Autumn activities for elementary music
As the leaves change and the air gets crisp, it’s the perfect time to bring the beauty of the fall harvest season into your elementary music classroom. Engaging your students with autumn-themed activities not only sets a cozy atmosphere but also helps them connect music to the seasons around them. Here are a few fun educational ideas to try:
Harvest Harmony
I just posted a new resource in my TPT shop that is perfect for this time of year: Harvest Harmony Note Matching Game! Students match the music alphabet letters to notes on the treble clef staff with cute apples, pumpkins, acorns, and fall leaves. And even some wild mushrooms!
In this game students can match a single letter to a note on the staff or match a set of 3 letters to 3 notes on the staff. Some of the 3-letter cards spell common words. It can be used as a simple matching activity or a memory-type matching game. There are also wild mushroom cards that add a little twist because they match to any of the cards! This is great for small groups, centers, or even in private lesson instructions.
Where’s the Mushroom?
Speaking of mushrooms, here’s another fall resource that features mushrooms and rhythm! Where’s the Mushroom is a cute little song I created that features some simple rhythms, solfege, and 2 different time signatures!
There are 2 versions of the song and game cards: one in 4/4 and one in 6/8. The cards can be used for rhythm practice with or without instruments or in a game that’s similar to Busted! or Kaboom! The students sit in a circle and pass around a cup with the cards. One at a time, each student pulls a card, performs the rhythm on the card, and passes the cup to the next person. Each time around the circle they pick another card and perform all their cards. Sometimes they will pull a “trick” card that tells them to put back all their cards or rearrange them or switch cards with another player! The same game can also be played in the solfege cards that are included too.
And there’s a 4 Corners Gnome game coming soon to go with this one!
Let Us Chase the Squirrel!
Here is another cute fall-themed song that you can do a lot of things with. You can have students practice steady beat vs. rhythm using quarter notes, eighth notes, and half notes. Or you can practice solfege singing using Do, Re, Mi, and So.
You can also play a “duck-duck-goose” style game with the song and it works great singing as a round! And there are a few worksheets included with the resource to have students practice writing the rhythm, solfege, or the letters on the staff.
These harvest-themed music activities can help make your fall lessons more engaging, memorable, and fun! What’s better than combining the magic of the season with the joy of music?
Happy harvest! More fall fun to come in October!
Miss Donna 4 Music 