music's steady pulse makes it good for marching so that they experience the word, pulse in context.

Can the children say whether they think it is happy or sad music, and why? At this stage, children tend to latch onto one quality of the music and all say the same thing so you could say the you think it's happy because it has such a cheerful tune.

Pastry-Making (Cross curricular)

The children could help with making (and eating) real pastry and would then be able to mime the pastry-making actions to this music. (Remember to check for food allergies.)

Make slime!

Two safe slime recipes

1/ Soapy Slime

• What you will need..
• 4 Cups Water plus a tablespoon or two of hot water.
• 2 big squirts of dishwashing liquid (you can leave this out if concerned about using - it still works just not as frothy)
• 4 spoons edible gelatin powder (You could also use the sachets)
• Whisks and spoons
• Large bowl or container – I just used an old 4 litre ice cream tub
• Edicol dye if you want to colour your slime (optional)

2/ Frothy Slime

What you will need..

• 3 cups lux flakes (or any pure soap grated)
• Around 2.5 litres of warm to hot water (you may need more or less )
• Glitter if you want to make sparkly slime
• Edicol dyes or food colouring if you want to make coloured soap slime.
• Whisks or egg beaters to mix it together and froth up
• Large tub or bucket for mixing

Enjoy!

Maestro the Music Dog

The original story about Maestro the Music Dog, who lived on top of Hannah's piano. When Hannah did her piano practice she liked Maestro to listen to the tunes she made up.

The Music Dog Goes Round and Round

A little passing-round-the-ring song. Mrs Crocosaurus is joining in the singing!

• All Maestro the Music Dog materials ©E-MusicMaestroPublishing Limited
• Original watercolours and story: Sandy Holland
• Original music: Peter Noke

Did You Hear Maestro Say ... ? (tempo, dynamics, pitch)

This song is great for reinforcing the elements, tempo (speed), dynamics (loud and quiet) and pitch (high and low). I think it's best to do the actions right from the start of each verse so that the children can start copying them as they sing, and then follow the instruction for loud/soft fast/slow high/low.

• Did you hear Maestro say
• Clap your hands for today?
• Teacher loudly: clap them loud! (Children clap loudly)
• Teacher quietly: clap them soft! (Children clap quietly)
• __
• Did you hear Maestro say
• Stamp your feet for today?
• Teacher loudly: stamp them loud! (Children stamp loudly)
• Teacher quietly: stamp them soft! (Children stamp quietly)
• __
• Did you hear Maestro say
• Tap your knees for today?
• Teacher loudly: tap them loud! (Children tap loudly)
• Teacher quietly: tap them soft! (Children tap quietly)
• __
• Did you hear Maestro say
• Roll your hands for today?
• Teacher quickly: roll them quick! (Children roll hands quickly)
• Teacher slowly: roll them slow! Children roll hands slowly
• __
• Did you hear Maestro say
• Wave your arms for today?
• Teacher quickly: wave them quick! (Children wave arms quickly)
• Teacher slowly: wave them slow! (Children wave arms slowly)
• __
• Did you hear Maestro say
• Make a silly sound today?
• Teacher in high voice: make it high! (Children make a silly, high-pitched sound)
• Teacher in low voice: make it low! (Children make a silly, low-pitched sound)

Improving the singing

At one point here I say, 'I think we can get that a little bit better!' The problem, as I taught the song, was a lapse in concentration so I drew the focus back by giving specific instructions to look at me and listen, which was enough to produce better singing. This was one of our first sessions and the children were still finding it interesting being filmed, as you can see! It's a long, quite demanding song and, had I been in an ordinary classroom situation without needing to record more of the song for Music Playtime, I would have stopped sooner and come back to the song another day.

• All Maestro the Music Dog materials ©Music-Playtime: Arts Enterprise Limited

Maestro Dog Can Hear Me Play (rhythm, pitch)

In supervised pairs or individually, using a keyboard or piano, the children can do what Hannah did - play on one black key, one note per word, as they say:

• Maestro Dog can hear me play
• My tune has one note today

First the children play this with their right hand, then they play it with their left hand.

