At the beginning of the school year, I volunteered to be the music docent for Natalie’s Kindergarten class. Once a week, we sing, move, and play instruments together for 30 minutes. One of the objectives for the year is recognizing some common orchestra instruments by sight and sound. The kids are so interested in learning about the orchestra and listening to classical pieces. They are starting to identify individual instruments while listening to the music, which is so neat! I gathered and sampled a lot of resources while prepping for my lessons, so I thought I would share them with you!
Books
Meet the Orchestra by Ann Hayes
Musical Instruments A to Z by Bobbie Kalman
Pecorino’s First Concert by Alan Madison
Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin by Lloyd Moss
Books with CDs
Those Amazing Musical Instruments
Websites
These sites have interactive features and instrument sound samples for kids.
- San Francisco Symphony Kids
- New York Philharmonic – Instrument Locker Room
- Classics for Kids
- Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Music
If you haven’t tried the Beethoven’s Wig CDs, you should! We borrow them from the library all the time – I probably should break down and buy a set of our own. They have funny lyrics set to well-known classical pieces – my girls and all the Kindergarteners *adore* them!
Beethoven’s Wig: Sing Along Symphonies
Beethoven’s Wig 2: More Sing-Along Symphonies
Beethoven’s Wig 3: Many More Sing-Along Symphonies
Beethoven’s Wig 4: Dance Along Symphonies
Here are the “core” classical pieces we listen to in Kindergarten – I usually download individual pieces from iTunes:
- Selections from Peer Gynt (Grieg) - Morning and In the Hall of the Mountain King
- March of the Toys from Babes in Toyland (Herbert)
- Nutcracker Suite (Tchaikovsky)
- March of the Siamese Children from The King and I (Rodgers)
- Carnival of the Animals (Saint-Saens)
My girls love to get out their musical instruments and dance or march around the room to orchestra music. We talk about making a steady beat, whether the tempo is fast or slow, and name as many instruments as we can. They also like to take turns being the conductor!
Any little instrument and orchestra enthusiasts at your house? I’d love to hear your favorites ideas and resources, too!
Happy Music-Making!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Amy, thanks for the great post! I will definitely check out the Beethoven’s Wig CDs. We love music here, and often play the game of trying to identify different instruments in the music that we are listening to in the car. Some of our favorite CDs are the Putomayo CDs. I love their world nature of introducing children to music from other cultures. Currently, we really only have toy instruments, and at ages 4 and 6, I’ve decided the boys need real musical instruments to play with. We already have a xylophone, and shakers/bells and that type of thing, but for Christmas I bought them some real drums, tambourines, cymbals, etc., from Grotro (First Note).
Thanks for the suggestions! I would like to incorporate more music into our homeschooling – this post was very helpful!!
Wow, what great resources! I’m a piano teacher, and I’m always looking for fun books like this.