Farm-Themed Music and Movement Activities Featuring the Stretchy Band
Our bestselling stretchy band has everything you need for a fun-filled day of music and movement, from a durable cover to a bounceable finish. Here are some lesson plan ideas for using your stretchy band to take your early childhood class to a place filled with animals, nature, and exciting sounds without having to leave the classroom—the farm!
Literacy Fun on the Farm
Literacy Fun on the Farm
These playful stories introduce farm life using whimsical animals and cute rhymes. You might even want to pull out the stretchy band with Sandra Boynton’s Barnyard Dance, as the children can warm up for the day by following along with the animals’ movements.
Farm Themed Music and Movement Activities Featuring the Stretchy Band Click To Tweet
Music and Movement Activities
It’s time to switch up everyone’s go-to farm song “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” by incorporating body part recognition. Before you begin, help the children recognize how different farm animals have body parts that are like theirs. For example, you can ask, “What does a pig have that’s like a nose?” They should guess, “A snout!”
Each time the lyrics change to a different animal, have the kids move their portion of the stretchy band so that it lands on a corresponding body part. For example, if you’re singing about pigs, they can move their portion of the stretchy band to the tips of their noses.
Miss Carole of Macaroni Soup adds creative lyrics to the classic nursery rhyme “Two Little Blackbirds”, which is a song featured on her hit album Sticky Bubble Gum. This tune is great for helping children develop listening skills while also learning about opposites.
Get creative with moving the stretchy band! For example, whenever the children hear the lyrics, “Fly away Jack,” they can pass the stretchy band to the right. Then, they can pass it to the left with the lyrics, “Fly away Jill!” Your kids are sure to get excited when some of the big opposites like “fast” and “slow” are introduced, as their job is to move the stretchy band so that it mimics these motions.
The Singing Walrus - English Songs for Kids has a catchy tune called “Shape Song,” and it walks children through four major shapes. This activity helps encourage teamwork and cooperation, as the kids need to work together to move their part of the stretchy band so that it makes one complete shape.
Once the song is finished, ask the children about where they can find each shape on the farm. Have them recreate the shapes if they’d like. After all, shapes are everywhere! You can also bring along your Connect-a-Stretchy Band to create more versatile shapes, from hearts to pentagons.
“Bingo” (or “B-I-N-G-O”) is another farm-themed staple that can be substituted with something every child will enjoy: their own name! You can change the first part of the verse to “There once was a farmer boy/girl” and insert a child’s name in the second part. As each name is spelled out, help everyone develop their gross motor skills and sense of rhythm by moving the stretchy band in an up-and-down, bouncing, or even diagonal motion. If a child has a short name, you can stretch out the letters by having everyone fall backwards or huddle up in the middle. Just keep it low and slow!
But wait…the Fun Doesn’t Stop There!
When the kids need a break from stretching and singing, check out this great list of 20 fun farm crafts from Artsy Craftsy Mom
If your children are feeling as hungry as a horse after all of that moving around, have them top off some delicious and nutritious whole grain muffins with the face of their favorite barnyard animal.
If you want to continue this theme, check out our blog post, The Wheels on the Tractor Song with Stretchy Band Movement.
We hope these ideas inspire you to explore the limitless possibilities that your stretchy band offers, especially when helping your children develop skills related to listening, motor, rhythm, cooperation, literacy, and much more.