Next they play on two black keys, in any order. First they play on high pitched notes, then they play it on low pitched notes. Remember that children need help with identifying high and low pitch, as opposed to high and low dynamics (volume). It's not obvious on the piano because all of the keyboard looks the same!

• Maestro Dog can hear me play
• My tune has two notes today

Copy clap

The teacher or adult helper says and claps each of these phrases four times: Maestro Dog then Cheeky Monkey, and the children copy:

Making Up a Dog and Monkey Tune (rhythm, pitch)

When the children can clap the rhythms, they can experiment with playing them. It's better to use two chime bars, bigger chime bar D and slightly smaller chime bar F. for this activity instead of keyboards, otherwise children tend to play all the keyboard notes, one by one, and the result isn't singable. I suggest D and F because the notes make an easy pair for children to sing in tune.

The children make up a tune by choosing in which order they play notes D and F as they imitate the rhythm of the words, Mae-stro Dog and Chee-ky Mon-key. They can choose whether to say or sing the words as they play. Recording each child's attempt on your phone is quick and easy, children love to listen to themselves play, and it gives you evidence for your records if you need it.

Here's Robert's tune and, below it, Stephanie's tune, played on a big xylophone, which are much easier for small children to play than little xylophones. The bars near D and F had been removed so that the children could more easily hit the right ones! I had to teach the children first to bounce the beater right off the bar, otherwise the sound is dull.

All Maestro the Music Dog materials ©Music-Playtime: Arts Enterprise Limited

Listen Again

Now that the children have played the things that Hannah played using the keyboard or the piano, they will be interested in listening again to the sounds that Hannah made so this is a good time to replay the video. The listening will be much more focused this time.

Whale Music

Did the children know that whales sing to each other? Sounds move about four times faster in water than in air and it's the way whales talk to each other, sometimes across long distances. The children can listen to whale song here:

All Maestro the Music Dog materials ©Music-Playtime: Arts Enterprise Limited

The Whale Choir (pitch, timbre, structure, texture)

This is a fantastic opportunity for the children to experiment with making all sorts of 'Whale songs' using creative vocalisation. Work out with the children a hand-signal system whereby you can 'conduct' them as they improvise a whole piece of music by choosing high sounds, low sounds, clicks and whistles. Next divide the group into two: one group is the whale 'choir' and the other group, using floaty scarves, is the 'swimming whales' who move in imitation of the sounds. Perfect for a performance piece as part of an assembly or play about conservation of endangered species!

Not Without My Whale (literacy link)

A highly recommended book by Billy Coughlan and Villie Karabatzia, for Early Years children.

Published by Maverick Arts Publishing ISBN 1848861826

The Very Greedy Bee

First you could read the book and then everyone could watch the video and join in with the Biz Biz Busy Bee song.

The Wiggle Chant

Do you all like wiggly worms? Here's a wiggle chant, with actions, for wriggly children!

• I wiggle my fingers
• I wiggle my toes
• I wiggle my shoulders
• I wiggle my nose
• And when there are no more
• Wiggles in me
• Then I'll be still
• As still as can be

Two Little Dicky Birds

A traditional rhyme, with actions. You could either sing it or chant it.

• Two little dicky birds sitting on a wall
• One named Peter, one named Paul
• Fly away Peter, fly away Paul
• Come back Peter, come back Paul

Humming Bee (pitch)

Use a toy, furry bee or bee puppet for this game. The children sit on the carpet while you hold the bee and make it fly in a straight line, from your right to left as you face the children. Everyone hums on a steady pitch note (not going higher or lower).

Next make the bee fly up – everyone hum higher (in pitch, not volume), and then down – everyone hum lower in pitch.

Hum the bee path (pitch, timbre & graphic scores)

You'll need to have a large picture ready of the bee going on a journey (you could use the pdf download for this). Explain the story first, pointing to the line, making the sounds yourself and inviting the children to join in. As the line goes up, the hum goes higher in pitch. When the bee sees the honey everyone says 'Yum Yum'. The hum goes lower then it rains and everyone makes a rain sound by drumming with fingers on chairs or on the floor. The bee sets off again, and the pitch goes higher. At the end the bee enters the hive and falls asleep 'Zzzzzz'. It's good to repeat with the children, as they become more confident with making the sounds.

