Music Appreciation: Classical Music Concert Activities for Kids
Are you planning to take your children to a classical music concert but are afraid they are going to get the wiggles partway through? Are you looking for music appreciation tools to keep them engaged with the music during the concert? Here are three fun activity sheets designed for elementary aged children to use during a classical music concert. No extensive knowledge is needed here – these are meant to help kids keep their eyes and ears open during the concert and start to engage with the music itself.
What are your experiences taking kids to classical concerts? I’d love to hear in the comments!
Music Appreciation: Classical Music Concert Activities for Kids
Recently I had the opportunity to take my children to a weekly classical music concert at a local church. I knew I needed something to keep them engaged and learning during the concert, so I went online to find some activity sheets we could take along.
(Notice that I am studiously avoiding saying “worksheets” because that sounds so boring, even to me, and I love worksheets!)
I found quite a few wonderful music appreciation resources that focused on listening exercises in a class or at home, but I couldn’t find anything related to actually taking children to a classical music concert.
Being a blogger, I of course decided to make some of my own! Here are three fun music appreciation activity sheets you can print out and take with you. Just right-click on each image to print! For an at-home extension, be sure to check out this orchestra lapbook for elementary and middle schoolers.
The first (Concert Scavenger Hunt) can be used for younger children, as it is mostly pictures.
The next two are more geared towards older elementary students. (My third grader really enjoyed them). The Program Scavenger Hunt can be done while you are sitting waiting for the concert to start, as they look over the concert program.
You will want to print multiple copies of the Listening Sheet, as it is designed to be used for one piece at the concert. (Keep in mind that your child may tire of doing this for every piece. I told my eight year old to do a Listening Sheet for three pieces of his choice). A younger child could do a Listening Sheet with help, focusing mostly on the drawing portion.
I would also recommend bringing plenty of blank paper (or a sketch pad) for them to draw. This really helped occupy all three of my children during the concert, even when their interest in the concert itself was starting to fade. I also used it to do tic-tac-toe with my 5 year old near the end, when he was getting particularly restless.
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