Download Prodigies Pumpkin Printables
It’s Fall, and pumpkins are bombarding you everywhere you turn! Why not use some of those pumpkins in your music classroom?! From the musical pumpkin patch to pumpkin bowling, your students will FALL in love with these engaging fall-themed activities!
1. Solfege Pumpkins
This is a great activity for reviewing note names and note placement! Start by drawing staff lines on the board. Then, print our free pumpkin printable and attach magnets or sticky tack to the back of the pumpkins. Then, take turns placing them where they belong on the staff!
2. Musical Pumpkin Patch
These cute little pumpkins are super easy to make! Cut four strips of paper. Glue one strip onto another strip to make a plus sign. Then, glue the other two strips on top as shown below. Bend all four ends of the strips upward and glue together to form the pumpkin. Next, glue on a stem.
Decide how many pumpkins you want in your pumpkin patch and then fill each one with a slip of paper that has a musical concept written on it! Some suggestion include…
Play a C Chord
Play a G Chord
Play the F Bell
Play the A Bell
What is the hand sign for “Mi”?
What is the hand sign for “Sol”?
Play a “step” on the bells
Play a “skip” on the bells
What kind of note is this? (whole, quarter, half, etc)
Have each student come up to the pumpkin patch and see which musical concept they get to demonstrate. So, if they get “Play a C chord” then they have to demonstrate how to play a C chord. If they get “Play the A bell” then they have to find the A bell and play it. You get the idea! You can even have your class help assemble the pumpkins during the class before if you have extra time!
3. What Note Is It?
Set up a pumpkin patch using either real miniature pumpkins or the ones we created in the previous activity. You can also use orange craft pom poms as pumpkins. Next, set up two teams. The objective of this activity is to play a bell or a key on the piano, and have your students race to see who can identify the pitch first. Whoever wins each round will have the opportunity to come to the pumpkin patch and get a pumpkin for their team. The team with the most pumpkins wins.
You can also use this same concept with leaves. Draw two trees on the board. Next, cut out fall leaves using our free printable and then attach magnets or sticky tack to the back of each one. As students identify the correct pitches, they get to place a leaf on the tree for their team. The tree with the most leaves at the end wins.
4. Read a Book
Five Little Pumpkins
Five Little Pumpkins is such a great song to teach in your music classroom! If you’re not familiar with this song, check it out here. Every child can be involved in this activity by using instruments to create sound effects and keep rhythm as the story is told.
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
First one said, “Oh my, it’s getting late!”
Second one said, “There are witches in the air.”
The third one said, ” but we don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “let’s run and run and run.”
The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun!”
Ooo ooo went the wind, and out went the light,
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!
Pass out various instruments such as drums, rhythm sticks, jingle bells, triangles, wood blocks, etc. As the class sings each line, students will play their instruments to show different sound effects found in the story. You can also use this as a rhythm lesson by teaching the students how to keep the beat as you sing the song.
The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything
This is a fun story about a little old lady who encounters many things while she’s walking outside, but she’s not afraid! There are many special sound effects throughout this story that students can act out or play on instruments. If you’re not familiar with this story, take a few minutes to listen!
5. Pass a Pumpkin
Play “Hot Potato” or “Pass a Pumpkin” while listening to Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor! Grab a pumpkin and have your students sit on the floor. While the music plays, have students pass the pumpkin around the circle. Whoever is holding the pumpkin when the music stops is out. Keep playing until one student is remaining.
6. Pumpkin Bowling
This one isn’t exactly a music activity, but we couldn’t help but add it! You could even set this up as a decoration in your music classroom and play a game of pumpkin bowling in between activities. All you need for this game are some toilet paper rolls and a pumpkin! Ask your class various questions about musical concepts. Whoever answers the question correctly, gets to roll their pumpkin toward the toilet paper rolls to see how many they can hit! You could also play this game by having your students identify different pitches as you play them on bells or a piano. If they get the pitches right, they get to go pumpkin bowling!
7. Candy Corn Note Match
The Candy Corn Note Matching game from National Association for Music Education is a fun challenge for your students! Click HERE to print out the candy corn printable and cut apart all of the sections. Then, have your students match up the letter name, note on the keyboard, and note on the staff! Have some candy corn for them to eat if they get their puzzle correct!
8. Jazzy Jack-o-Lanterns
These Jazzy Jack-o-Lanterns from Mrs. King’s Music Class are a creative way to review musical symbols! Provide each student with a print out of various symbols. Then, they will create their own jack-o-lanterns using music symbols for the jack-o-lantern’s eyes, nose, and mouth! Once they are finished, have them tell you what each symbol means!
9. DIY Instruments
A super easy way to incorporate crafts into your music classroom is by making instruments! The Pumpkin Tambourine Shaker as well as the Corn Shaker are the perfect DIY instruments for the autumn season!
10. Rhythm Pumpkins
This game is perfect for the week of Halloween! First, use our free printable to print several pumpkins with various rhythms on them. Next, write “Treat” on one pumpkin and then place all of them inside a trick-or-treat bucket. Students will pick a pumpkin from the bucket. If they get a pumpkin with a rhythm, they have to play that rhythm. But, if they get the “Treat” pumpkin, they get a piece of candy!
11. Mini Pumpkin Sheet Music Game
Print out mini music staffs for each student in the class. Next, distribute mini pumpkin candies and the music staffs to each child. Once everyone has a staff and several mini pumpkins, call out a note name. Students place a mini pumpkin on the correct spot on the staff. Also, try to have your students identify chords by placing pumpkins on their staff to make a G chord, a C chord, etc.
12. “Five Little Pumpkins” Prodigies Video
Don’t forget to include the Prodigies “Five Little Pumpkins” video in your classroom this fall! This is probably one of my favorite Prodigies videos because it’s so fun and energetic! It’s perfect for ushering in the autumn season! Hope you enjoy all of these fun-filled activities! Happy Fall!