Ladybird

This is a good rhyme for the children to chant rhythmically as they practise clapping in time, playing a drum in time, or walking in time. Remember that many children need to be shown how to walk in time, so let them copy you. They need lots of practice!

• Ladybird, ladybird fly away home
• Your house is on fire, your children are gone!
• All except one and her name is Anne
• And she hid under the frying pan!

Mouse and Cat (pulse, tempo, dynamics)

A Little Mouse

A fun way to teach this is to say the rhyme first using a puppet mouse, and surprise the children with the loud last line. When they know the rhyme, the children move gently into a space and curl in a ball, chanting the words rhythmically and quietly until the loud, last line, when they jump up!

• A little mouse hid in a hole
• Hid softly in a little hole
• When all was quiet, as quiet could be
• OUT POPPED HE!

A Naughty Cat

• A naughty cat ran round the house
• He hoped to find a little mouse
• But when the mouse came out to peep
• The tired cat was fast asleep!

The children stalk around, being the bold cat, saying the words rhythmically then get gradually slower and quieter towards the end when the cat curls up and falls asleep.

The change in the mouse verse is sudden but the change in the cat verse is gradual. Talk through what the children are doing to give them the vocabulary to talk about louder, quieter, faster, slower.

Mouse and Cat on instruments (structure, pitch, tempo)

Divide the children into two groups. One group is the mouse, the other the cat. Everyone chooses an instrument from the Mouse section or the Cat selection that you have put out earlier.

A capable child (or group of children) from the Mouse group says the words of A Little Mouse expressively, one line at a time. At the end of each line, the Mouse group instrumentalists imitate the speed and loudness of OUT POPPED HE!

Next the Naughty Cat group can do the same with their poem. You now have two little performance pieces and each group gets the chance to listen to the other group. It's a good opportunity for you to ask the listening group to do Three Stars and a Wish - say three things they liked about the performance and make one, positive suggestion for improvement. The performers might then have another try.

'Think the words'!

A variation on this activity is for the children to 'think the words' as they play the sounds without speaking. Sound recordings are easy to do on a mobile phone and there's no problem with excluding children who are not to be filmed on video. Here's a recording of our Naughty Cat group. The cat is represented by the xylophone and the mouse by a shaker and Indian bells. I like the way the 'cat' did fast, high-pitch sounds for running round the house, then slower sounds for going to sleep. One of my 'wishes' in Three Stars and a Wish was for the sleeping cat sounds to get lower and lower in pitch, which is what happened in this second recording.

The Flight of the Bumble Bee (tempo)

This is The Flight of the Bumble Bee by the composer, Rimsky-Korsakov. The solo violin part is played by a young musician, Likia Yukupova. It's the tale of Tsar Saltan, which you can read by downloading the pdf. Ask the children if this music has a fast tempo or a slow tempo. They will begin to understand the word, 'tempo' from the context.

The children could imagine they are bees and run around quickly into a space, not touching each other. At the end they have to disappear into the hive – when the music ends, all go to a place you have chosen to be the hive, crouch down and be silent.

Hunt the Minibeast

Here is a fun activity, especially if you are not keen on bringing real minibeasts into the room! This is what you need:

• Cornflour
• Food Colouring
• Set of plastic Mini Beasts
• Water Tray
• Aprons

Heres' what to do:

• Mix up an appropriate amount of cornflour to fill the water tray and add the food colouring.
• Line the bottom of the water tray with an assortment of plastic mini beasts and cover with the cornflour mixture.
• Let the children use their hands to dig through the cornflour to find the mini beasts.
• Ensure that the children are wearing aprons to avoid their clothes getting wet and dirty.

The children could imagine they are bees and run around quickly into a space, not touching each other. At the end they have to disappear into the hive – when the music ends, all go to a place you have chosen to be the hive, crouch down and be silent.

The Wheels on the Bus

The bus driver is someone who helps us by taking us safely to our destination! When the children learn this traditional song from the video, they can copy the actions too.

