Non-tech Arts Activities at Home: Music

Tired of tech?  Sick of screens?     
Try these non-tech MUSIC activities!
Non-tech arts activities provided by professional educators in dance, drama, music, and visual arts on the BYU ARTS Partnership leadership team. 

Keep it simple! Facilitating joyful and uncomplicated musical activities will enrich children’s time at home. Parents and teachers can implement these easy, effective, and low-tech ideas with participants of all ages and diverse levels of musical experience. Create a whole-family musical experience using any of the activities listed below:

1. Go outside for a “listening” walk and make a list of everything you hear. 
2. Sing your favorite song, alone or in a group. 
3. In a group of two or more, see how many times you can sing a favorite round. 
4. Create a 4-beat body percussion pattern and teach it to someone. Can you both do it to the beat of a song? 
   
5. Play the steady beat as you sing a favorite song. (Clap, pat, or use household items to create the beat.) 
6. Play the rhythm of the words as you sing the melody of a favorite song. (Clap, pat, or use household items to create the rhythm.)
7. Ask a friend or family member to teach you their favorite song.
8. Pick a familiar tune and create new words to a song, describing your day at home.
9. Create a dance to your favorite song.
10. Make musical instruments out of household items.
11. Invent and draw a new musical instrument. To which instrument family would it belong? 
12. Listen to a piece of music. Pay attention to how the music makes you feel. Draw your feelings. Listen again. What comes to mind when you listen? Write down your response, including memories that are associated with this music. Imagine this music was playing in a movie: write down or draw a picture of what might be happening.
13. Write down the lyrics to your favorite song, including the chorus. Underline any repeated words or phrases in the song. Underline four other words. Sing the song and make a sound (clap, pat, or play an instrument) with the underlined words as you sing.
14. Perform a song four ways: whisper, speak, hum, sing. 
15. Say a nursery rhyme while tapping the beat. 
16. Have a singing conversation. Instead of speaking, students or family members can sing normal sentences with others or create a two-sided conversation between toys, stuffed animals, or imaginary friends. 

17. Create pictures out of musical notation symbols.
18. Pick a favorite story or book. Figure out how to represent the characters and setting using sounds (voice/things found around the house/body percussion.) Assign each character a different sound. Using only those sounds, tell the entire story. Different individuals could make the sounds for various characters.

Written by Jennifer Purdy and Emily Soderborg, music educators and members of the BYU ARTS Partnership Leadership Team. Find more resources at Music Home | AdvancingArtsLeadership.com

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Relax, Refresh, and Rejuvenate through the Arts!

Relax, Refresh, and Rejuvenate through the Arts! 

Ideas for home-based arts instruction provided by Elementary Arts Educators in Dance, Drama, Music, and Visual Arts. More resources at AdvancingArtsLeadership.com 

During these unsettling times, parents can take charge of their time with their children. Remember
how fun pre-school was? Singing, drawing, dancing, playing pretend, and reading aloud? High level learning happens during those hours of play, and these activities continue to be beneficial for people of all ages.

Arts activities relax the body, refresh the mind, and help us connect to others. Arts activities are multi-sensory, minds-on, hands-on experiences that invite conversations and build relationships. Parents can invite their children to make art with them in a playful way and optimize the experience by breathing deeply, relaxing, and being fully present as their children engage.

When playing with children, listen to the children’s ideas, then reward their efforts with smiles and kindness. Working along-side them encourages their focus and concentration. Inspire them to improve their ability by enjoying quality works of art together. Listen to music, sing, talk about works of art, discuss movies, and books. Most of all, have fun and celebrate successes. Set the stage, turn up the music and dance! Here are some ideas for home-based arts instruction to get you started.

VISUAL ART 

DRAW!
Draw something from the 100 Sketchbook Prompts or 100 Silly Drawing Prompts every day. Add details such as texture, value/shading, and color. Feel free to use the back of your classwork to draw on, if you do not have other paper available.

