Introduce stringed instruments to a middle school classroom by helping your students create a stringed instrument library. Each student in the class can pick a stringed instrument they want to research such as a violin, harp, mandolin or banjo. Ensure no two students pick the same instrument. Assist the kids with their online research on their instruments. The students will each create one informational page on their instrument that you will compile into one large slideshow. Watch the slideshow as a class so the students can learn about the instruments that everyone picked.
Allow elementary students to show their inner rockstar by helping them create cardboard guitars. Give each student a guitar template to trace onto corrugated cardboard. Help the kids cut out the templates. Provide paint, markers, rhinestones, stickers, construction paper, string, buttons and ribbon for the children to decorate their own guitar. Once all of the guitars are decorated, teach your students about how guitars work and how they are used in music.
The stringed orchestra is a major part of the world of stringed instruments. Teach students about what instruments make up an orchestra by bringing in a quartet of a violin, viola, cello and string bass instruments. Allow the students to examine the instruments. Key points to show them are how each instrument has a different range with the violin being the highest followed by the viola, cello and string bass. Kids can look at the different parts of the stringed instruments including the bridge, pegs, fine tuners and bows.
Bring a variety of stringed instruments to your classroom. For example, have a banjo, violin, mandolin, cello and lute on hand. Challenge your students to come up with a song that incorporates all of the instruments. The song is their opportunity to practice creative expression while learning about string instruments. The technical aspects of the song are not important in this project as the purpose of this exercise is to show students how these string instruments work and can play together.