• The wheels on the bus go round and round
• Round and round, round and round
• The wheels on the bus go round and round
• All day long
• __
• The mums on the bus go chatter, chatter, chatter
• Chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter
• The mums on the bus go chatter, chatter, chatter
• All day long
• __
• The babies on the bus go wah, wha, wah
• Wah, wha, wah, wah, wha, wah
• The babies on the bus go wah, wha, wah
• All day long
• __
• The driver on the bus goes honk, honk, honk
• Honk, honk, honk, honk, honk, honk
• The driver on the bus goes honk, honk, honk
• All day long

Who Are The People Who Help Us?

This song fits in well with a bigger project on 'People Who Help Us'. The children could dress up as the different people who help us. If you have 'People who Help Us' puppets, some of the children could hold them up at the appropriate time (this is a good idea if you can't yet remember all the words!)

You'll hear the complete song first, followed by a couple of clips from the start of teaching it using the First Me, Then You method.

Some of the children didn't seem to know the word, 'vet' so the teaching process took a little longer than usual and I haven't included all of it.

• Who are the people who help us?
• Doctors, dentists, nurses and the vet
• Who are the people who help us?
• Let’s thank them all today
• __
• Who are the people who help us?
• Fire and rescue, teachers and police
• Who are the people who help us?
• Let’s thank them all today

Window cleaner (pitch)

Use a finger puppet or a cut-out picture of someone who might be a window cleaner. Make a picture of a ladder (or you may even be able to borrow a real one). Make the puppet go up and down the ladder. When it goes up, the children make an Ooooooh sound, going higher and higher. When the puppet goes down the ladder, the children make a downward Ooooooh sound.

The Music Stave Ladder

In music, the musical stave looks a bit like a ladder and you could show the children an example and make the window cleaner go up and down the stave. It works in just the same way as a ladder - higher up the stave for higher notes and lower down the stave for lower notes. The children can make the same Ooooooh sound, or experiment with different vocal sounds that go up then down. This may be transferred to any instrument that makes pitched sounds, for instance a tuned percussion instrument but, at this stage, I would concentrate on the general principle and not introduce any specific note names.

Rubbish Music! (timbre, dynamics, texture)

A discussion will be needed first about what is rubbish, who takes our rubbish away and how we depend on other people to collect it and recycle some of it, making it into other things.

Then the fun can begin. Collect together clean items of rubbish that might be used for making sounds. There are many to choose from: plastic bottles, drinks cans, newspapers, old pans, plant pots. Perfects examples of 'rubbish' instruments are steel pans which really are made out of oil drums, with different-sized indentations hammered in on top to produce different-pitch notes.

How to Play (also includes structure)

Playing the rubbish can take the form of experimentation in small groups first, categorising them in any ways you wish:

• Which objects can make the loudest/quietest sounds?
• Which can be played in more than way?
• Which can be played using a beater?
• Which can have dried peas added and be shaken?
• Can the children guess what is being played if the object is hidden from their view?

You could divide the whole group into smaller groups in which the members have a similar object to play. Then the more confident children could take turns at being the 'conductor', pointing at each group when they should make their sound. Try having two groups play at once for a thicker texture sound and draw attention to loud and quiet sounds.

This is one group's Rubbish Music. You'll hear the beginnings of dynamics, structure and timbre awareness in the order chosen by the 'conductor' - quieter sounds build up to louder sounds; rustly sounds come first (newspaper and plastic bag), scratchy sounds (old wicker basket scraped), boxes, bottles and cans are at the end. Sometimes one child makes a sound, sometimes more than one child, giving a variety of textures.

Steel Pan Music (rhythm, pitch, pulse)

Continuing with the theme of refuse collectors and people who work with recycling, here are some kids having great fun playing a piece called Viva La Vida on Steel Pans. I once taught steel pans at a Saturday morning music school so I have a bit of a soft spot for them and I love the energy of this group!

I think it would be great for the children to simply listen, watch and enjoy this video but they may like to get up and dance around when they hear it again.

