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Squares: Learning Activities for Shapes

November 26, 2012 by Mama Carmody 10 Comments

Squares: Learning Activities for Shapes

Below you will find some fun learning activities with squares. Your child can make a travel pillow or a gift for some special lady in their life. There are also some great book suggestions. You can find squares all around you. What type of squares did you and your child find?

Content:

Toys
Crafts:
Square Travel Pillow
Square Sachet
Snacks
Story Time
Related Posts

Toys

Square wooded blocks, dice, some game boards

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Crafts

Learn about squares while making travel pillows and sachets.

Square Travel Pillow

Materials Needed:

Fleece
Ruler
Scissors
Fabric glue or yarn & plastic yarn sewing needle
Fiber filling

Instructions:

1) Cut the fleece into two 8 inch squares for each pillow. *I chose 8 inches because my great-niece and great-nephews still ride in car seats and I thought the smaller pillow would work better to prop up their heads rather than a bigger one. You can actually make them any size square you want.

2) For younger children that are doing this craft; help them run a bead of fabric glue along the outer edge of three sides of the wrong side of one of the squares. *The wrong side would be the back side that doesn’t have a clear print on it. (For older children skip down to step 2b)

3) Place the second square on top of the one with the glue; wrong sides together. According to the directions on the Aleene’s Fabric Fusion, let it dry for 2 to 4 hours.

4) Stuff with fiber filling. A child as young as one year old can help with this step.

5) Glue the last side together. You may need to use straight pins or safety pins to hold it closed until it has dried.

Sealing last side of pillow — Sealing last side of square pillow

**2b) For older children, you can teach them how to sew the two squares together using yarn and a plastic yarn needle. I used to sew with my 4 year old preschool classes.

3b) Place the two squares with wrong sides together.

4b) Thread yarn through needle then sew 3 of the 4 sides together using a straight stitch.

5b) Stuff with fiber filling then sew the last side together. Even little ones as young as one year old can help with this step.

6b) Sew last side closed.

Now your little one has created their own special pillow to use in the car.

Finished Square Travel Pillows — Square Travel Pillows

**Special note: You may want to take your plastic yarn needle to the store when you choose your fleece. Some of the fleece is woven tighter than others which makes it hard to get the needle through it. I couldn’t get the needle through the purple fleece but it went easily through the fleece with the frogs.

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Square Sachet Bags

Materials Needed:

Fleece
Ruler
Scissors
Fabric glue or yarn & plastic yarn sewing needle
Potpourri of your choice

Instructions:

1) Cut the fleece into two 4 inch squares for each sachet.

3) Place the second square on top of the one with the glue; wrong sides together. According to the directions on the Aleene’s Fabric Fusion, let it dry for 2 to 4 hours.

4) Fill with potpourri of your choice. A child as young as one year old can help with this part. Make sure they don’t try to eat the potpourri.

5) Glue the last side together. You may need to use straight pins or safety pins to hold it closed until it has dried.

**2b) For older children, you can teach them how to sew the two squares together using yarn and a plastic yarn needle. I used to sew with my 4 year old preschool classes.

3b) Place the two squares with wrong sides together.

4b) Thread yarn through needle then sew 3 of the 4 sides together using a straight stitch.

5b) Fill with potpourri then sew the last side together.

Your child has now made a special gift that they can give to mom, grandma, teacher or some other special lady in their life. Or maybe they want to keep it to put in one of their own clothes drawers.

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Foods for snack or meal time

Square crackers, square pieces of cheese, caramels, cut sandwiches into square shapes, cut fruit into little squares, Chex cereal

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Story Time

I See Squares by D. H. Dilkes
Reading Level: Birth – 4 yrs old
D. H. Dilkes has a great series of little books that discuss different shapes. In this book you will find squares in many different places. I like the fact that the illustrations are photographs of every day items. The text is simple which is great for a young child that is just being introduced to shapes.

So Many Circles, So Many Squares by Tana Hoban (only covers circles and squares)
Reading Level: Birth to 2nd Grade
There is no storyline to this book. It is just pages and pages of pictures from the world around us. It concentrates on two shapes; circles and squares. This is a great book for introducing shapes to your child. This book could lead into a great game of finding circles right where you are.

Squares (Shapes) by Pamela Hall
Reading Level: Birth to 5 yrs old
A cute introduction to squares. The rhyming storyline leads you through bright illustrations of a kitten and her puppy. They encounter squares all around the house. There are many squares on each page to be observed, counted and enjoyed. I do have a problem with the fact that some of the squares are positioned on their corner which then makes them look like a diamond.

