Music appreciation activities for kids: 15 to try

Music appreciation is learning to listen. A small job to do while the music plays gives a child something to listen for. These 15 activities each give that job. Most take ten minutes, and many come with a free page to print.

For a full plan by grade, read music appreciation for homeschool.

Fifteen activities

1. Draw what you hear. Play a piece of three or four minutes. Your child draws while it plays. Ask about the drawing after. Use the listening journal page.

2. Move to it. Clear the floor. March to a march, sway to a waltz, and freeze when the music stops. Read classical music for kids to dance to.

3. Hands up for the tune. Pick a piece with a tune that comes back, such as Beethoven’s “Für Elise.” Raise a hand each time the first tune returns. Read musical form for kids.

4. Spot the instrument. Play Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. Tick a box each time you hear an instrument, on the instrument families listening chart. Read the listening guide.

5. Listening bingo. Make a card with the listening bingo maker. Squares say things such as “one instrument alone” or “a sudden surprise.” Cover a square when you hear it.

6. Follow a map. A listening map lists the parts of a piece in order, with something to listen for in each. Follow it as the music plays. Try the Nutcracker listening map, which covers the eight dances of the suite. Then make your own map for another piece. Read listening maps for kids.

7. Tell the story. Some music tells a story. Read the story first, and then listen for it. Read classical music that tells a story. For Peter and the Wolf, print the character cards and hold up each one when its instrument plays.

8. Compare two versions. Mussorgsky wrote Pictures at an Exhibition for piano. Ravel later arranged it for orchestra. Play the opening of each, and ask which your child likes more and why. Read the listening guide.

9. Composer of the month. Choose one composer. Hang up the composer of the month poster, and play one piece a week. Read composer study for homeschool.

10. Use a timeline. Find each composer you meet on the composer timeline. Slide to a year, and see who else was alive.

11. Name that tune. Hum a tune you both know, and take turns guessing. Then try the composer quiz.

12. Fast, slow, loud, soft. Print the tempo and dynamics word cards. Hold up the card that fits the music as it changes. Read tempo words in music and dynamics in music.

13. Conduct along. Give your child a pencil for a baton. Big moves for loud music, and small moves for soft. Read what does a conductor do?

14. Tick off 25 pieces. Print the 25 classical pieces checklist. Listen to one a week, and tick it off. Your child can write a score out of five beside each one.

15. Hold a concert night. Pick a filmed concert. Your child makes tickets and a program. Dim the lights and clap at the end. Read how to watch an orchestra concert at home with kids.

Which activity for which age

Age	Start with
3 to 5	1, 2, and 7
6 to 8	3, 4, 5, 6, 11, and 12
9 to 12	8, 9, 10, 13, 14, and 15

Questions that work after any piece

• Was it fast or slow?
• Was it loud, soft, or both?
• Which instruments did you hear?
• What did it make you think of?
• Would you play it again?

There are no wrong answers. The goal is for a child to notice and to say what they noticed.

How to fit it into a week

• Pick one piece for the week. Play it at breakfast or in the car.
• Do one activity with it. Ten minutes is enough.
• Play it again on another day with no task at all.
• Keep a list of pieces your child liked.

Tips

• Keep pieces short. Three to five minutes is plenty for a young child.
• Listen with your child. Do the activity too.
• Play a piece more than once, so the tune becomes familiar.
• Stop while it is still fun.

Print and play

• Listening journal page
• Instrument families listening chart
• 25 classical pieces checklist
• Tempo and dynamics word cards
• Listening bingo maker