Your own steel pans

Not everyone has a range of used oil cans! However you can ask parents for any old pans that they may wish to donate to create a Steel Pan Orchestra. All you need is ordinary beaters and a way of hanging up the pans by the handles - they make a much better sound if you hang them up. The pans will make different pitched sounds depending on their size. You can allocate one pan to each child, in a group and ask another child to be the 'conductor', who points to each child with a Start sign and a Stop sign. It's best for you to model this so that the 'conductor' understands what to do.

People Who Help Us resource book

Surprisingly there are few good books to choose from on People Who Help Us but this one has been recommended for helping with week by week planning in several areas of learning.

Rainsticks Music

You can buy rainsticks that make a sound like rain but, if not, you can help the children to make their own from a paper towel tube, a Pringles tube or the inner cardboard tube from wrapping paper. Just pour (uncooked!) rice or lentils into the tube and seal both ends with parcel tape, then paint the tube in bright colours. Traditionally, a rainstick has nails, thorns or toothpicks pushed into it for the rice to fall against inside, but including these in your child-made rainsticks may not be a good idea unless you supervise closely and then cover any pointy ends with plenty of tape!

Make a gradual, slow sound with a rainstick by slowly tilting it from side to side.

What's the Weather Like Today?

New words to a well-known tune.

• What's the weather like today?
• Sunny, warm and dry
• And on a summer day we see
• The sun up in the sky
• With sunshine here, sunshine there
• Lovely sunshine everywhere
• What's the weather like today?
• Sunny, warm and dry
• __
• What's the weather like today?
• Think it's going to rain
• And on a rainy day we see
• Puddles in the lane
• With puddles here, puddles there
• Splashy puddles everywhere
• What's the weather like today?
• Think it's going to rain

Frosty Weather

A song for a winter's day!

• Frosty weather, snowy weather
• When the wind blows
• We all go together

Stormy Sound Pictures

Great fun and very easy! Tell a story about the storm coming and show the children, at each part of the story, how to make sound effects:

The Story

I tend to make up the story as I go along, but here are some suggestions:

It was a sunny day at first but then the wind started to blow (blowing sounds like blowing out a candle).

Tiny raindrops started to fall, slowly and gently (tap with fingers of one hand onto the other hand).

The rain came quicker and louder (drum with fingers on a chair or the floor).

There was a quiet rumble crash of thunder (feet on the floor) and it rained faster (drum with fingers). Suddenly there was a big crash of thunder (clap).

Gradually the rain became slower and quieter (fingers go from drumming to tapping on hands) and the wind went from loud to quiet (blow quieter and quieter).

Soon the rain and wind stopped (fingers on lips and silence) and the sun came out (everyone smile).

Hail (tempo, dynamics, character)

This piece of music is from a longer work called The Seasons, composed by Glazunov.

The children could listen first and suggest words to describe the music, such as like quick footsteps or like running. You may need to supply appropriate words because describing music will be a new concept for many children of this age. Next, you might ask the children to move with quick, little steps to the music. Using dance scarves could enable some children to make the shape of the music getting gradually louder, then quieter - if you do this too, they will get the idea more easily.

Rain in a Bag

Materials needed: plastic food bags, soil, spoon, handful of grass with roots attached (pulled from the ground), water, clear tape, masking tape, marker pen, drinking straw.

• Each child puts a few spoonfuls of soil into a bag labelled with their name.
• Next they plant the handful of grass into the soil.
• Pour one spoonful of water over the grass.
• Put a straw in the bag (with most of the straw out of the bag).
• Seal the bag around the straw.
• Fill the bag with air by having the child blow into the straw.
• Pull the straw out of the bag and quickly seal it, keeping the air inside.
• Tape the bag to a sunny window.

Soon, they should see condensation begin to form and eventually it will roll down the bag into the soil, causing ‘rain’ to water the plant.

A Spike of Green

A poem by Barbara Baker about growing to introduce this topic.

