St. Patrick's Day Music Lesson Ideas
St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner and I know I'm always looking for some St. Patrick's Day music lesson ideas for my classes. My school is usually on March Break on the 17th but I like to do something fun with my classes the last few days before break or right when we get back because, seriously, everyone is crazy and it's challenging to get those kiddos to focus.
Here are 3 St. Patrick's Day ideas you can use right away:
Materials:
- Rhythm Flashcards (any cards will do but you can grab a St. Patrick's Day rhythm flashcard set I created here)
1. Choose 6-10 flashcards and place on the chalkboard or in a pocket chart. Since I'm on maternity leave I have no chalkboard so the cards are on my fridge. The struggle is real.
2. Clap one of the rhythm cards and have the students clap back. Don't go in order!
3. Select one student to come up and choose what they think is the magical card you previously clapped. They will then make that card disappear (by turning it over).
4. If they were correct, repeat with a different card. If they were incorrect send them back and make the card reappear.
5. Once all the cards have "disappeared" see who can clap all the rhythm flashcards in order.
6. You can also adapt this for instrumental classes by choosing a pitch and playing each card instead.
Freebie alert! Click here for a free version of my St. Patrick's Day rhythm flashcards that contains quarter and eighth note flashcards.
Materials
- 4 rhythm instruments (egg, wood block, tambourine, triangle)
- shamrock or other St. Patrick's Day symbol you can hide
1. Show students the 4 rhythm instruments. Each instrument will represent a movement (egg = left, castanet = right, tambourine = forward, sticks = backward).
2. As a class, practice moving around the room to the sounds.
3. Choose four students to play the instruments, one to be the “shamrock hunter”
and one to be the “leprechaun.”
4. The hunter should go outside the classroom (or near the door and close his or her eyes depending on your class and school rules). Have one student place the shamrock somewhere in the room.
5. The other students without roles will sit on the ground and be rocks in the field.
6. The leprechaun conductor tells what instrument to play (by silently pointing at one of the four students with the rhythm instruments) in order for the shamrock hunter to move around the room and find the shamrock (while their eyes are closed!!!)
7. If the shamrock hunter bumps into a rock, the game is over and new players are chosen. If they find the shamrock you can play again.
Materials:
- Pot of Gold (I used a Halloween cauldron)
- St. Patrick's day symbols with rhythms (you can just print out some images and work with the students to come up with the rhythms to match the words or click here for what I use).
*If you are looking for a resource in 6/8 Music Discoveries has one for purchase here.
1. Put the rhythm cards in the "pot of gold" and select a student to come up and draw a card
2. As a class, clap and say the word. For example, lep-re-chaun. Then say the matching rhythm - ti-ti ta. Place that card on the chalkboard/pocket chart.
3. Have another student select a card. Repeat with that word. Say they drew pot of gold. That would be ta ta ta.
4. Once you have 4 cards selected and placed on the board, work together to decide on a time signature to use. If they choose 4/4 see where you might need to add some rests to make sure there are four beats in each bar.
5. Now play it! You can use rhythm instruments or select a single pitch to use with your recorder/band students.
6. Once you've done it as a class, send the students to create their own compositions with a group.
I tried to come up with some lesson ideas for St. Patrick's Day that you could easily adapt for both vocal and instrumental music. Let me know if you try any of these out and I hope your St. Patrick's Day is magically rhythmic (see what I did there?).
Here are 3 St. Patrick's Day ideas you can use right away:
Disappearing Leprechaun Game
Materials:
- Rhythm Flashcards (any cards will do but you can grab a St. Patrick's Day rhythm flashcard set I created here)
1. Choose 6-10 flashcards and place on the chalkboard or in a pocket chart. Since I'm on maternity leave I have no chalkboard so the cards are on my fridge. The struggle is real.
2. Clap one of the rhythm cards and have the students clap back. Don't go in order!
3. Select one student to come up and choose what they think is the magical card you previously clapped. They will then make that card disappear (by turning it over).
4. If they were correct, repeat with a different card. If they were incorrect send them back and make the card reappear.
5. Once all the cards have "disappeared" see who can clap all the rhythm flashcards in order.
6. You can also adapt this for instrumental classes by choosing a pitch and playing each card instead.
Freebie alert! Click here for a free version of my St. Patrick's Day rhythm flashcards that contains quarter and eighth note flashcards.
Hide the Shamrock
Materials
- 4 rhythm instruments (egg, wood block, tambourine, triangle)
- shamrock or other St. Patrick's Day symbol you can hide
1. Show students the 4 rhythm instruments. Each instrument will represent a movement (egg = left, castanet = right, tambourine = forward, sticks = backward).
2. As a class, practice moving around the room to the sounds.
3. Choose four students to play the instruments, one to be the “shamrock hunter”
and one to be the “leprechaun.”
4. The hunter should go outside the classroom (or near the door and close his or her eyes depending on your class and school rules). Have one student place the shamrock somewhere in the room.
5. The other students without roles will sit on the ground and be rocks in the field.
6. The leprechaun conductor tells what instrument to play (by silently pointing at one of the four students with the rhythm instruments) in order for the shamrock hunter to move around the room and find the shamrock (while their eyes are closed!!!)
7. If the shamrock hunter bumps into a rock, the game is over and new players are chosen. If they find the shamrock you can play again.
St. Patrick's Day Composition
Materials:
- Pot of Gold (I used a Halloween cauldron)
- St. Patrick's day symbols with rhythms (you can just print out some images and work with the students to come up with the rhythms to match the words or click here for what I use).
*If you are looking for a resource in 6/8 Music Discoveries has one for purchase here.
1. Put the rhythm cards in the "pot of gold" and select a student to come up and draw a card
2. As a class, clap and say the word. For example, lep-re-chaun. Then say the matching rhythm - ti-ti ta. Place that card on the chalkboard/pocket chart.
3. Have another student select a card. Repeat with that word. Say they drew pot of gold. That would be ta ta ta.
4. Once you have 4 cards selected and placed on the board, work together to decide on a time signature to use. If they choose 4/4 see where you might need to add some rests to make sure there are four beats in each bar.
5. Now play it! You can use rhythm instruments or select a single pitch to use with your recorder/band students.
6. Once you've done it as a class, send the students to create their own compositions with a group.
I tried to come up with some lesson ideas for St. Patrick's Day that you could easily adapt for both vocal and instrumental music. Let me know if you try any of these out and I hope your St. Patrick's Day is magically rhythmic (see what I did there?).
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