Unit Plan 30 (PreK Music): Choosing Instruments

Focus: Children select classroom instruments that match a simple musical idea, picture, or feeling and explain why they chose them.

Grade Level: PreK

Subject Area: Music (Creating • Performing • Responding • Connecting)

Total Unit Duration: 2+ weeks, 20–30 minutes per session

I. Introduction

In this unit, children become “sound choosers” by exploring how different instruments can match ideas, pictures, and feelings. Through play-based activities, they experiment with drums, shakers, bells, and other classroom instruments, noticing how each one sounds and how it can fit a musical idea. They practice explaining their choices with simple language (“I picked the drum because it’s loud like thunder”) and begin to notice how sounds can change a story, picture, or mood.

Essential Questions

• How can we choose instruments that match what we see, hear, or feel?
• How do different instruments and ways of playing them (fast/slow, loud/soft) change the way the music sounds?
• How can we share and explain our musical ideas with classmates?
• How does choosing instruments help us tell stories, show feelings, or make patterns?

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Children will be able to:

1. Explore a variety of classroom instruments and describe how they sound (e.g., loud/soft, high/low, long/short).
2. Choose instruments and simple playing patterns (steady taps, quick shakes, long rolls) to match a picture, action, or feeling.
3. Organize sounds into simple patterns (e.g., loud–soft–loud, tap–tap–shake) and repeat them with a group.
4. Share and explain why they chose a certain instrument or way of playing to match a musical idea (“I chose the triangle because it sounds like stars”).

Standards Alignment — PreK Music (NAfME-Aligned)

• MU:Cr2.1.PK — Organize sounds into simple patterns. Children repeat, echo, and vary short musical ideas and patterns. Example: Copying and then changing a teacher’s drum–shake–drum pattern.
• MU:Re8.1.PK — Communicate ideas about music. Children share preferences and reactions using words, drawings, or movement. Example: Explaining which instrument sounds “sneaky” or “happy” and why.

Success Criteria — Child-Friendly Language

• I can pick an instrument that fits a picture, story, or feeling.
• I can make a simple sound pattern (like tap–tap–shake) and do it again.
• I can tell a friend why I chose an instrument or how the music makes me feel.
• I can listen and take turns so everyone gets to share their sounds.