• When I went out
• The sun was hot
• It shone upon
• My flower pot
• __
• And there I saw
• A spike of green
• That no one else
• Had ever seen
• __
• On other days
• The things I see
• Are mostly old
• Except for me
• __
• But this green spike
• So new and small
• Had never yet
• Been seen at all

Lavender's Blue

This is a long song compared with some of the Early Years songs but it's a pretty song so we recorded most of it (we omitted one verse!). However, the tune is repetitive and doesn't seem to be too difficult for most children of this age. You may like to do just the first two or three verses.

• Lavender's blue, dilly dilly
• Lavender's green
• When I am king, dilly dilly
• You shall be queen
• __
• Who told you so, dilly dilly?
• Who told you so?
• 'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly
• That told me so
• __
• Roses are red, dilly dilly
• Violets are blue
• If you love me, dilly dilly
• I will love you
• __
• Let the birds sing, dilly dilly
• And the lambs play
• We shall be safe, dilly dilly
• Out of harm's way
• __
• I love to dance, dilly dilly
• I love to sing
• When I am queen, dilly dilly
• You will be king
• __
• Who told you so, dilly dilly
• Who told you so?
• I told myself, dilly dilly
• I told me so

Old MacDonald

A 'perennial' favourite!

• Old MacDonald had a farm
• Ee i ee i o
• And on that farm he had a cow
• Ee i ee i o
• With a moo moo here and a moo moo there
• Here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo
• Old MacDonald had a farm
• Ee i ee i o

One Potato, Two Potato

One of the best-known, traditional counting rhymes! You can chant it or sing it as you play the game.

• One potato, two potato, three potato, four
• Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more.

Tap Your Head (pulse, rhythm)

Here's an garden chant, with actions. It's a good idea to ask the children to find a big space first, where they can't touch anyone else.

• Tap your head
• And touch your toes
• Curl yourself up
• Like a garden hose
• Sit up straight
• For a wheelbarrow ride
• Then stand like a spade
• With your hands at your side

Add an Intro

It's fun to make up an intro using actions and sounds. You could ask the children for ideas, using 'garden' phrases such as:

• Dig the garden (quietly)
• plant the seeds (a bit louder)
• WATCH THEM GROW! (loudly)

They might begin by chanting the words then progress to clapping the rhythms. Next, add percussion instruments, playing the same rhythms as the words.

Plant Pot Playing (timbre, pitch, structure)

You need lots of plastic plant pots for the children to use instead of musical instruments so maybe ask parents to donate any spare ones, as well as a few surplus, small gardening implements. It's good to do the Plant Pot activities outdoors if possible!

Lead the children to discover that the plants pots (being various sizes, volumes and thicknesses) make different-pitched sounds when you hit them using beaters or garden canes. With help, the children could put several plant pots in order of higher or lower pitch. By chance, we discovered pots that could, more or less, play a tune!

There's a distinction to be made between making music up, which is original and doesn't deliberately replicate a known tune, and playing 'by ear' a known tune, invented by somebody else. When I ask for music to be made up, I generally find that adults try to play a known tune whereas children prefer to make up their own. Both are useful activities with their own value but making up original music lends itself to greater creativity.

More Garden-Music Discoveries

1/ Hang plant pots upside down by tying a big knot in a length of string and threading it through a hole at the bottom so that the knot is inside the pot and the pots hang down like bells. If the pots are hung in clusters they may be shaken to create an interesting sound.

2/ Bang the plant pots on the table or the floor, either open side down or with base of the pot. The children may come up with different ways of creating a sound such as banging two pots together.

3/ Bang on a trowel with a garden cane.

4/ Shake dried peas or beans in a tin.

Allow time for experimenting first, then create more structured tasks for pairs or small groups of children, such as creating a sequence of different sounds that can be repeated. For a whole class piece of music you could put the children into four groups:

• shake pot clusters
• hit trowels with cane beaters
• bang pots on the floor
• shake peas in a tin

You be the 'conductor', indicating by big hand gestures which group makes their sound next and which groups should stay quiet. It's fun!

Frosty Gardens (dynamics, pitch)

If it's a cold winter's day, you could take the children outside to look for signs of frost, particularly if the school or nursery has a garden. This music is called Frost, by the composer, Glazunov. Ask the children to imagine what might be happening in the music on this freezing day - I can imagine children whizzing down home-made slides on the ice (we used to get into trouble, as children, for making slides in the middle of our lane!).