What Is Square? by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
Reading Level: Ages 1 – 4 yrs old
I really like this book because it concentrates on one shape. I am finding it hard to find shape books that are dedicated to one shape at a time. This book is written in a fun rhyming fashion. There are plenty of pictures of square items. One thing that bothers me is that some of the square items are set at an angle (in other words on a corner) which then makes them look like a diamond instead of a square. On a positive note, that gives you an opportunity to start discussing the diamond shape.

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Shapes – Overview
The Lessons – Overview
Circles: Learning Activities for Shapes
Ovals: Learning Activities for Shapes
Rectangles: Learning Activities for Shapes
Triangles: Learning Activities for Shapes
Diamonds: Learning Activities for Shapes
Stars: Learning Activities for Shapes
Hearts: Learning Activities for Shapes
Learning Should Be Fun
Colors – Overview

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Fun with Music: Voices

September 15, 2013 by Mama Carmody 28 Comments

Fun with Music: Voices

This post, “Fun with Music – Sting Instruments”, is written in collaboration with Shannon Wijnker, who used to blog on Mamamusing. Shannon is a music teacher and mother of four.

Shannon writes:
Many parents want to give their children the gift of music, but don’t know where to start. I think that teaching children how to explore their voice and singing is so easy and something that every parent can encourage. And it doesn’t have to cost a cent!

Content:

Playtime
Craft
Musical Outings
Story Time
Games Online
Related Posts

Playtime

More from Shannon:

I wrote a post about Music at an Early Age, and in my post I touch on my philosophy about educating our children to be musical.

It is never too early to start building a foundation that facilitates musical proficiency. Babies and toddlers learn about music by first learning about sound. They experiment with their voices make different sounds of varying volumes. While many parents will recognize this as ‘noise’ it is a great first step. Encourage them to explore various ways to make sounds with their mouths and talk about how to modulate their volume.

A tip: I teach my students to put their fingers against their windpipe. If they whisper they don’t feel a vibration. If they are talking or shouting, then they will feel a vibration. This helps to build the concept of volume.

Also, let them experiment with their voice. Children will naturally do this, so let them feel free to explore. Though some encouragement, they will create their own songs about random subjects. (The other day my daughter sang about how she was sorry for hitting her sister after she was let out of time out).

Visit my blog I mentioned earlier to watch a video of my 18 month old experimenting with her voice in the car.

Children learn best thru example and modeling. That means that you need to show them that you enjoy listening to music and/or singing. If you aren’t prepared to sing with your kids, then make sure to play a CD or two repetitively so they can learn the songs. Children need to hear songs that only have a few notes. Not pop songs! Learning these songs also helps with language acquisition, because they are learning rhyme. Don’t overwhelm them with too many songs. They will only feel comfortable trying to sing, once they know a song inside and out. You cannot play a song too much for a child. If you’re getting sick of it, they are just beginning to memorize/internalize it!

Echo songs are also a great idea. Small pieces of melody are easier to learn, and they foster a musical independence. Many children will only sing with a recording, and they need to be confident with their own voice. (eg. Down By the Bay)

A common complaint by many adults is that they are simply ‘tone deaf’. I disagree. They are not tone deaf, but did not develop the proper muscles to sing in tune. Trying to sing up a scale is very difficult for a child. It is much easier for them to start high and sing down. If you pay attention, many children’s songs have a lot of descending passages because of this. Until the muscles develop (you can work on these muscles by singing, and by starting from a high note and singing to a low note), singing outside of a notes which are naturally comfortable will result in ‘out-of-tune-ness’.

Some exercises:

· Sigh from the top of your voice to the bottom (test how high/low you can go)
· Use sounds such as “mmmm” “zzzz” “vvvv”
· Sing lying on the floor
· Make “siren” noises without straining
· Teach them to match pitch by singing back the note you are singing
· Have them follow your hand up and down with their voice (or draw their name while following the hand with their voice!) – this may take some practice
· Have them hum and get them to recognize that sensation when they sing

Remember that kids learn best by doing, not by being told how to do something. When they lose interest, move on and try again another time. Children learn best by repetition. Also, songs are much more fun with movement and actions. Have fun!

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Craft

Microphone

Materials Needed:

Empty paper towel roll or toilet paper roll
Small styrofoam ball – 2 1/2 inches (63 mm)
Fancy scrapbook paper, construction paper or paint
White craft glue
Decorations (sparkly stickers, foam stickers, markers, etc)

Instructions:

1) Cover the workspace. I used parchment paper because I was able to get it cheap at the Dollar Tree Store. And cover the child. I found an old tee shirt.

2) I cut a ring from a toilet paper roll to set the styrofoam ball on so that it wouldn’t roll away.

3) Paint the styrofoam ball black or silver. I like to use foam applicators for painting large surfaces. The most difficult part of painting the ball was learning that its okay to get your fingers messy.

