Children of all ages benefit immensely from whole body learning! Movement activities are a great way to keep kids active and engaged while promoting better focus and improving cognitive thinking. Here are some fun and simple activities to incorporate into your daily music practice!
Ball Bouncing
Ball bouncing is so much fun and allows students to experience steady beat, meter, and time signatures! Get creative with different ways to use the ball such as bouncing, rolling, tapping, or spinning. Find a pattern that matches the number of beats per measure in the song. (Example: a simple bounce & catch pattern for a song in 2/4 time. Or a roll-tap-roll-tap pattern for 4/4 time.)
Check out this instructional video for some great ball bouncing ideas:
Ball Bouncing video
Body Percussion
This is a very simple way to get away from the instrument, while still practicing a song! Tap various body parts (head, shoulders, belly, knees, toes) to match the notes to a song. You can also use taps, claps, snaps, or other creative sound effects to explore steady beat, rhythm, scale degrees, or high/low pitches. Body percussion is also an excellent tool for memorizing!
Yoga
Yoga is a wonderful practice for connecting body, mind, and breath. As musicians, especially as woodwind players, we need to develop good breath control and air support in order to produce a beautiful tone. Yoga poses are a fantastic way to stretch and move before and after music practice! It helps with balance, posture, and stability. You could even try out some poses while playing!
Dance
Listening to the flute songs is a crucial component of daily music practice! But active listening does not have to be done sitting still. In fact, it’s a great idea to combine listening with dancing! Freeze Dance is a always a hit with younger children, while older students might enjoy learning the actual steps to the waltz or the minuet.
Scarves
Scarves or play silks are always popular with young children. They provide a wonderful sensory experience while offering opportunities to explore advanced concepts such as musical phrasing and expression. Older students could even create and memorize an entire scarf dance routine with complicated movements to match the form of the song.
Musical Twister
Twister is a classic game that everyone loves! It gets kids moving, falling, laughing and learning all at the same time! To create a musical version of the game, draw notes or rhythms on the dots and on the spinner. Instead of calling out “left hand yellow”, you would say “left hand quarter note.” Or “right foot whole note”. This is a fast and fun way for students to practice note and rest identification!
Flute Hopscotch
Another classic game that can easily be adapted for music practice is hopscotch! Students can draw the hopscotch design outside with sidewalk chalk, but instead of numbering the boxes, draw whatever notes, songs, or scales need to be practiced! To play the game, toss a rock or small object on the board. Play whatever it lands on and then hop through the squares skipping over the one with the marker.
Obstacle Course
It could be as simple as laying out some notes on the floor, hopping from one to the next. Or set up a full on obstacle course in the living room that your child can run through each time they complete one repetition of a song. That movement break where they get to jump from pillow to pillow, crawl under the table, and roll into the finish line will reset their brain and allow them to focus on the next one!
So the next time your little one is too wiggly to stand still, remember that music and movement go hand in hand! Try out some of these ideas at home and let us know which one is your favorite!