Playful Props to Reinforce Musical Concepts by Danielle Bayert
A little imagination can turn everyday items into fun and effective manipulatives in a music class.. A preface explains the value of manipulatives in the learning process: if children play with tactile objects that introduce concepts, they will more easily understand and internalize those concepts.
- Balloons, bubbles, pipe cleaners, and scarves can be tools of vocal exploration, pitch direction, melodic contour.
- Parachutes, scarves, ribbon wands, and paper plates help teach musical form.
- Rhythm is explored with hoops, popsicle sticks, pool noodles, and balls. Foam cubes, chop sticks and plastic bowls.
- Try bingo chips for notating pitches, plastic eggs for matching timbres, pin wheels and expandable spring toys for breath control, collapsible tubes for pitch accuracy and vocal independence.
- Boxes, blocks, and spinners can be tools for composing.
- Plus tools for melodic and rhythmic dictation, dynamics, tempo, & more.
Simple, easy-to-follow activities have extensions and modifications for PreK-6, and workspace for teachers to record their own ideas and results. If you already own many of these manipulatives, this book is loaded with ideas on how to use them; and if you don’t have most of the equipment, then a trip to the dollar store will get you started. Paperback