LAND ART SCULPTURE
Take inspiration from Land Artists such as Andy Goldworthy, Robert Smithson, and Richard Long. Have your child look at images from these artists as inspiration for their own Land Art sculpture. If you do not have access to outdoor space such as a yard or wilderness area, you can have students use Legos, toys from their playroom, cardboard, or other materials to assemble their sculpture. Even food and veggies on their lunch plate!

MAKE SALT DOUGH
2 Cups all purpose Flour
1 Cup Salt
1 Cup cold Water

Mix flour and salt together in a bowl. Slowly mix water, a few tablespoons at a time, into flour mixture until dough is smooth and easy to handle. Knead dough for 10 minutes and let rest for 20 minutes. Help your student do the measuring and mixing/kneading, talking about the texture and how it feels before and after adding the water.

After the ten minutes of kneading you can divide up the mixture into three portions and add a few drops of food coloring to be mixed into the clay. The primary colors of red, yellow, and blue are recommended.

Let it rest for 20 minutes. When the clay is ready, have children sculpt a creature or character from a story they are currently reading. Talk about the shapes that make up that creature, and the different parts/details. If you added color, they can mix parts of the clay together to create secondary colors.

After they are done the clay can be put into an airtight container for several days then disposed of. You can also leave the sculptures out to dry in the air or bake them in a 250 degree oven for about two hours (until hard and dry).

MUSIC

MUSICAL SCAVENGER HUNT
Look around your house and find the following sounds. An object you find may fit more than one of the items below. For example, a metal pot lid tapped with a wooden spoon is something you tap, it is metal, it can be loud, and it may be quiet.

Something you rattle or shake
Something you tap
Something you scrape
Something you blow in or across
Something metal
Something plastic
Something wood
Something that can make a loud sound
Something that can make a quiet sound
Something that makes a low sound
Something that makes a high sound
Something that makes a short sound
Something that makes a long sound

Arrange the items into three categories: metal, plastic, wood. Start over and arrange the items into four categories based on how you make each sound: shake, tap, scrape, blow. Can you change the sound of the object? Can you make it louder, quieter, higher, or lower? Arrange from low sounds to high sounds.

BIM BUM
Body percussion is making percussive musical sounds using only your body -- such as clapping your hands, patting your lap, or stamping your feet. Try this body percussion game song. It is first sung as an echo song, so you may want to watch and listen as each phrase is sung, then try the body percussion on the echo. The song might be easy to sing, but the body percussion gets tricky! Clap your hands on the word bim, snap your fingers on the word bum, and pat your lap on biddy.

Once you have mastered the body percussion, find household objects that will make three distinct sounds. Decide which “instrument” or object you want to play, then choose the one word on which you will play your instrument each time it is sung: bim, bum, or biddy. Have two other friends or family members play the other two instruments on the other words. Challenge: Can you sing the entire song but play your instrument only on the specific word? This might take some practice!

FAMILY FOLK SONGS
What country or part of the world does your family come from? Find it on a map or globe. Have a family member sing a song they know from that country or region, or find a folk song from that country or region. What is the history of the song? Why did people sing the song?If there is more than one song, which is your favorite? Why? Create actions or movements to go along with the song and perform them as you sing.

DRAMA

CHIN PUPPETS
Make a chin puppet! Sure, have some giggles making funny faces or lip syncing to a song, then go beyond. Create a character: give your chin puppet a name, a unique voice, a personality with likes and dislikes. Hold a conversation. Tell a story. Keep your chin up!



PLAY IT. . .BACKWARDS!
Make a list of events (or draw scenes) from a favorite story. The story could be the plot from a book, movie or event. Now. . . act it out: backwards! It’s harder than it sounds – and is a fun challenge. Good luck!

ZOO-DO!
Create a zoo of your own with stuffed animals, lego animals, toy animals or YOU as an animal! Make sure you give your critters a healthy habitat with plenty to do. What is your favorite exhibit? What might the animals be thinking when you look at them? What kinds of adventures might happen in a zoo? Make your own zoo today, do!