Love to Laugh and Learn: Microphone Craft - Fun with Music: Voices — Love to Laugh and Learn: Microphone Craft – Fun with Music: Voices

But he got used to it and enjoyed the painting.

Fun with Music: Voices - Microphone Craft — Fun with Music: Voices – Microphone Craft

4) We are making two microphones; one from a paper towel roll and one from a toilet paper roll. I couldn’t decide which would be better for a 2 year old so we made both.

5) You can decorate the rolls however you like. You could paint them but I decided to use a fancy piece of scrapbook paper. I cut it to fit each roll.

6) We glued the paper and then applied it to the rolls. Jeremiah used the glue stick and then I added some white craft glue for extra adhesion.

Love to Laugh and Learn: Gluing Paper for Microphone Craft

7) Jeremiah added some stickers because stickers are fun and they are a great fine motor exercise.

Love to Laugh and Learn: Applying Stickers

8) Finally we attached the balls to the top. Make sure to use a thick craft glue. I ended up adding some super glue but super glue should be used with caution and by adults only.

9) Now we can enjoy using our voices by singing into our microphones. The toilet paper size was better for little hands but the paper towel roll was a great size for older kids.

Love to Laugh and Learn: The microphone craft is a hit! Fun with Music: Voices

This microphone craft was adapted from itmom.

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Musical Outings

Take your children to any place that live music is being played. In Indianapolis, you can find many places that give free outdoor concerts during the summer. Maybe you have the same opportunities in your area. Outdoor concerts are a great way to introduce your children to live music because they can sit in their own lawn chair, on a blanket or even get up and dance around a little. Maybe you have older children or neighbors that participate in a school band. Take your children to see them. Expose your children to many types of music. Take the time to talk about what they are hearing, how it makes them feel and the different instruments they are seeing and hearing.

Shannon from Mamamusing wants you to know: “In London, there are several outdoor concerts and festivals in Victoria Park during the summer. One of the best is Sunfest (beginning of July). You can check out a video of my kids enjoying the multicultural music and dancing byclicking here.”

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Storytime

Freddie the Frog® and the Flying Jazz Kitten – 5th Adventure: Scat Cat Island by Sharon Burch
Reading Level: Ages 4 – 9 yrs old
Freddie the Frog meets the Flying Jazz Kitten and learns about wonderful new ways to use his voice. The Flying Jazz Kitten teaches Freddie the Frog the swingin’ beat and excitement of jazz scat singing. There is also a CD with the dramatized story, sing-along songs and an instrumental blues track to create your own special scat.

The Voice and Singing (Let’s Make Music) by Rita Storey
Reading Level: Ages 6 yrs old and up
Each person carries around a special instrument with them wherever they go; their voice. Your child will enjoy learning about their voice in this cute informational book. In simple descriptions, they will learn how their voice works. They will learn about many different styles of singing and different ways they can enjoy singing. Whether they are listening to others sing or using their own voices, singing is fun.

Voices (Instruments and Music) by Daniel Nunn
Reading Level: Ages 4 to 8 yrs old
An instrument that we don’t discuss very often is the voice. This book describes how people use their voices to make music. Sometimes they are accompanied by another instrument or other voices. Sometimes they sing all alone. Share this book with your child and help them learn how their voice is an instrument to enjoy.

Voices and Singing (How the World Makes Music) by Anita Ganeri
Reading Level: Ages 6 and up
This book covers voices as a musical instrument. Your child will learn about many styles of singing from all over the world. The way people use their voices from other parts of the world can sound very different than what we are used to hearing. Along with reading this book take some time to look on the internet and find examples of the different ways people use their voices, such as jazz singing, gospel singing, throat singing and yodeling. How do you and your children use your voices to make music?

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Games Online

Shannon from Mamamusing shares some fun online games:

Now that you have introduced your children to some of the various instrument families in the orchestra, you may want to visit The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. This is a website created by Carnegie Hall which is a wonderfully FREE interactive online game for young children to explore and learn more about the various instruments of the orchestra. You will need to use a computer, because the game requires Adobe Flash, which you can download for free (if you don’t already have this utility installed on your computer).

There is also a wonderful set of books for children ages 4 to 8 years old that helps them learn different musical concepts. Along with the books the author, Sharon Burch, has a website with coloring pages and games for your child to enjoy and enhance their learning experience: Freddie the Frog Games and Coloring Pages

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Music at an Early Age by Shannon at Mamamusing
Fun with Music – Overview
Fun with Music – Percussion Instruments
Fun with Music – Brass Instruments
Fun with Music – Woodwind Instruments
Fun with Music: String Instruments
Fun with Music: Keyboards

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Fun with Music: Keyboards

November 18, 2013 by Mama Carmody 8 Comments

Fun with Music: Keyboards

This post, “Fun with Music – Keyboards”, is written in collaboration with Shannon Wijnker, who used to blog on Mamamusing. Shannon is a music teacher and mother of four.

