Ages 9-13

Children of this age won’t take to silly running-all-over-the-place activities, but lessons should still be fun and engaging - nothing too serious or too heavy or they will lose interest. Activity sheets with simple questions serve to test the students’ understanding of what they have learnt.

Peter and the Wolf

(Learning through Music: Peter and the Wolf)
Peter and the Wolf is still best for very young children, but can also be used for children of this age group due to the engaging storyline. However some teachers may find the number of instruments that this piece introduces rather limited. As such you would quite likely want to consider some of the other activities listed below.

Possible Activities
Listen to Peter and the Wolf - a handout with the story printed on it is available if you’d like to print something for your students.
Answer the quiz that we have created based on the work. The quiz is based mainly on the instruments used to represent the characters in the story, and also the storyline itself.

Materials
Story handout
Online Quiz

Carnival of the Animals

(Learning through Music: Carnival of the Animals)
Carnival is a good piece for children in this age group, who should be able, with a little imagination, link the music to what the composer is trying to depict. A little guidance would be useful, though.

Possible Activities
Listen to Carnival - we have prepared a handout to accompany the music, and it should help students understand the music better. There are blanks for students to fill in.

Materials
Handout and activity sheet

Other Activities

Have your students browse through the instruments section of this site. You may want to highlight certain instruments, or guide the students through the various sections.
Other reading - you may want to read some of the books we recommend below to your students. Alternatively you could let them read up by themselves.

Book Recommendations

The Philharmonic Gets Dressed
by Karla Kuskin, Marc Simont (Illustrator)
HarperTrophy, 1986. ISBN: 006443124X
Introduces the musicians and intruments as the wash up, dress and get ready for a performance.

Alligators and Music
by Donald Elliott, Clinton Arrowood (Illustrator)
Harvard Common Pr, 1984. ISBN: 0876451180
Teaches about the various instruments of the orchestra; pretty good detail. Illustrations always show alligators playing the instruments, which are accurately rendered.

A Young Person's Guide to Music
by Neil Ardley, Poul Ruders (Composer), Andrew Davis, BBC Symphony Orchestra
DK Publishing, 1995. ISBN: 0789403137
Solid content on the orchestra and instruments, with photographs of the instruments. May be more suitable for older children.