Learning Through Music
Popular Activities
Parent & Teacher Tips
Exploring different emotions
“If You’re Happy”
Parent Tip
- Discuss different emotions and how they can be expressed with your child.
- Sing “If You’re Happy,” substituting other emotions and actions for “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands” (e.g. sad, cry a tear; mad, stomp your foot; excited, jump up and down; tired, go to sleep...).
- Also discuss appropriate expressions of emotions for various situations.
Teacher Tip
- Discuss different emotions and how they can be expressed with the class.
- Sing “If You’re Happy,” substituting other emotions and actions for “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands” (e.g. sad, cry a tear; mad, stomp your foot; excited, jump up and down; tired, go to sleep...).
- Also discuss appropriate expressions of emotions for various situations.
Parent Tip
- After learning the song, talk about what a bear might see on the other side of the mountain (e.g. a little tiny chipmunk, a long and roaring river, some trees and wild flowers). Sing your child’s new words for the second verse.
- Make up new words about someone else going somewhere. Examples:
- My uncle went to the ocean… (some great big whales and dolphins…, lots of sand and sea shells…, etc.). My family went to the circus… (lions and tigers and elephants…, clowns with big, red noses…, etc.)
- Have your child draw some pictures about the new verses he/she made up for this song.
Teacher Tip
- After learning the song, talk about what a bear might see on the other side of the mountain (e.g. a little tiny chipmunk, a long and roaring river, some trees and wild flowers). Sing the new words for the second verse.
- Make up new words about someone else going somewhere. Examples:
- My uncle went to the ocean… (some great big whales and dolphins…, lots of sand and sea shells…, etc.). My family went to the circus… (lions and tigers and elephants…, clowns with big, red noses…, etc.).
- Have the class draw some pictures about the new verses they made up for this song.
Creating a mood through music
Creating a mood through music
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Parent Tip
- From a very young age, children respond to music. Watch their reactions as they respond to different musical styles.
- When you want to create a quiet, relaxed mood just before nap or bed time, put on a lullaby CD/cassette or other easy listening music.
- Expose your child to a variety of musical styles by turning on the radio and dancing or moving to the music on a particular station. Every few minutes, change the stati
Teacher Tip
- Experiment with listening to a variety of musical styles, played as background music, to create a desired mood for different situations (e.g. quiet time, playtime...).
- For art time, choose a particular style of music and see if it affects the types of drawings done by the children (quiet music vs. more upbeat).
- For a free movement exercise, experiment with different styles of music and see how the children respond.
Counting, addition and subtraction
“Ten Little Fingers” to the tune “Ten Little Indians”
Parent Tip
- Sing and count to ten on your fingers while your child sings and counts along on his/hers.
- The visual of watching their fingers, along with hearing the numbers, experiencing the melody, and feeling the rhythm, make learning to count easier and more enjoyable.
- After mastering counting to ten, try counting backwards to one using the same song.
- Try counting other things (e.g. rocks, marbles, macaroni shells…) using the same song and counting forwards and backwards.
Teacher Tip
- Sing and count to ten on your fingers while the children sing and count along on theirs.
- The visual of watching their fingers, along with hearing the numbers, experiencing the melody, and feeling the rhythm, make learning to count easier and more enjoyable.
- After mastering counting to ten, try counting backwards to one using the same song.
- Try counting other things (e.g. rocks, marbles, macaroni shells…) using the same song and counting forwards and backwards.
Concept of size
“Eentsy Weentsy Spider”
Parent Tip
- After singing the song about the eentsy weentsy spider with a normal voice and motions, sing the same song about a great big spider. Sing with a big voice and make all of the motions large and exaggerated (big spider, big rain, big sun...).
- Next, sing about an itsy bitsy spider and make your voice high and tiny. Also make the motions tiny (tiny spider, tiny rain, tiny sun...).
Teacher Tip
- After the class sings the song about the eentsy weentsy spider with a normal voice and motions, have the class sing the same song about a great big spider. Sing with a big voice and make all of the motions large and exaggerated (big spider, big rain, big sun...).
- Next, sing about an itsy bitsy spider and make your voice high and tiny. Also make the motions tiny (tiny spider, tiny rain, tiny sun...).
Basic body movements
“Ring Around the Rosy”
Parent Tip
- Each time you “ring around the rosy,” try a different movement (e.g. hop around the rosy, tiptoe round the rosy, run around the rosy, ...)
- The more you do such activities with your child at home, the more confident he/she will be when it’s time to go to school. Studies have shown that children who enter school having mastered a variety of physical movements, feel better about themselves and therefore are better learners.
Teacher Tip
- Each time you “ring around the rosy” try a different movement (e.g. hop around the rosy, tip-toe round the rosy, run around the rosy, ...)
- Children feel so much better about themselves when they can master different physical movements.