Piano Preschool Lapbooks

After reading the post about piano lapbooks on Laura Lowe's blog , I decided to create my own preschool piano version to send home with my piano preschoolers. I let them decorate the covers with various musical symbols. Inside are pockets for Music alphabet/finger # and symbol flashcards from www.laytonmusic.com (Faber primer flashcards). I also included a laminated mini rhythm pizza (see www.susanparadis.com) and colorful piano for them to play Susan's Snowflake and Shamrock Keys games on. The back cover had a laminated Grand Staff which they can use for "M&M's stepping on the staff" game.

Composer Fruit Basket Game

Lately I've been introducing my students to composers in various periods of classical music. I thought of this variation of "fruit basket" to help them become more familiar with composers and their musical eras.
Materials to make composer "necklaces":
Small Pictures of Composers (Two excellent places to find these are: D'net Layton's www.laytonmusicgames.com or Natalie Wickham's http://musicmatters.blog.com
Yarn
Hole Punch
Chairs
How to play:
Each student chooses a composer necklace to wear. Form chairs in a circle with one less chair than the number of people playing. The student w/o a chair stands in the middle of the circle and calls out a specific music period (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Contemporary)or "Music History." The student with composers in the specific period have to hurry & find a new chair while the person in the middle tries to "steal" someone's spot. The last person left standing calls out another musical era. If "Music History" is called, everyone must switch to a different chair. Students can switch necklaces after several rounds to help them become familiar with the periods all of the composers fit into.
Variation:
Instead of using necklaces, you could post pictures of the composers on the chairs. Then students have to check their chairs to identify what music period they are in.

Snacks between the bar lines

To introduce the concept of bar lines, we played "Teacher May I" (see last previous blog post) again but instead used chocolate chip quarter notes (w/ pretzel stems), marshmallow half note (w/ pretzel stems) and Marshmallow whole notes (Big Marshmallows). The children "ordered" notes to add up to 4 beat measures and then also "ordered" bar lines (pretzel sticks) to divide up their measures into groups of 4 beats.

Adventures in Music Board Game

I just discovered this fun free printable music game in the "printables" at Joy Morin's site http://colorinmypiano.com/. I like it because it is relatively short but reviews both note names on the staff and music symbols. I adapted it for my preschoolers by replacing the cards with 2 sets of cards under the "games" tab on Susan Paradis's website - "Fish Rhythm Cards for Beginners" and "Flashcards for Flyswatter Games." Even my 3 year old loves this game when I use only the "fly" notes on the staff that she has been introduced to so far.

"Teacher May I" Build a Measure

Snack time activities are always my preschooler's favorite. To introduce the concept of 4 beat measures we played this fun game for snack time. I "tied" small teddy bear cookies together with chocolate frosting. Then we named the bear snacks - single bears=quarter notes, 2 bears stuck together=half notes, 3 bears=dotted half notes and 4 bears=whole notes. The children took turns ordering teddy bear snacks from me. They could only order snacks that would add up to 4 beats (one measure). For example they said "Teacher may I have 1 quarter note bear and 1 dotted half note bear(3 bears stuck together with frosting)." This had the added benefit of reviewing their knowledge of correct note names and the number of beats in each note.

Easter Egg Line and Space Notes

Often young children have a hard time distinguishing between line and space notes on the staff. Check out this fun Easter Egg Notes worksheet. Have your child write "L" on the "egg notes" that are sitting on lines and "S" for notes that are in the spaces between the lines. This can also be used to help them review note names on the staff later. For more seasonal worksheets like this follow the link to Susan Paradis's website on the right.

Hangin on a Fence Post - Flexible Wrist

For more practice with playing with a flexible wrist, click on the Faber My First Piano Adventures Link on the right to watch a video demo of "Hangin on a Fence Post." Then play "F's" along with the CD on the first set of bounces. Then switch to "G's for the second set of bounces.