I’m an improvisational music therapist, which means that the music, specifically the songs I bring to a music space, are often made up “on the spot”, reacting to what a client or student is needing at the moment.

When I started to lead early childhood music groups, I had sort of a “wake up call” when I realized I needed more than the 10 existing songs (🙈) I had in my repertoire to facilitate a preschool music class. That’s also when I realized that lesson planning for preschool & kindergarten groups is a MUST! You want to walk in to the classroom with a plan, with a structure, and some ideas that you have thought about in advance that will then help you respond to what the group needs in the moment.

A good lesson plan also keeps teaching purposeful, helping educators provide intentional learning opportunities to kids.

I’ll be the first one to say that lesson planning, coming up with themes, and finding purposeful & developmentally appropriate songs & resources for our classes can be time consuming (anyone else?! 🙋‍♀️). That’s why every month I create a pre-k/kindergarten music lesson plan packed with original music for my Music For Kiddos Community Members.

If you are running out of themes and lesson plan ideas for your preschool & kindergarten classes you’re in luck 🥳 because today I’m sharing with you my TOP 5 Music Lesson Plans Ideas that kids absolutely LOVE:

Bears
💡Teaching ideas: Kids will love moving, learning about and suggesting different ways bears can move like bouncing, crouching and walking. This theme also is a great opportunity to talk about feelings, like being mad, and how to cope when feeling this way.

2. Rainforest

💡Teaching ideas: What do different animals in the rainforest eat? What are some of the snacks they like? This is a great theme for kids to learn about animals that live in the rainforest, other natural resources and it’s a great reinforcer to talk about the foods kids like to eat too!

3. Robots

💡Teaching idea: Some parts we need to build a robot: hands, arms, legs, feet! Kids can sing and talk about how cool robots can be while also learning about body parts.

4. Space

💡Teaching idea: The Space lesson plan is my absolute favorite! We can talk about planets, rocket ships, gravity, and the Earth. And of course, we can talk about astronauts, what they do and what wear, which is a perfect segue way to get kids talking about clothes.

5. Transportation

💡Teaching idea: The name of this theme pretty much says it all; we can teach kids about different modes of transportation such as cars, airplanes, boats, the school bus, etc. This is also a lesson plan full of music-making opportunities as kids can engage in creating the sounds different vehicles make with instruments, their voice, etc.

These themes & ideas live in our Top 5 Preschool & Kindergarten Music Lesson Plan Bundle.

Every month, I create a pre-k/kindergarten music lesson plans packed with original music for my *massive* resource library of 385+ early childhood resources in the Music For Kiddos Community. In this bundle, I’ve included the lesson plans that I hear about again and again, those lesson plans the *kids* request over and over again.