Homeschool music lessons for K-2 kids don’t have to be expensive, complicated, or boring! Here is a super simple collection of music lesson plans that you can start using in your homeschool.
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Carnival of the Animals Lesson Plan
The Carnival of the Animals written by Camille Saint-Saens in 1886, is a classic collection that draws children into the magical world of music. By listening to the orchestra, kids will be able to imagine and picture the animal that is represented by the musical motif.
Nearly all of the 14 movements are dedicated to a specific animal.
The most enjoyable way to use this suite with K-2 kids is to listen to one movement each day and have them draw the animals as they listen. Use lots of adjectives as you describe how the music portrays the animal. What is the animal like?
You can also purchase a picture book specifically about this musical suite.
Finally, kids would enjoy acting out the movement of each animal after they listen to the music – how does the elephant move? what about the swan?
Play through the whole suite after you’ve sketched out each animal individually, and see if your kids can remember the specific animals described by the music. Have them act it out and change animals when the movement changes.
You can download coloring sheets for each movement of the suite for your child to include in a portfolio or notebooking binder. They’re also in my members-only free resource library.
Story of the Orchestra Lesson Plan
The Story of the Orchestra was an excellent book in our early years of homeschooling for a complete introduction to the musical instruments and composers.
You can follow this simple plan as you work through the book with your K-2 kids:
- read a page in the book
- use the enclosed CD to listen to the instrument or composer
- print off a coloring page from Pinterest!
Creating Instruments Lesson Plan
After your kids learn about real instruments and the way composers use them to create interesting motifs (a la Carnival of the Animals), they will want to create some instruments themselves.
You can easily use recycled materials from around the house and craft drums, maracas, string instruments, and wind instruments.
Again, check out Pinterest for some creative ideas.
