Many of these activities can be adapted and used with any music, but
examples for specific songs are also given.  The activities are organized into
categories in which they best fit. However, many activities use skills
associated with more than one area of learning. Remember, children learn
by watching you!

Listen and Share

One of the easiest ways to learn from music is to listen to it!  This requires
no more than pushing the play button on the tape machine or CD player.  
Enhance those listening experiences by talking about the songs.  You do not
need to know anything about music to talk about it.  Start by talking about
what you hear.  Is the song fast or slow?  Loud or soft?  Happy or sad? Click
here for suggestions of classical music to use for these activities!

Apply this activity to Fairy Tale Favorites:

Why do you think "The Gingerbread Man" is a fast song?  

How does the mood change in "Little Red Riding Hood" when Little Red
Riding Hood sings or when the wolf sings?  

Can you hear the "trip-trap" in the music of the "Three Billy Goats Gruff?"  
How does the music change when the troll comes out?

What kind of feelings do you feel when you listen to Hansel and Gretel?


Sing

Sing along!  Print song lyrics so that you can learn the words along with your
child.  Once you have learned the songs, you can change the words to
personalize them.  Many popular children's songs are easily adaptable. Print
free lyrics and guitar chords to many popular children's songs here!

Adapt the "The Wheels on the Bus" to:

The Wheels on our car go round and round... all the way to the store  OR  
The Wheels on your bike go round and round... all the way to school.  

Change the words to "When You're Happy and You Know It" to work on
movement and motor skills:

When you're happy and you know it wiggle your thumbs.
OR
To talk about different emotions:
When you're angry and you know it stomp your feet.

Try using the tune of a song that you already know, such as "Old
MacDonald Had a Farm," and make up your own words.  Keep songs
repetitive and simple so that children can learn and remember them easily.  

Apply this activity to Fairy Tale Favorites:

View and print free song lyrics here!


Dance and Move

Make listening and singing experiences more interactive by adding
movement and dance.  This is a great way to involve children in music
activities before they have developed language.  

Add hand and finger motions to any children's songs!  Roll your arms for
"The Wheels on the Bus" or pretend to honk a horn when the bus, "goes
beep-beep-beep."  Wiggle each finger when singing "Where is Thumbkin?"
and clap, stomp, and cheer along to "When You're Happy and You Know It."  

Allow children to move around and dance when listening to music.  Watch
how their movements change depending on the feel of each song.

Play the "freeze" game!  Turn on any kind of music and dance.  Have
someone designated to pause and restart the music.  Each time the music
stops, everybody freeze!  Start dancing again when the music begins to
play.  

Apply this activity to Fairy Tale Favorites:

Help children develop listening skills by having them skip around while Little
Red Riding Hood is singing and tiptoe-ing when it is time for the wolf.  Try
listening to "The Tortoise and the Hare" and hopping when the hare sings
and crawling for the tortoise.  

Try to catch the gingerbread man by running around the room while listening
to the song.  Hide paper cut-outs of gingerbread men around the room and
help children look for them while listening to the song.  

Pretend to build (hammer and stack blocks) while listening to "The Three
Pigs" and then dance when they sing, "Tra-la-la."  

Act out the actions of "The Little Red Hen" by pretending to plant seeds, cut
wheat, and eat bread while listening to the song.  


Art

Help children color pictures or draw their own pictures to go along with their
favorite songs.  

Allow children a chance to express themselves through art and music by
providing a blank piece of paper and coloring material when listening to
songs.  Encourage them to draw pictures or make music maps (continual
lines or scribbles).  

After completing the coloring page for "I'm a Little Teapot," change the
words of the song to match your child's picture: "I'm a little teapot red and
green," OR "I'm a little teapot with polka-dots."  

Apply this activity to Fairy Tale Favorites:  

Print the coloring pages that accompany Fairy Tale Favorites and the
coloring pages for other popular children's songs.  Allow children to color
them while listening to music and then compile them to make a sing-along
song book.  

Choose several different songs such as "The Elves and the Shoemaker,"
"Hansel and Gretel," and "The Frog Prince" and draw while listening.  See
how their pictures differ from each.  


Cognitive

Talk about songs and discuss what they are about.  Ask children questions
about the songs to help develop story-telling and memory skills.  

Apply this activity to Fairy Tale Favorites:

Have children retell or reenact songs from Fairy Tale Favorites.  

Help develop short-term memory and sequencing skills by discussing the
order of events in "The Little Red Hen," "Jack and the Beanstalk," and
"Goldilocks and the Three Bears."  Make picture cards of each event and
practice putting them in order.

Make up and ask each other trivia questions about the songs, such as:

Which pig built a house out of straw?
Why did the three billy goats gruff want to cross the bridge?
Whose porridge was too hot?
What did the shoemaker and his wife do to thank the elves?
Who does not like to bath?


Making Instruments

Enhance any music and movement experience with homemade instruments!  
Use kitchen items, such as wooden spoons and pots and pans to create a
band or save recycled items (plastic bottles, oatmeal containers) and make
shakers, drums, and more!  

Click here for instructions on making homemade instruments!   

Apply this activity to Fairy Tale Favorites:

Play your new instruments while listening and dancing to Fairy Tale
Favorites.  Choose different instruments to play with different stories or to
use as different sound effects.  Try playing a shaker to represent the hare
and a drum to represent the tortoise.  


Books and Literacy

Help your child make books and pictures to go along with your favorite
songs.  For children who are not yet reading, make a book of song cards.  
Use a picture to represent each of their favorite songs, for example, use a
picture of a star to represent "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."  Your child will
learn that the picture represents a song, as letters on a page represent
words.  

Apply this activity to Fairy Tale Favorites:

Find books of fairy tales at your local library.  Read the stories and listen to
Fairy Tale Favorites.  Discuss differences between each book and song.  

Make your own books to go along with the songs by drawing pictures or
printing the coloring pages from this website.

Add sound effects to your favorite books with homemade musical
instruments or items from the kitchen.  Tap wooden spoons together to
represent the "trip-trap" of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff."  

Create a flannel board story by cutting out the shapes of characters and
items from the story or song.  Use the flannel pieces to retell the story or act
out a song.
Music Activities