Music and movement activities are a must-have in your preschoolers’ daily routine. They help with a myriad of developmental skills including physical development, social listening, language, and motor skills! So, why not dive right into our collection of fun-filled activities that are aimed at waking up those little brains? In doing so, you’ll provide your littles with a cheerful learning experience that also aids in reinforcing their academic skills through physical movement and exciting musical games.
1. Movement in Transitions
These adorable arctic animal movement cards make great tools to facilitate transitions between various activities. Simply invite your kids to each draw a card and then have them each imitate the animal sound or movement on their card on their way to the next activity.
Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers
2. Winter-Themed Brain Breaks
Grab your preschoolers’ attention with these winter-themed brain break ideas! Encourage them to waddle like penguins or scoop imaginary snow to get them energized and ready to learn after a yummy lunch or peaceful nap. It’s a seasonal way to work all those wiggles out.
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3. Singing Skills
Your little ones will have so much fun singing to their hearts’ content in this delightful activity, that they won’t even realize that they’re working on so many skills! Invite them to play this turn-based game where you’ll pair them up and have them sing a catchy tune as they learn to share an item like a teddy bear for instance.
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4. Sensory Music and Movement
In this sensory-rich activity, get your kiddos moving and shaking all their energy out. Provide them with one of these large, colorful sensory bands before engaging them in a fun song. Encourage them to touch and feel the textures of the band while bouncing around and switching places throughout. Your kids will develop a new appreciation for rhythm and movement as they feel their peers pull and stretch their shared band.
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5. Shake Out the Sillies
Your little learners will appreciate these classic brain break tunes that not only aim to improve their listening skills, but will also encourage them to shake out their wiggles! Letting your kids dance along to a quick video like this is an easy way to reset them and get them to regain their focus for any awaiting tasks.
Learn More: YouTube
6. Freeze Dance
Work on your children’s motor skills and listening skills with this action-packed activity. In Freeze Dance, you’ll have them respond to stopping and starting at the drop of a hat as you entertain them with harmonious beats. This is a good way to turn a movement break into a bit more of a challenge!
Learn More: YouTube
7. Music and Counting Activity
Introduce your tots to the basics of number recognition with this cheerful number song. You can invite them to watch the whole video or split it up throughout their day. As they watch, have them use their fingers to practice their counting skills and develop their basic grasp of math.
Learn More: YouTube
8. Going on a Bear Hunt
Take your little ones on an imaginary bear hunt with this captivating activity. This classic read-aloud easily transitions into a movement activity where your class will have to follow the instructions and combine movements, repetitions, and a little imagination as they embark on this bear-hunting quest!
Learn More: YouTube
9. Ribbon Rings
These ribbon rings are the perfect classroom tool to get your students moving. Simply pop on some classical music and allow them to twirl their way around your classroom with these whimsical props. The calming flutter of the colorful ribbons is sure to add a unique sensory dimension to their dancing. Help them out by showing them different ways in which to move their ribbon rings to create a flowy rainbow of color.
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10. Walking Lines
Take movement activities to the great outdoors with this line walking activity. Start by using sidewalk chalk to create a variety of lines in different patterns and shapes in your schoolyard. Then, challenge your kiddos to walk along the lines in different ways as you fine-tune their motor skills with balance and movement. They can also take turns drawing lines for others to follow—developing their drawing and cooperation skills in the process!
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11. Limbo
Limbo is a must at every summer party, but it also makes a wonderful addition to your movement and music repertoire on a day-to-day basis! Challenge your children to get moving to some tunes as you invite them to limbo under a stick to see how low they can go.
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12. Mindfulness Music Yoga
Inspired by the relaxing movement of yoga, this Sleeping Bunnies video is a fantastic way to engage your littles’ body control and movement skills. Encourage them to carry out these simple movements to get their blood flowing and start their day on a positive note. This is also a nice technique to calm your kiddos down after something particularly exciting has left them all wound up.
Learn More: YouTube
13. Hot Potato
This fast-paced game is perfect for treating your tots to a thrilling break from lessons or a reward for good behavior. Start by having them stand in a circle without too much space between them. Next, you’ll prompt them to pass the “potato” (any type of ball or small object you have on hand) around without dropping it. With every round, have them increase the speed to amp up the difficulty of this fun-filled movement game. You can also incorporate music—at faster and faster speeds—to increase the excitement.
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14. Keep It Up
Involve your whole class in this interactive activity as you have them play a game of Keep It Up! Invite them to hold hands in a circle before throwing in a balloon. Then, simply encourage them to keep it in the air—without letting go of each other’s hands!
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15. Preschool Drumming Echo
Instill a sense of rhythm in your budding musicians with the help of this beat-focused activity. Simply start by creating a simple beat before inviting your players to echo the beat back to you. You can use buckets, drumsticks, triangles, or anything that can make a sound to immerse them in this harmonious activity! Vary your beats and make them more complex as your littles get more comfortable and familiar with the game.
Learn More: Perkins
16. Loud and Soft Challenge
Explore various noise volumes with your kiddos in this dynamic activity. Start by providing them with a variety of small items like beads, pebbles, beans, or corks. Then, challenge them to make predictions as to whether each item will be loud or soft before prompting them to test their assumptions by dropping each item in a glass jar and shaking it about.