There is a debate going on among musicians, both amateur and professional, as to whether a piano is a string instrument or a percussion instrument. Although a piano has strings in it, the sound is made by little hammers striking the strings. The definition of a percussion instrument is “a musical instrument (as a drum, xylophone, or maraca) sounded by striking, shaking, or scraping”. So what do you think? This might be a fun survey for your child to do with family and friends. Teach them how to make a chart from their findings.

When exploring keyboards remember there are other instruments besides the piano. In the keyboard category there are also organs, electric pianos, harpsichords, accordions and so much more. Lets have fun experimenting with keyboard instruments.

Playtime
Craft
Musical Outings
Story Time
Related Posts

Shannon shares with us:

One of the most popular instruments is the piano. Every parent wants to play it and every parent hopes that their child will learn. So we sign them up for piano lessons and at first everything is going well. But then the children are expected to practice. Repetition isn’t fun and all of a sudden the piano is not as fun as it used to be. Sound familiar?

Don’t get me wrong – I am all for children taking piano lessons, but I have encountered way too many children who are forced to take lessons because they had displayed an interest in learning, but have since fallen out of love with the idea.

Many parents ask when it is a good age to start teaching children the basics of piano. My answer – it’s never to early to let them play and explore. Structure can come later, and I’ll talk about that in a second. I have a piano in our house and it is located in the playroom. My girls will experiment by pressing the various keys, making up pretend songs, imitating myself playing the piano and also fooling around with the multitude of timbres (different instrument sounds) available. Here are my two older daughters making up songs at the piano. I have not given them any lessons, they have creatively come up with this setup (the microphone stand) on their own. I encourage their exploration, and leave it at that for now.

There are two streams of thought. Some believe that learning how to play by ear is the best way to go. Others believe that learning how to read notes off a page is other. Neither better than the other, it simply depends on the student. I learned how to read music at an early age and it has served me well. Once your child has learned the basics of reading (kindergarten) they can then grasp the basic concepts of learning how to read music. There are several method books out there which can help guide your child. Just remember that their attention span is not very long and you will be lucky to have them sit and concentrate for 15 minutes. When they are practicing try to split it up into 2 or 3 sessions of about 5 min each. Repetition can be very boring, so look to Pinterest for ideas of how to make their learning (and the repetition which is essential) fun. Click here to see Mamamusing’s Pinterest Board about Keyboards

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Playtime

If you don’t have a piano or keyboard at home, for your little ones to experiment with, there are some virtual ones online and apps for your phone. I found Virtual Piano online. It was fun to play around with but not nearly as much fun as getting my hands onto a real piano. I found a toy piano by Melissa & Doug and several toy accordions on Amazon.com that your child could have fun with.

Shannon also suggests:
Besides having a keyboard at home, there are a multitude of keyboard toys on the market: xylophones, floor pianos, keyboards, baby pianos, etc. Just give them the opportunity to explore.

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Craft

P is for Piano

Materials needed:

P – Capital Letter (comes from the set Upper Case Stencils (Large) A-Z by Lani)
White cardstock
10 Tongue depressor sized craft sticks
White paint
Black paint
White craft glue
Scissors
optional – crayons or markers

Instructions:

1. On cardstock, print the letter P template letter P template
2. Cut the 10 tongue depressor sized craft sticks to 2 ½ inches.
3. Paint them white.
4. From the scrap pieces of tongue depressor sized craft sticks, cut 7 of them to 1 ½ inches.

5. Paint these 7 pieces black.

Painted "Piano Keys" for Piano Craft — Painted “Piano Keys” for Piano Craft

6. Spread the white craft glue on the long “stem” side of the letter P. I like to use foam applicators for spreading glue. (The craft sticks will not go all the way from the top to the bottom so you might want to lay them out before you put down the glue just to get an idea of where you want them to end up.)
7. Add glue to the back of the black pieces and lay them out in the pattern of a piano keyboard (3 black keys, the 2 black keys) Refer to the picture if you aren’t sure how a piano keyboard looks. If you have a piano at home have your child look at your keyboard and see if they can figure out how to place the black keys.

*** Other options would be to let your child color or paint the letter P before you glue the piano keys to it. This craft would also be good when learning the alphabet. You can purchase the entire alphabet collection from Lani at Upper Case Stencils (Large) A-Z. This set would be great for crafts, when learning and practicing the alphabet, or to make up games to help with letter recognition.

