For the first seven years of my career, I taught K-5 music. Teaching preschool music was never on my radar. For the first six years of my career I honestly didn’t even know some elementary schools had preschool classes! When I moved to my new school, I didn’t have preschool music because there wasn’t room in my schedule.
Then, in my eighth year of teaching, it happened. I was teaching three year olds music. During a pandemic…when we weren’t allowed to sing. What on Earth was I supposed to do with these kids??
Well, I figured it out, and now the preschool classes are some of my favorites! So let’s cover some of my favorite activities to use with preschoolers!
Songs
First of all, please remember that preschoolers love repetition. I’ll use the same songs for a few weeks at a time and switch out one or two songs each week. They love the nursery rhymes! We’ll sing the ABCs, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Mary Had a Little Lamb. It’s so sweet to hear their little voices sing the songs they already know, and it’s good practice for actually using those singing voices! It’s also a great way to practice steady beat.
Songs like Down By the Bay, Cobbler Cobbler, and Apple Tree are some more favorites! Those have more words to them, but it’s another opportunity to practice steady beat. For Cobbler Cobbler, the kids like to pretend that they’re fixing shoes by sewing, hammering, or cleaning their own shoes.
Finger Plays are other fun ways to practice steady beat! My personal favorite is Chop Chop Chippity Chop. I’ll start by having the kids grab their pots and chopping boards and telling them we’re going to cut up our vegetables for our soup. Then, I’ll ask them what kinds of foods they think we should add. We usually end up adding pretzels, cupcakes, apple juice, and sprinkles to our soup!
If you want to make practicing steady beat during songs extra special, gives kids beat buddies! I give the kids my old beanie babies and ask them to help my friends pat while we sing. They love getting to see what animal everyone will get! It hurts my 6-year-old heart every time a tag is ripped off, but the joy on those little faces makes it worth it.
Instruments
Xylophones are really exciting for preschoolers! They may have a toy xylophone at home that they’ve played, and they’ll love to show you their songs. At first, the kids just get to play and explore the instruments and the sounds they make. Then, we practice high and low sounds with Hickory Dickory Dock. We’ll also practice steady beat with speech pieces like Bee Bee Bumblebee or Engine Engine Number Nine so that they can use any note they want.
Rhythm sticks are an easy addition to preschool music class. We use rhythm sticks pretty much every class! The first several times we use them I’ll start with the song Tap Your Sticks to get them used to using them in different ways and on different levels. Then, we’ll keep the steady beat during songs. Depending on the abilities of my students, I’ll vary the levels and difficulties of the patterns we tap. For example, many preschoolers struggle with movements that involve moving limbs across the body. (PS- did you know that this actually affects students’ writing abilities??) So we’ll practice that a lot in music. We’ll cross the body with our sticks or do two different movements to keep the beat. At first, they struggle with it, and that’s okay! We keep practicing and it’s fun to see them progress throughout the year!
Egg shakers can be used in very similar ways. I start with the song Shake so they use the egg shaker in different ways, then we’ll keep the steady beat. These are also really fun to use to practice fast and slow and loud and quiet!
YouTube Videos
YouTube movement videos are a huge hit in my room! Here are a few favorites for teaching preschool music:
- Laurie Berkner (anything of hers, but I personally love the Goldfish song)
- Miss Nina
- The Kimboomers (we LOVE their freeze dance songs through first grade, but I also use many other songs in class!)
Books
Finally, here are a few books that I love to use in preschool music!
- Barnyard Dance (really, anything from Sandra Boynton)
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
- The Bear Snores On
- Twinkle Twinkle Dinosaur
- Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?
- Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes
Teaching preschool music class can feel scary at first because their attention span is so short! I typically get through 7-8 songs/activities in a 20 minute class, but I always plan more than that!
What songs and activities do you use in your preschool music class? I would love to chat about your ideas- comment below or DM me on Instagram (@caffeinated.j)!
