Music, Instruments Preschool Activities, Crafts, Lessons, and Printables

Music and Instruments Activities, Rhymes, Printables, and Music and Instruments Book Suggestions

Instruments

Cut out shapes or print pictures of musical instruments to decorate the wall. Show children real musical instruments and listen to recordings or instruments from the library's collection. Invite a music teacher or musician to bring instruments and demonstrate the sounds each can make.

Music and Instruments Rhymes and Songs

The Finger Band
Original Author Unknown
(Tune: All Around the Mulberry Bush)

The finger band has come to town,
come to town, come to town;
The finger band has come to town
so early in the morning.

This is the way we play the drums,
play the drums, play the drums; (Pretend to play drums.)
This is the way we play the drums
so early in the morning.

The finger band has gone away,
gone away, gone away;
The finger band has gone away
so early in the morning

Continue verses by replacing the "drums" with other instruments: flute, trumpet, piano, violin, etc.

Free Music and Instrument Printables and Coloring Pages

Drum Coloring Page	Guitar Coloring Page	Flute Coloring Page	Maracas Coloring Page

Music and Movement

Musical Simon Says
What you need: 2-3 different musical instruments (bells, drum, pots, etc.)

What you do: 
Choose a child to be the "leader." Assign different actions to each instrument. For example, when the leader beats the drum, all children need to stomp their feet. Let the leader sit on the floor and place the instruments in front of him/her. The leader plays the instruments and the children need to make the matching movements. Make the game more challenging by adding more instruments and movements.

Name that Tune
Play or sing the beginning of a song or a piece of music that children are familiar with and have heard often. Then, have children take turns guessing the title. Do this with three or four different musical selections at a time throughout the week to build auditory recognition skills.

Boom Bang
(Original Author Unknown)
Boom, bang, boom, bang! (clap hands like cymbals)
Rumpety, lumpety, bump! (drum thighs like a drum)
Zoom, zam, zoom, zam! (slide hands back and forth)
Clippety, clappety, clump! (stomp on the floor)

Note: Repeat verse going progressively faster or slower for a fun variation

The Freeze
Let children dance to different selections of music, but explain that when the music suddenly stops, they need to freeze in place until the music beings again. Try using different styles and tempos of music to give children opportunities to move in different ways: slowly, robotically, with animation, like animals, freely, etc.

Instrument Craft

Paper Plate Shakers

What you need:
Paper plates

Kidney beans

Stapler

Crayons

Crepe paper in different colors (optional)

Sequins in different colors (optional)

What you do:
Let children decorate the outsides of two paper plates with crayons. Staple each child's pair of plates together, leaving small openings that can be used to fill the shakers with beans. Once children have added the beans to their shakers, staple shut the small openings. Make sure to place staples close together along the rims of the shakers so that the beans do not fall out. If time allows, let children glue pieces of crepe paper to the edges of their shakers and sequins on one side for added pizzazz and color. Children can use their paper plate shakers during different rhythm or music related activities.

Preschool Activities: 

Media Root

Music and Instruments Books

Ah, Music!	I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello	Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin	I See a Song (Blue Ribbon Book)
Meet the Orchestra	Mole Music (Live Oak Music Makers)	Music, Music for Everyone	The Magic Flute: An Opera by Mozart
Violet's Music	Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf: With a Fully-Orchestrated and Narrated CD	Max Found Two Sticks (Reading Rainbow Books)	Opera Cat

Music and Instruments CDs

Can You Hear It?	The Carnival of the Animals (Book & CD)	The Jazz Fly (book w/ audio CD)	Story of the Orchestra