Engaging Children in Musical Games: Meaningful Connections Through Music
By Kitti Pecka, Head Teacher
Young children come to music activities with eagerness and attention. In exploring this world of music, how can teachers sustain children’s interest and enhance their cognitive development?
Participation in traditional children’s music is often the rule in the Two’s classroom. One might think that novel offerings in the music curriculum, such as singing new songs every session, would encourage interest. Contrary to this belief, we have found that repetition is key to children’s engagement in the music. Once songs have been introduced and learned, we begin to make musical extensions by adding small creative variations to sustain their interest. For example, as groups of children learn a shared repertoire of songs, we add small changes in tempo, subject, movement or instrumentation to create a new element. The individual suggestions of the children also help the teachers formulate the next step in sequential complexity, building off of the children’s interests and excitement over the musical experience.
We sang the song The Bear Went Over the Mountain from the earliest days in the afternoon Two’s class in the autumn quarter. Once the children mastered the original version, the next step was to change the “bear” to a sheep, a cow, or a horse that went over the mountain. This small twist was accompanied by the introduction of new puppet animals, all venturing over the same mountain. The children enjoyed the novelty of the different animals. From here, instead of continuing to change the animal element, we returned to the bear going over the mountain. Instead of “seeing all that he could see,” the traditional lyrics the children were expecting, the bear went over the mountain and saw “who he could see” or “someone” on the other side of the mountain. This “someone” was one of the children in the classroom, illustrated by a photo of that child. The bear, himself, was alternately a stuffed animal or a picture of a bear. In the game that evolved, the representation of “someone” brought excitement to the musical game. At first, it was hard for certain children to wait to see themselves in the game. However, they grew in patience and awareness of others as the game was repeated again and again. At this point, the song that at first was simple and repetitive evolved into a game that had the children excited and engaged each time it was played.
Later our classroom read The Bear Escape, a book about a bear that has an adventure with bees and honey. This book introduced movement possibilities as well as the use of different concepts such as under, through, up and down. Ultimately, this led the children to act out the scenarios and use their whole bodies in the “play.” This was a meaningful experience that not only used the melody and rhythm of the music, but also incorporated the social aspects of the group, movement dynamics, and an increased vocabulary acquired from the book.
Another musical game was called What’s In My Pocket? Using this book, which illustrates a hiding game, the teacher made up a song that asked the question, “Pocket, pocket, what’s in my pocket?” and gave the children a clue about the object placed in her own pocket. They sang eagerly and guessed over and over again. The same objects were used because the repetition gave security and comfort to the children when the items were predictable. To extend the song found in this book, the teachers wore an apron with pockets to play the game. All the children learned the song, played the guessing game and delighted in the outcomes.
The children themselves were another source of meaningful music. One child in the class taught us a movement song called Jumping Josie. We all learned the song which, like many traditional children’s songs, included a fill-in-the-blank segment. This song called for suggestions of movements, supplied by the children. We expanded this simple song to multiple movements, which increased body awareness, vocabulary, recognition of others and social awareness.
Classical music is a rich source for group games because it provides quality auditory experiences and acts as a springboard for creativity and games. This spring the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his family played a big role at Bing. We danced to Bach’s Little Suite in April for music time. A minuet by Johann Sebastian Bach inspired bouncing in place. Some children used their arms to jump higher and then “fly” like birds. The jumping turned into rabbit-like movements for other children. The steady beat of a march by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach provided movement centered on the lower body; lifting knees high and keeping time perfectly with a tempo. Galloping to a musette with a slightly syncopated rhythm by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was another activity the children enjoyed. These slight variations in rhythm helped to suggest movements, develop sensitivity to music and refine motor control. The persistent, steady beat of Baroque music was perfect for these young dancers, helping to connect them to the world of music and to each other.
When children have an opportunity to listen to good music, movement is the natural result. Whole body movement, which responds to the dynamics and tempo of the piece of music, can be modeled by an adult. Children then learn to create their own movements and can influence the experience for the group; they invest thoroughly and enjoy their achievement.