Peter and the Wolf activities and a lesson plan for kids

Peter and the Wolf is a story for a narrator and an orchestra, written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936 to teach children the instruments. Each character has an instrument and a tune of its own. This page gives a plan for three short sessions and a dozen activities, for one child at home or for a class.

What you need

• A recording with a narrator. It lasts about 25 to 30 minutes.
• The Peter and the Wolf character cards
• Paper and crayons

Who plays whom

Character	Instrument	What to listen for
The bird	Flute	High, quick, fluttering notes
The duck	Oboe	A slow, waddling, nasal tune
The cat	Clarinet	Low, soft, creeping notes
Grandfather	Bassoon	A deep, grumbling tune
The wolf	Three French horns	Dark chords that growl
Peter	The string instruments	A bright, skipping tune
The hunters	The woodwinds, with drums for the gunshots	A march

For more on each one, read Peter and the Wolf: instruments and the characters they play.

The story in short

Peter goes out into the meadow, against his grandfather’s wishes. A bird and a duck argue. A cat creeps up on the bird. Grandfather takes Peter back inside and locks the gate. A wolf comes out of the forest. The cat climbs a tree, and the wolf swallows the duck. Peter climbs onto a branch with a rope. The bird flies around the wolf’s head, and Peter catches the wolf by the tail. Hunters arrive, and Peter asks them to help take the wolf to the zoo. Everyone marches off in a parade. For a longer version to read aloud, see the Peter and the Wolf story.

A plan for three sessions

Each session lasts 20 to 30 minutes.

Session 1: meet the characters

1. Show the seven character cards. Name each character and its instrument.
2. Play the opening, in which the narrator introduces each tune.
3. Play each tune again without the narrator. The children hold up the matching card.
4. Ask the children to move the way each character would: flutter, waddle, creep, stomp, prowl, skip, and march.

Session 2: hear the story

1. Review the tunes with a quick round of the card game.
2. Play the whole piece. The children hold up a card each time a character’s tune appears.
3. Pause two or three times to ask, “What do you think will happen next?”
4. Afterward, the children draw their favorite moment.

Session 3: make it your own

1. Put the events of the story in order. Use the drawings from the last session, or write the events on strips of paper.
2. Act the story out while the recording plays. Each child plays one character.
3. Make up a new character. Choose an instrument for it, and say why.

More activities

Tune detective. Play ten seconds from any point in the piece. The children name the character.

Why that instrument? Ask why Prokofiev gave the bird to the flute and the grandfather to the bassoon. Talk about high and low, fast and slow, and smooth and bumpy sounds.

Two at once. Find the spot where the bird and the duck argue. The flute and the oboe play at the same time. Ask the children to raise one hand for each.

Scary or not? The wolf’s tune uses three horns playing together in a minor key. Ask what makes it sound dangerous.

The parade. In the final march, every tune comes back. List the characters in the order they pass.

Listen for the duck. At the end, the oboe plays once more. The narrator says the duck can be heard inside the wolf, because the wolf swallowed her whole. Ask how that makes the children feel.

A new ending. Ask the children to write or tell what happens at the zoo.

Your own theme. Hum or play a short tune for a new animal: a mouse, a bear, or a snake. Is it high or low? Is it fast or slow?

Instrument families. Sort the seven cards into strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. The woodwinds win.

Questions to ask

• Which tune do you like best?
• Which instrument is the highest? Which is the lowest?
• Was Peter brave or foolish?
• Was Grandfather right to be cross?
• How does the music tell you the wolf is near before the narrator says so?

For different ages

Age	Focus
3 to 5	Move like the characters, and hold up cards. Listen in two sittings.
6 to 8	The full plan above
9 to 12	Add the theme writing, the instrument families, and a talk about how music makes a mood

A note on the wolf

Some small children are upset when the wolf swallows the duck. Tell them before you play it that the duck is heard again at the end. Choose a recording with a gentle narrator for a first hearing.

What to hear next

• The Carnival of the Animals, for more animals in music
• The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, for a tour of every instrument
• Prokofiev for kids, for the composer

Print and play

Print the Peter and the Wolf character cards and the instrument families listening chart. Draw a scene on a listening journal page.

For more ideas, see music activities for kids.