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Holiday Music and Movement Activities

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Fun Holiday music and movement activities for complete music lessons in grades K-3. Holiday music activities for the elementary music classroom.

HOLIDAY MUSIC AND MOVEMENT ACTIVITIES

The holidays can be a fun time to really pull things together in the music classroom.  We’ve been practicing the steady beat, rhythm, singing and moving now for the first 2 quarters and we’re ready to show off our skills.

 I’m sharing more activities than you can use during one music lesson.

The CONCEPTS covered in these activities include:

STEADY BEAT, RHYTHMS, SINGING and MOVEMENT

All the activities are free and in this blog post.

SUBSCRIBE FOR THE MATERIALS

 Sing Play Create Free Resource Library

STEADY BEAT

I like to do a steady beat activity each class time.

One fun way to do this is to use a holiday song and have students do different body percussion moves to the familiar music.

Put on your favorite holiday song with a good beat and clean lyrics and use some body percussion cards or a presentation to move on the beat. 

You can use this free resource with any music. 

Free Body Percussion Cards from Sing Play Create

Another fun Steady Beat activity is “Jingling Bells” TPT STORE LINK

 It’s available on:

SPOTIFY

AMAZON

APPLE MUSIC

LYRICS:

Jingling bells, jingling bells,

Shiny, chiming jingling bells.

Jingling bells, jingling bells shake them all around.

Shake them high up to the sky.

Shake them low down to your toes.

Shake them as fast as you can go.

Now shake them very, very slow.

REFRAIN

I love to shake my jingling bells morning, noon, and night.

I love to shake them up and down and shake them left and right.

HOLIDAY BODY PERCUSSION ACTIVITIES

There’s also some fun body percussion activities on the Sing Play Create YouTube channel.

I model the movements first and have students’ practice.

Then I’ll have them move on the beat using a drumbeat.

Finally, we’ll use the video.

REINDEER BEAT ACTION SONG

ELVES BODY PERCUSSION BEAT

REINDEER BODY PERCUSSION BEAT

GET THE RESOURCES for the COMPLETE set of MATERIALS

Holiday Movement Song and Activity “Reindeer Beat” Brain Break, Body Percussion TPT STORE LINK

Reindeer Beat Holiday Movement Song
“Reindeer Beat” is a cute interactive action and movement song for the Holidays. Easy actions like clap, stomp, tap, wiggle and shake movements make this an easy activity for younger students to activate and exercise those gross motor muscles!

Holiday Elves Body Percussion Steady Beat Play Along Activity: Video Google Apps TPT STORE LINK

Elves Body Percussion

Elementary music students will love moving with these adorable little Christmas Elves Body Percussion actions on the Steady Beat. Students will love to play and move with the elves as the move to the beat using the video activity.

Reindeer Body Percussion Steady Beat Play Along Activity: Video Google Apps TPT STORE LINK

Reindeer Body Percussion Steady Beat Play Along Activity.  Get ready to move on the beat! These active reindeer are pawing in the snow to play with your students! All the body percussion actions are on the Steady Beat. Students will love to move with the reindeer as the move to the beat of the music in the VIDEO. You can have them practice the patterns, with the video, then students can create their own body percussion moves using the FLASH CARDS and GOOGLE SLIDES activities. The teacher guide offers music lesson outlines and activities for music activities for the month of December. This resource offers a variety of teaching strategies and learning experiences to help your students internalize the steady beat. Best for PreK-2nd Grade

Reindeer Body Percussion Steady Beat Play Along Activity.  Get ready to move on the beat! These active reindeer are pawing in the snow to play with your students! All the body percussion actions are on the Steady Beat.

KINDERGARTEN INSTRUMENT GAME

Here’s a fun activity to give students a chance to sing and play instruments.

I created two versions of the song-one with and one without instruments.

Sing SANTA to the tune of BINGO.  We’ll be using instruments to play when we don’t say the letters.

You’ll need 5 instruments to represent the letters in the word SANTA.

The free resource has the words to the song, the letters, and pictures of instruments in a google document as well as the directions.  

Here’s how it goes.

There was a man with a long white beard, and Santa was his name-o!

S A N T A

And Santa was his name-o!

REPEAT – ANTA

REPEAT  – –  NTA

REPEAT – – – TA

REPEAT – – – – A

REPEAT – – – – –

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS MUSIC LESSON

The next activity is a music lesson.  In this activity students will sing and learn to play beat and ostinato using “ We Wish You A Merry Christmas”. We’ll be using rhythm sticks and bells.

In this music lesson we’ll play quarter note, eighth notes and quarter rest.

First everyone will learn all parts, then we’ll practice in small groups and finally we’ll play all parts together.

I’ll teach these activities over 2-3 weeks.

Sing the song

Play the Steady Beat

Play Ostinato on Bells

Play Ostinato on Rhythm Sticks

“We Wish You a Merry Christmas” Music Lesson TPT STORE LINK

Sing and Play “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, a favorite Christmas song in your elementary music classes. Entertaining Teaching video for in person and virtual learning settings.
Sing and Play “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, a favorite Christmas song in your elementary music classes. Entertaining Teaching video for in person and virtual learning settings.

WEB SHOP LINK

PLAY A RHYTHM GAME

In this game students are asked a question and then they get to choose their answer which has them play a certain rhythm.

