Outdoor Elementary Music Centers with Sidewalk Chalk

As the school year comes to a close, students and teachers alike are reading to spend some time outside in the fresh, spring air. Music teachers and classes are no different! Using sidewalk chalk* to create music centered activities can help keep students learning and moving! Below are some centers I used with my kindergarten students this spring!

Melody Shapes

We have been practicing melody shapes since October. In this center, my students practiced drawing different melody shapes with their sidewalk chalk. Then, they would walk on their melody and sing the ups and downs they drew.

I noticed that this was easy for some students and more difficult for others. Some melody shapes were drawn so tiny… others were very circular and then hard for them to sing.

Next time, I may pre-draw different melody shapes or bring out my Shape of a Melody Cards to give them more direction and focus!

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Rhythm Hopscotch

This was an excellent gross motor planning activity that integrated with music. I used sidewalk chalk to draw a heart for each steady beat in each box or set of boxes. Students used one or two bean bags* on each heart to decide if they would use a quarter note hop or an eighth note hop for each beat.

It took *a lot* of thinking to put together the single vs double feet in combination with deciding one or two hops. About half of my students were able to do this activity and put together the two parts. For the other half, I found they still were jumping to a steady beat whether they go the rhythm down or not.

For first and second grade students, this activity will be a little less challenging. But I believe in challenging my kindergarten students – and adapting for those who aren’t quite there yet!

It was a well loved center, though! In the “Listen and Draw” center, I had a lot of hopscotch boards drawn and played!

High Low Melody Hop

Not everything always goes according to plan – and this center was “that activity.”

On the ground, I used sidewalk chalk to draw a sun for high and grass for low. Students were to hop high and low while singing “high – high – low -low”. (Or whatever melody they wanted to create.) We had done a lot of high low composing in class, so I didn’t think it would be that difficult… but it seemed to be!

If I were to do this activity again, I would have cards ready with sun/grass patterns that they could jump and sing instead of trying to create their own.

If you have done a variation of this – drop a comment below! I would love to improve this center for next year!

Listen and Draw

I had brought my JBL speaker* out with me for this activity. This center was just to let kids be kids! While they were listening to music, they had the opportunity to free draw with the sidewalk chalk.

I always love to see how they integrate drawing and music. Though I had to laugh when they began tracing outlines of each other. “Look at all these beautiful musicians you are drawing!!!”

This was the favorite center despite being the least musical. But that’s ok! 🙂

Steady Beat Saber Dancing

The students have been asking to play with the steady beat sabers for a few weeks – so we brought a few outside! As the music was playing, students were asked to move their sabers to the steady beat while they were dancing. They also could “tap fight” to the beat.

It got a little crazy – and the boys ran a little wild. Using cones* to show the center’s boundaries clearly was key for this center’s success!

If you have done any music activities with sidewalk chalk, I would love to hear about them in the comments!