Many kindergarten students know the words to songs like "The Farmer in the Dell," "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," and the "Alphabet Song." A teacher can encourage students to sing during appropriate times and may incorporate movement, puppets and hand signs to familiar songs. Students who don't know the songs will learn them quickly just by listening to classmates as you lead them in the songs. You may use the songs to reinforce letter sounds and sight words as you teach the students new songs.
You can use homemade rhythm instruments to accompany music used in class. Use a spoon to beat the rhythm on the top of an empty oatmeal box, or create a rain stick by sealing sunflower seeds into a paper towel tube. Bells attached around the rim of a plastic plate make a handy tambourine, and rice inside a plastic Easter egg creates a small, but effective, shaker. Create the rhythm instruments in art class and play them in music. You can use them to songs you sing or recordings of popular or classical pieces. When all students have an instrument to play, they enjoy being a part of the music.
Staple long, colorful cloth streamers to wooden dowels and allow students to dance to the music. Provide time for them to listen and move to music, Students can demonstrate their own musical interpretation as they decide what the music tells them to do. Introduce the students to different types of cultural dances. You could introduce Native American dancing when studying about Columbus or Thanksgiving, for example. Encourage students to attempt the steps even if it takes them a while to learn the movements.
During rest time, have the students bring their mats to the reading circle area and lie or sit on the mats. Play Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf," where a different musical instrument represents each character. Allow the students to quietly listen to the piece and learn to identify how each of the instruments sounds. Play other pieces throughout the year during this time of the day. The students can learn about the composers and the pieces. Play more contemporary pieces as well, so students get a variety of different kinds of music and different musical eras.