I go through the video and pause on each section first to give them a heads up to the rhythms and questions.  

We practice both rhythms so that when they play the game it will be easy for them to choose and play on their own.

GET THE RESOURCE

Holiday Rhythm Game “Would You Rather” L1 Rhythm Play Along TPT STORE LINK

Elementary music teachers can help their students practice rhythms during December using this Holiday Rhythm Game "Would You Rather?"
Elementary music teachers can help their students practice rhythms during December using this Holiday Rhythm Game “Would You Rather?”

PRACTICE RHYTHMS USING HOLIDAY RHYTHM FREEBIE

Free Holiday themed rhythm cards from the Sing Play Create Free Resource Library.

In the free resources you’ll find rhythms for quarter, eighth, sixteenth, half and whole notes.  For primary grades I’m going to use the quarter and eighth notes.

The first thing I do with this kind of activity is to teach it to the whole class.

Place 4 flash cards on the board and have them say and play the rhythms.

Next we’ll use some fun instruments to play as they practice the rhythms.

The next class you can have students create the patterns and lead the class.

The third class you can divide students into duets/pairs or trios/3 have them work on patterns together.

Use a variety of instruments for students to play the rhythms.

Then you can use this activity in a station.  You can use it in 2 different ways.

Divide the class into small groups.  At these two stations they will take turns creating.  The other students in the group play the rhythms or melodies too.  

You can use pitched and non-pitched instruments.

Choose your instruments for each station. Determine if you want everyone to play an instrument or if you want them to take turns.

One station will be the rhythm station.  Students will create a four beat pattern and play the pattern.  You can have all play the pattern or take turns.  For 2nd and 3rd grades I include one drum at the station for a student to keep the steady beat.  

One station can be a pitched instrument station.  Place a xylophone at this station.  Remove all the bars except for the ones you want the students to use. Students will create a four beat pattern and play the pattern.  Make sure they sing as they play. The other students in the group can sign as they sing if you’re only using one instrument at this station.

HOLIDAY LEVEL 1 RHYTHM PLAY ALONG

Another option is to use a rhythm play along video like this one.

When I use a video, I pause in the different sections before playing it with the music.

I do offer a Rhythm Level 1 Play Along, Google Slides and Flash Cards activity in the TPT STORE and WEB SHOP.

Holiday Rhythm Activities: Rhythm Play Along, Read, Play, Compose {Level 1} TPT STORE LINK

Holiday Rhythm Activities: Rhythm Play Along, Read, Play, Compose {Level 1} SING PLAY CREATE

WEB SHOP LINK

FUN MOVEMENT ACTIVITIES

After these fun rhythm activities, it’s time for movement. There’s tons of activities on YouTube.

Here are some of the most watched activities. 

REINDEER POKEY https://youtu.be/lxHrT06vF1Y

HOLIDAY FREEZE DANCE- https://youtu.be/I-j5HY2TPDQ

SANTA’S GOT A BRAND NEW DANCE- https://youtu.be/W74zUq9Gz5o

These activities are also available with more materials.

Reindeer Pokey Literacy & Movement Activity Song TPT STORE LINK

Reindeer Pokey Literacy & Movement Activity Song

Christmas Action Song “Santa’s Brand New Dance ” Movement & Literacy Activities TPT STORE LINK

Christmas Action Song "Santa's Brand New Dance " Movement & Literacy Activities

Holiday Freeze Dance, Brain Break, Exercise, Movement Activity TPT STORE LINK

Holiday Freeze Dance

CALM DOWN ACTIVITIES

FINISH OFF CLASS WITH A CALM DOWN ACTIVITY

KINDER HOLIDAY COLORING FREEBIE

Free holiday coloring sheets.

Or have students sing a quiet song like this one.

 “RED, GREEN AND WHITE” https://youtu.be/tUm2_-XtNf0

Or this song sung to “Twinkle”.

Christmas Action Song: “Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas Star”.

Christmas Action Song: “Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas Star” & Literacy Activities TPT STORE LINK

Christmas Action Song: “Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas Star” & Literacy Activities

Sometimes I’ll use a scarf movement after a dance song.  As the children put their scarves away I’ll have them line up.

HOLIDAY SCARF MOVEMENT

Use the YouTube video or get this resource for your classroom.  https://youtu.be/zVTdqtHBDCA

Holiday Scarf Activity, Brain Break, Creative Movement Activity TPT STORE LINK

Holiday Scarf activity 2021

In addition to these activities there are holiday award printables, a rhythm game for upper elementary and  “The Twelve Days of Christmas” activity to create your own school song version.

These are available to our Subscribers.

I’m hoping that these Fun Holiday music and movement activities help you have fun and keep students engaged during the month of December.

Sandra from Sing Play Create

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Holiday Music and Movement Activities for the elementary music classroom.  Sing songs, play instruments, games to continue learning throughout December music classes by Sing Play Create. READ MORE
Holiday Music and Movement Activities for the elementary music classroom.  Sing songs, play instruments, games to continue learning throughout December music classes by Sing Play Create. READ MORE

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Meet Sandra

Hi there!  I’m Sandra, one of the authors behind Sing Play Create.  My goal is to provide teachers with interactive resources and activities to improve the effectiveness of their teaching and enhance student learning.

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