“When the Band Comes Marching In” is a great song for teaching movement and role-playing to preschoolers. Join Caitie as she demonstrates some of her fun ideas that you can use to teach this easy-to-follow and an original kids’ song from Super Simple Songs!
Try some of these ideas in the classroom or at home!
- All the instruments you hear in this song are played on real instruments. It’s a great introduction and representation of what each instrument sounds like.
- Once you have listened to the song a few times, try playing a guessing game with the instruments from the song. Play the short instrumental section of each instrument one at a time and see if your students can guess what instrument it is.
- Try listening to the music of other marching bands. See what instruments your students can hear. Can they hear any of the same instruments from the song When The Band Comes Marching In? You can discuss what instruments they hear in a circle, or make it a silent activity, except for the music, by having your students write down or draw all the instruments they think they can hear.
- Make a drawing of each instrument from the song! You can look at pictures of the instruments, or watch our animated music video to see what the instruments look like. Then listen to song, and have them hold up their drawing of the instrument while it is playing to help cement their knowledge of the instrument’s sounds and their vocabulary. You can also use our musical instrument flashcards.
- You can also create your own pretend marching band and make a parade! Get everybody up on their feet and march around the classroom pretending to play the instruments. If you don’t have a lot of space, you can march in a circle, or march in place. You can pretend to play instruments or use shakers and tambourines – whatever noise makers you have!
- Try making crafts of each musical instrument, or make any homemade musical instruments. We have some ideas here.
More resources for this song (1)
