The Marching Shaker Band
Each child plays a sealed bottle shaker while moving around: fast, slow, high, low, in a parade behind the teacher, and in pairs where one plays and the other dances. It builds following a beat with the body and expressing ideas through sound and movement.
How to play
- Each child takes a bottle shaker and tries out its sounds: fast, slow, loud and soft (2 min).
- Walk around the room shaking on every step; the teacher's drum tells us whether to go slow or fast (2 min).
- Shakers up, shakers down: shake on tiptoe above your head and crouched near the floor (2 min).
- We're a marching band: in a line behind the teacher, follow their path and copy their beat (3 min).
- In pairs, one plays the shaker and the other dances to the sound; then switch (2 min).
- Big finale: everyone shakes really loud and stops together when the teacher says "Now!" (1 min).
Rules
- My shaker makes music, it doesn't hit.
- When the drum stops, we all stop.
- We never open the shaker.
Variations
Easier
For 3-year-olds, walk and shake, switching only between fast and slow with the drum.
Standard
For 4-year-olds, add the parade and the partner game.
Harder
For 5-year-olds, the child at the front of the parade invents the beat and the way to walk, and everyone copies.
Adaptations
- Hearing impairment: pair the drum with a visible gesture, and in pairs the dancer watches the partner's hand to see fast or slow.
- Limited mobility: the child shakes from the wheelchair and is pushed in the parade, or the parade circles around them.
- Autism: offer to shake "softly" or use headphones if all the shakers together are too loud.
Learning goals
- Match movement to a beat.
- Tell fast from slow and loud from soft.
- Express ideas through sound and the body.
Equipment for a class of 25
- Sealed bottle shakers: 25
- Hand drum: 1
Teacher tip
The shakers are small bottles with a handful of rice or chickpeas, the cap glued on and taped over; check beforehand that none are open. If the noise gets out of hand, use the drum silently: holding it up means stop.
PatioLab has "The Marching Shaker Band" and 8714 more activities ready to drag into your lesson and run from your phone in the gym.
More main activities for Elementary
"Al Pasar la Barca" Parachute Rowing
Sitting around the parachute, children row by pulling the fabric toward them and letting it go toward the middle to the rhythm of the traditional Spanish song "Al pasar…
"Corro de la Patata" Parachute Circle
Children circle with the parachute while singing the traditional Spanish song "Al corro de la patata" (Potato Circle), and on "achupé, achupé" everyone sits down…
"El Patio de Mi Casa" Parachute Song
Children sing the traditional Spanish ring song "El patio de mi casa" while circling with the parachute and lowering it to the ground on "agáchate" (squat down).
"Que Llueva" Parachute Rain
Using the traditional Spanish children's song "Que llueva, que llueva" (Let It Rain), children make rain, clouds and sun with the parachute, and some hide underneath as…
«A la Zapatilla por Detrás»: The Slipper Behind Your Back
Sitting in a circle with eyes covered, one child walks around the outside with a slipper singing the traditional Spanish rhyme «A la zapatilla por detrás» («the…
«A Tapar la Calle»: The Chain That Blocks the Street
Half the class forms a hand-in-hand chain that walks forward singing the traditional Spanish song «A tapar la calle» («Block the street so nobody passes»), while the…