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Musical Outings

In Indianapolis, you can find many places that give free outdoor concerts during the summer. Maybe you have the same opportunities in your area. Outdoor concerts are a great way to introduce your children to live music because they can sit in their own lawn chair, on a blanket or even get up and dance around a little. Expose your children to many types of music. Take the time to talk about what they are hearing, how it makes them feel and the different instruments they are seeing and hearing.

Story Time

Pianos (Music Makers) by Pamela K. Harris
Reading Level: Ages 6 and up
Your child will gather a lot of interesting information about pianos from this book. For instance, did you know that a piano is sometimes considered a string instrument? Most of the time you can’t see the strings but they are in there. Other people say that a piano is a percussion instrument because little hammers hit the strings to make the sounds you hear. Your child will learn how a piano is made and how it is played. They will hear and see that pianos come in many different shapes and sizes. They will hear about some great musicians that played and wrote music for the piano. The illustrations are pictures of pianos and people playing them. Your child will enjoy learning about pianos while reading this book.

Keyboards (Instruments and Music) by Daniel Nunn
Reading Level: Ages 4 to 8 yrs old
This book is a great introduction to keyboards, for your young child. It explains the different types of keyboards; pianos, organs and several others. Some keyboards are small enough to carry around and others take up a large part of the auditorium. Have fun helping your child learn about keyboards with this informative but simple book.

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Music at an Early Age by Shannon at Mamamusing
Fun with Music: Overview
Fun with Music: Percussion Instruments
Fun with Music: Brass Instruments
Fun with Music: Voices
Fun with Music: String Instruments

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Fun with Music: Brass Instruments

July 16, 2013 by Mama Carmody 12 Comments

Fun with Music: Brass Instruments

This post, “Fun with Music: Brass Instruments”, is written in collaboration with Shannon Wijnker, who used to blog on Mamamusing. Shannon is a music teacher and mother of four.

Every instrument is important in a band or orchestra setting but, I must admit, my personal favorites are the brass instruments. I love the showy high notes of the screaming trumpet, the s-l-i-d-e of the trombone and the oompa, oompa of the big tuba. I could listen to brass music all day. I rented the 1957 movie, The Music Man, just so I could watch the performance of Seventy-six Trombones, as I was preparing for these posts. In preparing your child for this activity read Brass (Instruments and Music) by Daniel Nunn. There is more information about this book below in the Story Time section.

Content:

Playtime
Crafts:
Trumpet from Toilet Paper Roll
D.I.Y. Bugle
Musical Outings
Story Time
Related Posts

I have been blessed with a family of brass players. Both of my daughters played trumpet while in school. My husband’s primary instrument is the tuba but he can play all the brass instruments quite well. I have been able to experience many different settings with brass instruments. Both of the girls participated in marching band and my husband plays in a symphony, a concert band, a couple of big bands and a quintet. Oh, how I love music.

When my girls were babies I wouldn’t let them blow raspberries. You know…when you stick your tongue out and blow air through your lips to make that vibrating sound? I didn’t allow them because, although it might be cute when they are babies, when they get older and blow a raspberry in someone’s face, it is no longer cute or funny. I didn’t see any reason for confusing them by approving of raspberries when they were babies just to turn around and reprimand them when they got older. What I did let them do was to buzz their lips…the way you make a motorboat sound; similar to a raspberry but no tongue. The reason I let them do this was because it would build the muscles they would need to blow through a brass instrument. Knowing how to buzz your lips is essential in learning to play any brass instruments. I didn’t know if they would grow up to be brass players but I wanted to help them develop the skills they might need in the future.

Playtime

Encourage your child to make motorboat sounds. Have them practice them in the pool or the bathtub. Have your child try tightening their lips and making a motorboat sound, then loosening their lips and trying again. Do they hear the difference in the sounds?

If your child doesn’t all ready have a toy trumpet or some sort of horn, make one from the craft section below. Then let them march around and pretend to play their brass instrument.

Shannon from Mamamusing suggests that you use YouTube to view the different instruments. Then you and your child can see and hear them.

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Crafts

Trumpet from Toilet Paper Roll

Materials Needed:

Toilet paper roll
Yellow or gold cardstock or cardboard
Trumpet template
Wax paper
Rubber band
Scotch tape
Yellow duct tape
Buttons
Glue
Scissors

Instructions:

1) Take a piece of wax paper and place it over one end of the toilet paper roll.

2) Tape the wax paper to the outside of the toilet paper roll. You might want to use a rubber band to hold the wax paper in place while you tape it. Then remove the rubber band.

Fun with Music: Brass Instruments – Trumpet Kazoo Craft

3) Print 2 copies of the Trumpet template and cut them out or print one copy and use it as a pattern to cut 2 copies from your yellow cardboard or cardstock.

4) Spread glue on the straight (not flared) part of the yellow paper. I alternated stripes of glue stick and white glue. The glue stick helps hold it still but the white glue gives a stronger hold once it dries.

