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Halloween…. A teacher’s nightmare…. When it comes to Halloween/Halloween time, I try to “harness the power of the candy” instead of trying to get kids to sit still. I do that in two ways: I either do movement activities, or we do centers. One center activity that I like to do is candy bar composition.
I got this activity from a music teacher in my district, and it is so much fun.
How to do Candy Bar Composition
For this lesson, you will need candy pictures. You can make these yourself, or you can get them from my TPT shop by clicking here (digital version here!).
Once you have your candy pictures, assign rhythms to each one. “Chocolate” is three syllables, so depending on the group you might choose two eighths and a quarter, or a triplet. “Gummies” is two syllables, so that could be two eighth notes or two quarter notes.
Have students try to guess the correct rhythms. When they figure one out, they can put it on a plate with the rhythm on it. To make it more fun, you could use paper plates or plastic plates, so that they are more realistic.
Then, have students compose! Put the candies in different patterns, and say or play the rhythms on instruments. I like to have students do this in partners, so that one student makes the pattern and the other one plays the candy bar composition. They could even write it down for added practice.
A more active version of candy bar composition…
If you want a more active version, then you can play candy rhythms four corners!
Label four corners of your room with four rhythms (one syllable, two syllables, three, and four). This will change depending on your grade level, but I did half notes, eighth notes, two eighths and a quarter, and sixteenth notes for third grade students.
Then, project the candy on the screen (or reach into the candy bowl of leftover Halloween candy and pull one out!) and have students move to that corner of the room!
Those who are wrong…. Are out!
Now, I would suggest giving students one piece of candy to end all of this, because spending that much time talking about candy and no time actually eating it is a bit cruel.
You can grab the candy and the printable rhythm posters to play this in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop by clicking here.
Need another Halloween center activity? Click here to read the BEST Halloween lessons!
And don’t forget to join the free resource library to get access to the library of heartbeat charts, lesson ideas, powerpoints, and more! It’s free and you can join by clicking here.
Happy teaching!