DANCE

FAMILY DANCE
Listen to different genres of music and think about what movements they inspire. Have fun dancing free style to any selection. Allow each child to choose their favorite and explain why. Try learning some of the movement of each family member. You could choose one movement from each family member and create a family dance. Begin and end with a family connecting shape using levels and all kinds of line and design to make your shapes interesting. See what creative things you can come up with and enjoy the experience of dancing together.

HAPPY DANCE
Watch “Happy Dance” on YouTube. Follow the dance moves in the video and make up moves of your own. Talk about what makes you happy, and reasons why you are happy right now. Read Do Your Happy Dance! Celebrate Wonderful You and have a discussion. Some points of discussion could be: The Peanuts characters persisting at school, in sports or other extracurricular activities, or at any life experience. Make connections to your own unique experiences and find reasons to celebrate and do a “Happy Dance!” Turn the music video back on and have a dance of celebrating wonderful YOU!

Other Resources for the Happy Dance

• Meghan Trainor - Better When I’m Dancin’ 
• Peanuts - Happy Dance 
• Snoopy Happy Dance 

GIRAFFES CAN’T DANCE
Read the book Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae (or watch the animated video or watch the Giraffes Can’t Dance (Silly Song). Have a discussion about feelings/emotions that Gerald and the other animals might be having. You can talk about how we feel when we fall and make mistakes, and how it feels when others make fun of us at those times. This can lead to a conversation about a growth mindset: a belief that our most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.

Create a dance together! Using the action words in the story provide an opportunity for your children to try leaping, prancing, skipping, swaying, swishing and twirling. Give them time to make their own dance. Sit together in a circle and have a “Jungle Dance” giving any who would wish to share the dance they created. After this you can take turns learning each other’s dances. (Jungle Dance Music)

Find more ideas for arts at home here.

Written by members of the BYU ARTS Partnership Leadership Team: Melissa Deletant (Visual Arts Educator), Cally Flox (Director of the BYU ARTS Partnership). Miriam Bowen (Dance Educator), Lisa Bean (Drama Educator), and Jennifer Purdy (Music Educator).

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Celebrating and Honoring Veterans through Music

November 25, 2019

For the second year, Veterans Day was a musical event at Orem Elementary School in Orem, Utah. Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program (BTSALP) educator Cheri Hancock has been working for several weeks with all of the students in the school to prepare for this celebration.

During the weeks leading up to the special day, Hancock integrated social studies, literature, history, and science into her music class. Weaving music into the study of other content areas allows the students to understand what they are learning more deeply and have emotional experiences, especially when learning about historical events about the country where they live.

“We took time to study and enjoy the book This Land is Your Land, illustrated by Kathy Jakobsen with words and music by Woody Guthrie,” said Hancock. “We had discussions, listened to recordings of music, looked at pictures, used a map, and read from a book. I made flashcards of words that they might not know, and we talked about the definitions.”

While participating in the many learning opportunities, the students not only learned songs and performance skills, but they also discovered that they can express meaning through musical works and relate music to societal, cultural, and historical contexts.

Before the musical performances on Veterans Day, the student body was able to watch a flag raising ceremony, headed up by Utah Valley University’s ROTC. Then students in kindergarten through sixth grade performed “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Students of different ages performed different pieces that they had learned as well. Younger students sang “Wave the Flag” and “This Land is Your Land.” Older students sang “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and the “Armed Forces Medley” after meeting local veterans.

In addition to the student body performing, Orem Elementary’s children’s choir performed pieces that they have been practicing before and after school: “Veterans’ March” and “One Voice.” Led by Hancock, the children’s choir comprises 30 students in fourth through sixth grades. The choir is an extracurricular activity open to all interested students.

“I believe children need to learn patriotic songs and the history of our nation. Teachers need to instill a love for our country in our students by participating in Veterans Day programs,” Hancock said. 

Laura Giles is a lover of all things art, a first grade teacher in Alpine School District, and a writer for The Daily Herald newspaper. She is an Arts Leadership Academy graduate and has earned the Arts Integration Endorsement from Brigham Young University. She can be reached at LauraCGiles@gmail.com.

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