5) Glue the 2 trumpet templates to the toilet paper roll with the bell (the flared part) towards the end that has the wax paper on on. Use rubber bands to hold in place until completely dry. (I glued one piece on and let it dry some before I tried adding the second piece.)

6) Use scotch tape or duct tape to tape the two sides of the bell together. I made a slight fold along the edge of the bell and then taped that over the other section of bell. I thought it helped give the bell a little bit rounder shape.

7) Wrap a piece of duct tape around the narrow end (mouthpiece) of the trumpet. This will help keep the cardboard from getting soggy if your child puts the mouthpiece inside their mouth.

8) This trumpet is simply a fun toy. It works like a kazoo; your child hums into the mouthpiece to produce their music.

Fun with Music: Brass Instruments – Trumpet Kazoo Craft Completed

The idea for this craft was adapted from the blog, “Bible Story Hour”.

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D.I.Y. Bugle

Materials Needed:

Empty 2 liter soda bottle
Single serve soda bottle with same size mouth as the 2 liter bottle
45 inch length of 1 inch diameter, flexible clear plastic tubing ( I purchased mine at Lowes)
2 Large wooden craft sticks (tongue depressor size)
yellow duct tape
Scissors

Instructions:

1. Cut off the top third of the 2 liter bottle. This will be the bell of the bugle.

Fun with Music: Brass Instruments – Top Third of 2 liter

2. From the single serve soda bottle, cut off the mouthpiece. This will serve as the mouthpiece to your bugle.

Fun with Music: Brass Instruments – Top of Single Serve Soda Bottle to be Used for Mouthpiece

3. Insert the mouthpiece of the 2 liter bottle into the end of the tubing to form the bell.

Fun with Music: Brass Instruments – Bell of Bugle

4. On the other end of the tubing insert the part of the single serve bottle that you cut off into the tubing. This leaves the mouthpiece of the single serve soda bottle to be used as the mouthpiece of your bugle.

Fun with Music: Brass Instruments – Mouthpiece

5. Cut the two wooden craft sticks in half. These are going to be used to brace the top of the bugle loop.

6. Loop the tubing around and use a piece of tape to secure it. Then place 2 halves of the tongue depressor on top of the loop (laying across both pieces of tubing). Tape around the the top of the loop and the tongue depressor. Repeat with the other two pieces of tongue depressor on the underneath side of the loops. This will hold the loop together and give you a nice sturdy place to put your hand.

Fun with Music: Brass Instruments – brace

7. To get a sound out of your bugle you will have to use the skills that any brass player uses. You will need to buzz your lips as you blow through the mouthpiece. You should not be puffing out your cheeks because the air does not come from your cheeks, it comes from your lungs and diaphragm.

8. Have fun with your new bugle!

Fun with Music: Brass Instruments – D.I.Y. Bugle

The idea for this craft was adapted from the blog, “Preschool Crafts for Kids” and the book, Brass (Instruments and Music) by Daniel Nunn.

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Musical Outings

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Story Time

Ben’s Trumpet by Rachel Isadora
Reading Level: Ages 4 to 8 yrs old
Ben lives near the Zig Zag Jazz Club. He sits on his fire escape at night and listens to the music. He plays his trumpet right along with them. During the day, he goes over to the jazz club and watches the musicians practice. He constantly plays his horn for everyone in the family. One day some neighbor kids started making fun of Ben because Ben’s trumpet was pretend. The trumpeter from the Zig Zag Jazz Club happens to notice that Ben has stopped playing his trumpet. When he asks Ben why he isn’t playing his trumpet, Ben tells him that he doesn’t have a trumpet. Take time to pick this book up and find out how the trumpeter from the Zig Zag Jazz Club helps Ben out.

Brass (Instruments and Music) by Daniel Nunn
Reading Level: Ages 4 to 8 yrs old
This book makes a great introduction into brass instruments. The text is simply a sentence or two on each page. The illustrations are actual pictures of brass instruments and people playing them. Your child will get to see the many different sizes and shapes of brass instruments. They will also learn that some brass instruments aren’t made out of brass at all but made out of wood. Since you have to buzz your lips to play the wooden horns, just like the brass horns they get included with the brass instruments. As an added bonus, there is an illustration of how to make your own horn. Have fun learning about brass instruments.

Listen to My Trumpet! by Mo Willems
Reading Level: Ages 4 to 8 yrs old
Piggie gets a trumpet and wants to show his friend Elephant what he can do on his trumpet. He blows and blows and all kinds of sounds come out of the horn, but is it music? Find out what Elephant has to say about Piggie’s playing and how Piggie responds.