Frost Dancing (dynamics, pitch)

Children enjoy using dance scarves and having a floaty scarf can be a great help to children to whom dancing freely doesn't seem to come naturally. Ask the children to show with their scarf how the music gets louder and quieter, and higher and lower.

Peter Rabbit (PSHE link)

Who's up for a bit of nostalgia? There are lots of Peter Rabbit animations but somehow I think that this simple, old-fashioned reading encapsulates the era in which the Tale of Peter Rabbit was written in 1902 by Beatrix Potter. Because it's not animated, the children have to listen more carefully. The story depicts a traditional vegetable garden of the sort that many children will not have seen unless they live in a rural area or near an allotment.

What to do next

Rabbit Dance

The children could do a bunny-hopping Peter Rabbit dance to the music at the beginning. Here's a short clip of the music:

Sow Seeds like Mr MacGregor!

This is a fascinating thing for children to do. All you need is moist cotton wool and some bean seeds, which will grow shoots easily so that the children can see both the roots and the shoots.

In the Sea … On the Boat! (developing listening skills)

This is a version of a listening skills game that I learned from my good friend, Stephanie, with whom I worked for several years. The children loved it! Put two, long rows of joined-together skipping ropes on the ground, about a metre apart, and curve the ends round to meet, making a boat shape. Inside the lines of rope, the children are on the boat; outside the lines they are in the sea. Alternate between calling out, 'On the boat!' - the children jump into the 'boat' - and, 'In the sea' - the children jump into the sea.

Extension Activity (timbre)

The game is great fun just as it stands but you could extend it by playing, for instance, a drum for In the sea and a tambourine for On the Boat. The children have to listen very carefully to just the instrument without the words.

Guess the Buried Treasure (timbre)

Fill identical containers (not see-through ones) with everyday treasure objects like coins, tiny beads, pretend bank notes, coloured stones, 'silver' teaspoons, sugar (once very expensive!). They must sound different when shaken. Before you begin the game, talk with the children about what treasure might be eg jewels, precious stones, coins, bank notes, silver cutlery, rare foods, magic beans.

First the children have to find the containers, labelled with a picture of a pirate for identification, hidden around the room. Next they shake the containers and guess what is in them. Show the contents of the containers when everyone has guessed.

Put the contents back and let the children shake them again and try to say what is in them by listening, and comparing with the sounds they remember.

At the Bottom of the Sea

You'll need to teach the song first before playing this game. The children take turns to be a fish, swimming in and out of the other children who are sitting in their own space on the floor, singing the song. When the song stops, the 'fish' taps the shoulder of the nearest child who then becomes the fish. The game ends when each child has been a fish so the swimming fish must only tap a child on the shoulder who has not yet had their turn.

• At the bottom of the sea
• All the fish are swimming
• Here and there and everywhere
• They're swimming in the ocean

Ship's Statues

The children dance around the room to the music. Stop the music every so often and, each time the music stops, call out which position the children must freeze in:

• Pirate – stand on one leg
• Sea snail – curl up
• Ship's Captain – salute
• Starfish – spread out on floor

Listening extension

After the game, take the opportunity to ask the children about the music, for example:

• What did you like best about the music?
• Was the tempo of the music fast or slow?

Sharks and swimmers (PE link)

This is what you need:

• Chalk (if using as a playground activity)
• Markers (if using as an indoor activity)
• Whistle

Here's what to do:

Divide the children into groups of sharks and swimmers with one third of the children being the sharks and the other two thirds of the children being the swimmers.

Mark out a line in chalk or with markers at one end of the playground and another line at the other end of the playground as the starting and finishing points for the swimmers.

Halfway between the starting and finishing point, mark out a starting point for the sharks.

At the sound of the whistle, the swimmers must try to get from their starting position to the finishing point without being caught by a sharks.

The sharks must try to catch the swimmers by tagging them. Once tagged the swimmers must sit down where the were caught until the end of the game when all of the children have either reached the finishing point or been caught by the sharks.