Grade by Grade
Strand B: Problem Solving and Innovating · Wonder, Explore, Build and Create

Music, Dance and Drama: Make Some Noise and Move!

D24.1 D24.2 D24.3 D25.1 D25.3 D25.4About 20 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can clap and tap a steady beat.
  • I can make sounds that are loud or soft, fast or slow, high or low.
  • I can make a simple instrument and play it with a song.
  • I can move my body to music in different ways.
  • I can pretend to be a character and change my voice and body.

Words to know

beat
The steady pulse in music, like a heartbeat or a clock: tick, tick, tick.
loud and soft
How big or small a sound is.
fast and slow
How quickly music or movement goes.
high and low
A squeaky, tiny sound (like a mouse) is high. A deep, rumbly sound (like a bear) is low.
instrument
Something we use to make music, like a drum, shaker or guitar.
character
A person or animal in a story. In drama, we pretend to be a character.

Let's make some music!

(Grown-up: read aloud.)

Put your hand on your chest. Can you feel your heart going thump, thump, thump? That steady feeling is like the beat in music.

Let's clap a steady beat together: clap, clap, clap, clap. 👏

Sounds can change

Sounds can be:

  • loud 📢 or soft 🤫
  • fast 🐇 or slow 🐢
  • high 🐭 (squeaky like a mouse) or low 🐻 (deep like a bear)

Let's try! Say "hello" loudly. Now softly. Now in a high mouse voice. Now in a low bear voice.

A hand drum, a tambourine, two maracas and a small colourful xylophone with mallets on a rug.
These instruments can play loud or soft, fast or slow. The xylophone can play high and low sounds too! AI-generated image
SoundAnimal ideaTry it
loud🦁 lion roarROAR!
soft🐱 sleepy cata tiny purr
fast🐇 rabbittap-tap-tap-tap quickly
slow🐢 turtletap ... tap ... tap
high🐭 mousesqueak!
low🐻 beara deep "grrr"
Act out each sound.
fastslowtaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptapsame amount of time →
In the same amount of time, the rabbit taps 8 times and the turtle taps only 3 times. Taps close together sound fast.
Worked example

Let's make a shaker and play the beat

Problem: We want an instrument to play along with "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," but we don't have one. Let's make one! 🎵

  1. Find a small plastic container with a lid (or an empty water bottle).
  2. Put in a small handful of dry rice or dry beans. Close the lid tightly. A grown-up can tape it shut.
  3. Shake it. Listen! What happens if we put in more rice? Less rice? Try and listen.
  4. Sing "Row, row, row your boat" and shake on the beat: one shake for each steady pulse.
  5. Now play it softly for a sleepy song, and loudly for a happy, bouncy song.

We made a shaker and played a steady beat! We solved a problem by building our own instrument.

Dance: move to the music

Dancers move their bodies in many ways:

  • high (on tiptoes, arms up) and low (crouching near the floor)
  • fast and slow
  • big (giant steps) and small (tiny steps)
  • still, like a statue 🗿

When the music is slow and soft, we might float like a feather. When it is fast and loud, we might jump like popcorn! 🍿

Drama: let's pretend

In drama, we pretend to be a character. We change our voice, our face and our body.

In the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears:

  • Papa Bear talks in a big, low voice and stomps.
  • Mama Bear talks in a middle voice.
  • Baby Bear talks in a small, high voice and takes tiny steps.

You can act out stories from many cultures this way, like a folk tale or legend your family knows, or one from a library book.

highlowPapa Bearlow voiceMama Bearmiddle voiceBaby Bearhigh voice
Big Papa Bear uses a low voice. Middle-sized Mama Bear uses a middle voice. Little Baby Bear uses a high voice. Look where each music note sits!

Music from many cultures

Music comes from people all over the world. Listen with your grown-up to music from many cultures. For example, the Red River Jig is a famous Métis fiddle tune and dance. Many First Nations communities share songs with hand drums. Listen, tap the beat, and talk: Is it fast or slow? Loud or soft? How does it make you want to move?

Hands-on activity

Kitchen band and freeze dance

You need: pots, a wooden spoon, a shaker (from the example), a music player.

Kitchen band: Turn a pot upside down. Tap it with a wooden spoon. Tap loud and soft. Tap fast and slow. Play the beat while your grown-up sings a song you both know.

Freeze dance: Your grown-up plays music. You dance! When the music stops, you freeze like a statue. Try dancing high, then low, then big, then small.

Story time drama: Read or tell a favourite story. Pick a character and act it out with a special voice and walk.

Just for fun

What kind of music are balloons afraid of?

Pop music! 🎈

Your turn

1

Clap a steady beat 4 times. 👏

2

Make a loud sound, then a soft sound.

3

🐭 Is a mouse's squeak high or low?

4

🐻 Is a bear's growl high or low?

5

Move like a 🐢 turtle. Is that fast or slow?

6

Pretend to be Baby Bear and say, "Someone ate my porridge!"

More practice: warm-up

1

Pat your knees fast. Now pat them slowly.

2

Which is louder: a 🦁 roar or a 🐱 purr?

3

Stand up tall and stretch high. Now crouch down low.

4

Name something you can use as a drum at home.

5

Freeze like a statue! 🗿 Can you stay still while your grown-up counts to 5?

More practice: on your own

1

You put lots of rice in one shaker and a little in another. Do they sound the same?

2

Move like falling snowflakes ❄️. What kind of movement did you choose: fast or slow? Heavy or light?

3

Pretend to be Papa Bear. How will your voice sound? How will you walk?

4

Sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and clap the beat.

5

Listen to a song. Is it fast or slow? How does it make you feel?

Challenge

1

Make up a dance with 3 moves (for example: jump, spin, wiggle). Do them in order, then do them again.

2

🌩️ Use your body and a pot to make the sound of a storm. Start soft, get loud, then go soft again.

3

Act out a little story with 2 characters: a tiny mouse and a big elephant. How will each one move and talk?

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

A steady pulse in music, like a heartbeat, is called the...

2.

Which sound is high?

3.

How should you move to slow, soft music?

4.

What can you use to make a shaker?

5.

In drama, Papa Bear talks with a...

For parents and teachers

What this lesson is about. Children explore elements of music (beat, loud and soft, fast and slow, high and low), dance (moving high and low, fast and slow, big and small) and drama (character, voice, movement). They solve problems and use imagination, for example by making an instrument, and respond to music and dance from various cultures.

How to help at home:

  • Sing every day: in the car, at bath time, while cleaning up. Clap or tap the beat together.
  • Make simple instruments from recyclables (shakers, drums, elastic band guitars on a box).
  • Play music from many cultures and talk about how it makes you feel and want to move.
  • Act out favourite stories and nursery rhymes with different voices.

Common difficulties:

  • Keeping a steady beat is hard at first; children often speed up. Slow down, tap their knees with them, or walk to the beat together.
  • Some children confuse loud with high and soft with low. Play a high sound softly and a low sound loudly so they can hear the difference.
  • Shy children may not want to perform. Let them play an instrument or act with a puppet or stuffed animal instead.
  • Safety: seal shakers tightly (tape the lid) because dry beans and rice are choking hazards for small children.