Tubby the Tuba by Paul Tripp
Reading Level: Ages 4 and up
Tubby the Tuba is part of the orchestra and he wants to play more than just oompah, oompah. He believes he could play a beautiful melody too but none of the other instruments believe him. Follow Tubby through his disappointments and how meeting a certain bullfrog turned his musical achievements around. The copy of the book that I borrowed from the library had a CD with it. Although I would encourage reading the book to your child a couple of times before using the CD, I strongly recommend having your child listen to the CD as well. The CD is the story with an orchestra playing along, so your child can hear a tuba, trumpet, violin and many other instruments. This story holds a special place in my heart because my husband is a tuba player and he agrees with Tubby that tubas can play more than oompah, oompah. He enjoys playing flute solos on his tuba. A lesson to be learned: Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it can’t. If you believe in something, give it a try. You might give yourself and the people around you a whole new wonderful experience.

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Related Posts

Music at an Early Age by Shannon at Mamamusing
Fun with Music – Overview
Fun with Music – Percussion Instruments
Fun with Music: Woodwind Instruments
Fun with Music: Voices
Fun with Music: String Instruments
Fun with Music: Keyboards

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Fun with Music: Percussion Instruments

June 20, 2013 by Mama Carmody 22 Comments

Fun with Music: Percussion Instruments

This post, Fun with Music: Percussion Instruments, is written in collaboration with Shannon Wijnker formerly blogging at Mamamusing. Shannon is a music teacher and mother of four.

Content:

Playtime
Crafts:
Drum
Shaker
Maracas
Musical Outings
Story Time
Related Posts

Children and music are a perfect combination. Starting at a very young age, children love to move to music. It is important to encourage their natural love of music. Children start banging out rhythms on things almost as soon as they can hold something in their hands. They will bang their spoons on the high chair or drum the coffee table with their hands. Most children love the opportunity to beat your pots, pans and plastic tubs with wooden spoons, if you give them the chance. Since children love banging on things so much I thought the first instrument to cover in the Fun with Music posts should be percussion instruments.

To start this learning activity I would suggest reading Percussion (Instruments and Music) by Daniel Nunn if you child is younger or Percussion (Musical Instruments of the World) by Barrie Carson Turner for an older child. There is more information about both books below in the Storytime section.

Shannon from Mamamusing wants to remind us:

When teaching young children about music, and while they are playing along with music, the subject about beat and rhythm will pop up. It is important to help your child understand the difference between rhythm and beat. Beat is like a heartbeat, it is steady and stays the same. Rhythm changes and provides variety. Usually the rhythms will follow the words (or lyrics).

When trying to teach your child about how to keep a beat, make sure to choose music that is fast. It is impossible for children to keep the beat to slow music. Most adults think slower is easier, but it is not. Children can learn to keep a beat quite easily when it is fast. Think dance music 🙂

To learn rhythm, create accompaniments to a poem. For example, ask them what instrument they would choose for “Twinkle twinkle little star” and get them to explain the reasoning behind their decision. Even if you don’t agree – let them choose! Then try keeping the beat as you sing the song. Then try the rhythm of the words.

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Playtime

Maybe your child has some percussion instruments in their toy box. Do they have a toy drum or toy xylophone? If they don’t (or even if they do) experiment with some household items. A percussion instrument is an instrument that makes sound by striking, scraping or shaking. Set out some pots, pans and plasticware, give your child a wooden spoon, spatula and anything else they can safely beat objects with and let them go at it. Talk about the different sound the different objects make. Which ones make loud sounds and which ones make quieter sounds. Experiment with the objects you are striking the pans with. Does it sound different if you hit the object with the handle of the spatula than if you hit it with the flat part of the spatula?

What kinds of things can you find around the house that make noise when your child shakes them? What about a box of rice? Make sure it’s closed tightly. Small plastic jars of spices would make different sounds when you shake them.

What kinds of things do you have around the house that make noises when you scrape them. Do you have bottles that have ridges around them? We have water bottles like that. Have your child use the wooden spoon handle or spatula handle to rub along the ridges.

Put on some music and encourage your child to play along on their household percussion instruments. Be sure to join your child in the fun.

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Crafts

Have fun creating some simple percussion instruments at home.

Drum

Materials needed:

Empty oatmeal box, margarine tub or similar container
Construction or craft paper
Markers
Stickers
Glue and/or tape
Scissors

Instructions:

1. Cut your paper to the size you need it to fit around your container. It may take more than one piece.
2. Glue or tape the paper to the container.
3. Let your child decorate their drum with markers and/or stickers.

Now watch your child enjoy playing some fun rhythms for you.