Learn More: Little Hands Learning
17. Musical Painting
Art and music combine in this creative activity that’s perfect for an emotional development session. Play a short piece of music for your students. As they listen, invite them to paint or draw what they think they hear as they interpret the music in their own unique way.
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18. Glow Stick Drumming
Enrich your littles’ classroom experience with this visually appealing activity. Turn off the lights for your next drum session and instead of using regular drumsticks, arm your kiddos with glow sticks and invite them to liven up your classroom atmosphere with a creative combination of sound and light.
Learn More: The Studio Director
19. Music Instrument Matching Games
This captivating video will help your preschoolers learn to match sounds to their respective instruments. They’ll adore the familiar friends from Gabby’s Dollhouse and the entertaining manner in which this video is presented. They’ll be having so much fun that they won’t even realize they’re learning as you task them with listening carefully to match each sound to its instrument!
Learn More: YouTube
20. Scarf Movement
Scarves make for great manipulatives in music and movement activities! Play a few upbeat tracks and invite your preschoolers to throw, catch, juggle, and twirl a scarf as they move about. We bet they won’t want the fun to end!
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21. Egg Shakers
Here’s an upbeat DIY that’s perfectly suited to music and movement activities! As your students dance to lively tunes, they can shake their crafted eggs and contribute to the songs in their own way! This simple music device can be easily made using plastic eggs, small beans or beads, and tape.
Learn More: Mama Smiles
22. Parachute
It’s no secret that kids love parachute activities! Working together to hold and move one, they can try their best to manipulate it so that they’ll be able to bounce a ball on it or run underneath. Pair this fun activity with some funky music and we bet your kiddos will be itching to get moving and grooving!
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23. Storytelling with Movement
Storytelling is fun but why not add in some movements to help your students connect with the plot even more? Old MacDonald Had a Farm or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star are great choices as their lyrics are straightforward enough to pair simple actions with. Up the ante by playing a charismatic YouTube video to further excite your learners and add a musical touch to the session.
Learn More: Inspired Learning
24. Follow Me
Here’s an awesome activity that not only allows for movement, but is perfect for testing your students’ engagement level as well! Tap out a beat or present a song and have your students try to mimic you.
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25. Robot Dance
As your students play this robot game, you can look forward to having them adopt a better sense of body awareness. Gather a few jumbo craft sticks and write a command on each of them. Commands can range from anything like “Jump up and down” to “Hop 3 times to the right”, and more. Pair the activity with music and you’ll be all set to host a great music and movement exercise!
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26. Musical Simon Says
Simon Says is another fantastic movement activity. It’s great for preschool children because they’ll be practicing following directions, as well as making music and getting their bodies moving if you incorporate sound-based actions such as “Simon says clap your hands” or “Simon says click your fingers”.
Learn More: Dynamic Music Room`
27. Play a Water Xylophone
Here’s a fun and easy instrument for your little ones to make. They can create their own water xylophones by filling glass jars with differing levels of colored water! Once constructed, they can have a blast moving around and inventing new tunes.
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28. Jumping Jingle Bell Sticks
Looking for a music-related craft for the festive season? This is it! Have your preschoolers craft their own jingle bell sticks by painting pieces of wood before wrapping pipe cleaners and bells around them. They can then use their DIY instruments to tap along to their favorite holiday songs!
Learn More: Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds
29. Rainbow Tambourines
These homemade tambourines may take a little time to make, but they sure do guarantee loads of fun! To begin, have your pupils paint paper plates so that they resemble rainbows. Once dry, they can tie on bells and get moving to the beat with their new instruments!
Learn More: Kids Craft Room
30. Homemade Flute
Making your own instrument can be lots of fun- especially when you get to play it at the end of the construction phase! All that’s required for these pan flutes are straws of various lengths, two pieces of black cardstock, and glue. Teach your students to play simple songs using their homemade flutes and once they master that, let them add in some movements to bring about a lively performance!
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31. Rhythm Chairs
This activity essentially culminates in a twist on the classic Musical Chairs activity, but this one focuses more on rhythm. Have your kiddos play as normal, but instead of walking whilst the music plays, challenge them to adopt a creative movement such as skipping, jumping, or hopping.
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32. Mini Rhythm Sticks
Rhythm sticks are great resources for preschoolers! They can use them to help improve their listening skills, and fine motor skills, and discover more about assorted beats. These mini rhythm sticks are easy to make with a little yarn and some craft sticks and can then be used for a variety of activities.
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33. Tin Can Drums
We bet your kiddos will love making their own drums! They can use recycled tin cans, colorful paint, and balloons to bring them to life. They may need help stretching the balloon over the top, but apart from that, this activity is as simple as can be. Help them adjust the tightness of the balloon to adjust the pitch of their drum’s beat before using them in a movement-based activity.
Learn More: Hands On As We Grow
34. Singalong Songs
Plain old freestyle dancing and singing are sure to never go out of style! Help your littles make their own instruments or use a few that may be lying around your classroom already. Then, encourage them to get creative and make their own music and dance routines.
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35. Make and Use Rain Sticks
Help your children discover the beauty of Native American dances with this fun rain stick craft! They can make their own and then use it to add some flair to their favorite Native American songs as they dance along.
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