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Spring time can be really fun… or really stressful as an elementary music teacher. There’s so much going on, the kids are wild, but it’s almost time for summer. One of my favorite things to do in spring is spring music centers activities– it keeps the kids occupied, they can talk a bit (read that as: you don’t have to keep them quiet!), they get to practice music, and it’s fun.
Plus, if you have to go into the teachers’ classrooms or do quiet music lessons for testing season, these Spring music centers will have you covered.
If you’re looking for centers activities, make sure you download the Great List of Centers Ideas– it’s a free 12 page PDF that includes a ton of low prep or no prep centers ideas for elementary music class.
Flower rhythm craft
First off, flower rhythm craft. This is a completely free activity that you can do once you download it from my free resource library. (Not part of the library? Join here to get instant access!).
Print out the rhythms that your students have been working on. You can laminate the pieces and use them for centers, or you can have students glue them down to create the perfect bulletin board craft.
It includes every rhythm, so no matter who you’re teaching, you’ll be covered.
And each rhythm has its own page, so you can print out just what you need.
Click here to download the flower rhythm craft for free!
Spring rhythm composition manipulatives
Next up, spring composition cards! Print out pictures of spring themed objects (flower, tree, umbrella, garden, etc.) or get premade ones from my TPT shop, and then have students arrange them in different patterns. They can play on instruments or have their friends try to read their rhythms.
I like to use the measure cards with my older students to help reinforce beats per measure, and you can even have them glue down or write down their ideas so that you can see who is understanding the concept of beat per measure!
If you don’t want to make them yourself, you can purchase print and go sets from my TPT shop here.
Solfege practice
Next: let’s do solfege! For this, you just need some staves and some spring themed icons.
You can use mini erasers, paper cut outs of flowers, foam shapes, or other spring themed items. I’ve personally fallen in love with acrylic vase fillers for this activity– they come in different shapes and are waaaay more durable than the mini erasers (although more expensive– but they last!)
Try out acrylic vase fillers here.
Have students create a solfege pattern on their board and sing it, or have them team up so that one person says the patterns and the other ones write it out.
I also have printable sets of these for solfege or treble clef. The solfege set includes a game, and the treble clef set has 2 different difficulty levels!
Purchase ready treble clef here
Or Purchase ready to go solfege sets here!
Write the room
Write the room is one of my favorite activities, and you can use it in centers! Having students walk around the room during centers is too chaotic for me (but you do you), so instead I put all the cards at their station. They find the card and fill out the rhythm or melody on the correct number.
I love this in particular because you can have something the kids turn in to show their mastery of the subject (or that they need a bit more help).
You can get ready to go spring themed sets in my TPT shop.
PS You can try out the quarter and eighth note rhythm set for free!
Listen and draw
Next: have listening station! If you have iPads, make some QR codes that go to different spring pieces (think: Spring by Vivaldi). If not, you can buy a cheap CD player off of Amazon and burn a CD (after teaching the kids what a CD is) and have them play them there. They can draw pictures to go along with the piece.
Flower meter sort
For the older students, the flower meter sort is a favorite spring music center.
Students match the flower petals with rhythms to the stem with the correct time signature on it.
Laminate the pieces to use over and over again, or have students glue down their answers and turn it in or take it with them.
Color by note for Spring music centers
Annnnd finally, my students’ favorite– color by note.
Color by not will save your life in the spring between sub plans, being in the teachers’ classroom, testing and more.
An you can use them for spring music centers.
Students color the spring themed coloring pages by the solfa on the page.
Easy peasey– and fun! Seriously…. The first time I used these with my second graders, I had kids coming up to me for weeks asking if we were going to color.
Little did they know that I was actually testing them….
Those are a few favorite spring music centers for elementary music class!
Don’t forget to snag your free centers ideas here.
If you need more spring music lessons, check them out here.
And if you’re looking to get started or take your centers to the next level, join the centers course! This is a self paced online course that teaches you how to have successful centers– read: the students are learning and it actually makes your life easier. We talk planning, classroom management, setting up centers, storage and organziation, and more.
Plus, you get instant access to $240 worth of centers activities for rhythm, composition, treble clef, solfege, and more. That’s more than the price of the course, and over half of them are exclusive to the course and not available anywhere els.e
Happy teaching!