Fun with Music: Percussion Instruments - D.I.Y. Drum — Fun with Music: Percussion Instruments – D.I.Y. Drum

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Shaker

Materials Needed:

Empty water bottles or soda bottles
Uncooked rice or dry beans
Colorful duct tape
Stickers – foam stickers work best
Funnel (its easier to put beans in by hand, as they get stuck in the funnel)
Super glue (for adult use only)

Instructions:

1. Have your child put some rice or beans in the bottom of the bottle.
2. Help them wrap some decorative tape around their bottle.
3. Let them put some stickers on the bottle for added fun.
4. This step is for adults only: Run a bead of super glue around the inside of the bottle cap and place on the bottle. This will keep your child from opening the bottle and someone possibly choking on the beans or rice.

Fun with Music: Percussion Instruments - D.I.Y. Shaker — Fun with Music: Percussion Instruments – D.I.Y. Shaker

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I found another fun percussion instrument craft on The First Grade Parade blog. You will find the directions to make cute maracas out of plastic Easter eggs, rice, spoons and some decorative tape. Below is a picture of one I made.

Fun with Music: Percussion Instruments - Maraca — Fun with Music: Percussion Instruments – Maraca

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Musical Outings

Here are some fun places, in Indianapolis, to take your children and have some fun, hands-on experience with percussion instruments.

Bongo Boy Music, Recreational Music Center – Bongo Boy Music offers several drum circles that your child can participate in. They offer times for just the kids, times for the whole family and even a night for special needs children. Some of the events are free and some have a small fee. I include some of their events on my monthly Family Friendly Events schedule.

Rhythm! Discovery Center – The Rhythm! Discovery Center is an interactive, hands-on percussion museum. Children, as well as adults, will love the opportunity to experiment with different percussion instruments from around the world.

If you have similar attractions, in you area, please share them with me and I will add them to this post.

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Story Time

The Drum and Other Percussion Instruments (Let’s Make Music) by Rita Storey
Reading Level: Ages 6 yrs old and up
Your child will enjoy learning about drums and other percussion instruments with this fun book. They will learn how different shaped drums make different sounds. The book gives your child a couple of “experiments” to try to help them learn more about drums. One helps them see how the sounds are made and another shows them how to play different rhythms with different hands (tricky!). Your child will also get the chance to learn about several other percussion instruments. The illustrations are pictures of people playing drums and other percussion instruments.

Drum City by Thea Guidone
Reading Level: Ages 3 – 7
A fun book about kids and their thrill of drumming. They drum on anything they can get their hands on; buckets, bowls, barrels and pans.They dance and march, all while their drumming. They march into the “humdrum of the city”. Soon the children’s infection beat is caught by the adults on the street. “People in traffic” and “Mamas in rollers” and join in keeping the beat. The book is so well written that you get caught up in the fun and want to join the drum parade.

Freddie the Frog and the Mysterious Wahooooo
by Sharon Burch
Reading Level: Ages 4 – 9 yrs old
Join Freddie the Frog and his best friend, Eli the Elephant, as they discover tempos, rhythms, and beats on Tempo Island. Your child will enjoy learning to play their percussion instruments to the rhythm and beat along with Eli and Freddie. There is also a CD with the dramatized story, sing-along songs and jam tracks to play your own created rhythm.

Percussion (Instruments and Music) by Daniel Nunn
Reading Level: Ages 4 to 8 yrs old
Do your children like to bang on pots, pans or tabletops? Do they like to shake the box of rice to hear the noise it makes? Then they will enjoy this book about percussion instruments. Your child will learn that there are many different kinds of percussion instruments; some you bang, some you shake and some you play tunes on. There is even a cute picture at the end of the book that shows you how to make your own toy drum at home.

Percussion (Musical Instruments of the World) by Barrie Carson Turner
Reading Level: Ages 6 and up
This book has a lot of information in it but it is laid out nicely. The book introduces you to 19 percussion instruments from around the world. You will find some instruments that are familiar to you because you see them where you live and there are others you may have never seen before. Each instrument has it’s own page so if you just want to cover the familiar ones or if you want to break the book up into different sessions it is laid out well for that. Although this book is for a little bit older child you could use it with a younger child by becoming familiar with the text and then simply point out and discuss the different instruments rather than reading it word for word.

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Related Posts

Music at an Early Age by Shannon at Mamamusing
Fun with Music – Overview
Fun with Music: Brass Instruments
Fun with Music: Woodwind Instruments
Fun with Music: Voices
Fun with Music: String Instruments
Fun with Music: Keyboards
Bongo Boy Music School Review
Rhythm! Discovery Center Review

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Fun with Music: Percussion Instruments

Content:

Playtime

Crafts

(top) Musical Outings

(top) Story Time

(top) Related Posts

Playtime
Craft
Musical Outings
Story Time
Games Online
Related Posts

Playtime

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Musical Outings

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Story Time

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Related Posts

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Musical Outings

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Story Time

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