Rather than stressing particular notes or beats, give kids a word, a theme, or an emotion. For example, they could be given "summertime," "Hawaii," or "bliss." Kids can create a short song or accompaniment for the given word. You could also give them a picture or a photograph to use as inspiration, expressing art and mood through music. Even kids with no musical background can produce musical sounds using a computer program, simple instruments, or percussion instruments.
Introducing a particular genre or era of music can be a good way to introduce kids to composing, helping them channel a certain sound. You could use jazz of the 1920s, soul music from the 1950s, or 1980s pop. Kids will appreciate learning about famous people who started a particular era of music, from Ray Charles to Madonna. Play a sampling of songs from a certain era and genre, and ask kids to create a small musical piece that mimics that sound. Students can use simple or even homemade instruments. This approach allows students to develop an awareness of the different rhythms and beats while making music.
This method will work if the music teacher is skilled at an instrument, such as the piano or guitar. Let kids see images of a variety of things, and shout out what kind of music they think should be played during the presentation of the image. For example, if the image shows a picture of a woman riding a horse, a student might say "choppy" or "fast." The teacher improvises a basic accompaniment that follows that command. Kids will enjoy having control over the movement of the piece, and will be able to hear different kinds of sounds. This exercise is also a good opportunity to introduce musical terms like "forte" or "allegro."
Let students work together to create their own sounds with this teaching method. Break the students into different groups, and assign each group a musical instrument, such as the drums, the triangle, a few notes on the piano, or the symbols. Kids can come up with their own simple sound that they can play on their instrument. For example, a student using the drums could hit the drum three times for his part. Combining the sounds one by one helps students to see how different instruments work together.