What To Do With Those Instruments

If you are starting a new job and found a bunch of random percussion instruments in your new classroom you don't know what to do with, or if you have had these percussion instruments for a while and you don't feel like you're getting enough use out of them (or maybe don't even know how to play them correctly), this post is for you! In this post you'll find my favorite ways to use 6 of the most common auxiliary percussion instruments in elementary general music lessons, along with how I teach students to play each one and how I store them in my classroom.

1. Names and playing techniques

First it's important to know what each of these instruments are called and how they are played so you can teach your students properly! This video explains what I call each one and how I teach students to play them:

2. Storage

I think it's important for students to be able to see and access instruments independently, and although for instruments that I have class sets (or at least half class sets) of I like to store them in labeled bins to make them easy to find, I like keeping the ones I only have 1 or 2 of out separately so they don't get lost in some "miscellaneous" bin where we all forget they exist, and students are aware of what's available when they are in a situation where they are choosing an instrument/ timbre for a lesson activity. If you look closely at the right side shelves in the picture below you can see the bins on the shelves, as well as the instruments that are sitting out on the shelf where they are easily accessible.

3. Lesson Ideas

First here are a few specific ways I use each of the specific instruments I'm using as examples in this post, but I also have lots of ways I use all of these, and other miscellaneous percussion instruments in my K-6 lessons which I'll share below, so if you don't have these specific instruments keep reading!

• cabasa: more specifically, this instrument with the metal beads is called the Afuche Cabasa, but especially with my younger students I just call it a cabasa, which is a more general term. I use the cabasa with my younger students as one of the timbres I have students add to a lot of storybooks like froggy gets dressed and bear snores on (click the links to see my full lesson plans) when it calls for a crunchy or rattling sound, or a medium volume sound. It's also popular for similar purposes with my older students when they need a sound effect for their videogame or movie music composition projects because it gives them a timbre similar to a shaker but is louder and a little more precise.
• flexatone: The flexatone may not be the most urgent instrument to buy when I'm building my classroom inventory but it is one of the most fun! I specifically use it when I do the song "pass the pumpkin" with Kindergarten- students play it when we sing "oooo". I also use it for the underwear when we do froggy gets dressed in 1st grade because it is a "silly sound", and it is a great one to have available for my older students to use in composition when they want something spooky sounding or a "swoosh" like you would get with a slide whistle.
• vibraslap: My students love playing the vibraslap because you can see it vibrate. It's also often an accessible instrument for students with limb differences or who lack grip strength because you can play it with one hand and there are lots of ways to hold it! I specifically use the vibraslap every year when I do mortimer in 1st grade by having a student play it every time Mortimer nods his head, which the students think is hilarious!
• ratchet: This is another instrument that's pretty accessible and provides a timbre that's different from most other instruments I have in the classroom. It's also another instrument I use specifically with my mortimer lesson in 1st grade for playing every time someone opens the door. It's also helpful to have as an instrument that can play "sustained notes" because you can just keep turning the handle round and round, so it's a good way to have students practice reading and playing half notes and whole notes when I introduce them in the middle grades.
• stir drum: The stir drum is handy to have when I'm teaching pitched vs non-pitched percussion in 2nd grade because it helps students think more carefully about what a pitched instrument sounds like, since it is technically pitched but you don't normally play each pitch separately. 
• ocean drum: I got a few ocean drums a few years ago so it's one of the most recent additions to my classroom, but my students are in love with them (and so am I). I use it as another instrument to practice playing half notes and whole notes in my middle grades, and specifically to add whole note (or dotted half notes in triple meter) ostinato accompaniment when students are adding instrumental accompaniment with a calmer, peaceful song like Sakura in 4th grade and Duerme Mi Tesoro in 2nd grade.

Even more than the specific instruments I'm sharing here, I think it's helpful to have a general variety of timbres and playing techniques in your instrument collection so that students can learn a broader range of proper percussion playing technique and get the chance to experience using a wider variety of timbres in performance and composition. I don't think it matters as much whether you have these specific instruments in your classroom, but if you can, it's great to build up a little bit of variety over the years with whatever instruments you are able to bring into your classroom. Here are some of my favorite lesson activities that use whatever variety of instruments I have:

• Instrument Merry-Go-Round
  This is an activity I use in the younger grades especially to help students practice the names, playing techniques, and categorizations of a wide variety of instruments in a short amount of time, but I also do it with older students to review, or just as a fun way to keep students engaged on a challenging day, and they love it too! Have students sit in a circle and put an instrument in front of each student. They can all be different or you can hand out a repeating pattern of a handful of instruments (like hand drum- triangle- rhythm sticks- jingle bells, hand drum- triangle- you get the idea) depending on what you're doing. Tell students to follow your hands. Motion for them to pick up the instrument in front of them, then when you open your fist, they play, and when you close your fist, they stop. Motion for them to put the instrument down, stand up, and move around the circle to the next instrument, and continue. You can change it up by calling out the name of an instrument that should play, or calling out a category (pitched/ non-pitched, woods/ skins, etc). You can also have students follow your conducting to practice playing with different dynamics, or echo your rhythm patterns... the options are pretty much endless.
• Sound Effects
  I love exploring timbre with my younger grades by having students add sound effects to storybooks! We read the story, then I have students suggest instruments that would best match different words, pictures, or phrases in the story. I've done this with many different books- you can see some of my favorites, with all the specific lesson plans I use with them, in this post. 
• Soundscapes
  This is a great way to practice communicating a feeling or image through music in a concrete way. I split students up into small groups and either have them choose or assign them a place, emotion, etc and tell them to use instruments, voices, found sound, and body percussion to communicate that place/ emotion. At the end the class tries to guess what their music is supposed to sound like. I use this activity mostly with my middle grades to introduce the idea of using timbre and other expressive elements to communicate images and ideas.
• Foley
  I do composition units on movie music in 6th grade and video game music in 5th grade, and in both projects I ask students to add sound effects. Having lots of different interesting instrumental timbres available to them definitely helps inspire their creativity in these tasks!

I hope this post gives you some concrete ideas for how to use all the miscellaneous percussion instruments you may have in your classroom, or if you don't already, maybe inspire you to look into ways to get a few to add to your collection- most of these are fairly inexpensive and I've gotten most of mine through Amazon wishlists and donorschoose projects, so they're an easy way to add some more variety to your inventory! Of course there are so many other percussion instruments I didn't cover here that you may have in your classroom- if there are other instruments you'd like more ideas for using, please let me know in the comments!

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Favorite Music Movement Props

Props are a great way to mix things up, spark the imagination, and add interest to movement activities in elementary music. As I've been able to slowly add more movement props to my classroom the last few years I've really enjoyed all the different ways that my students can learn about, and interact with, musical concepts in fun and creative ways. Here are my favorite movement props to use in elementary music (some of them more common than others), with all my best lesson plans and teaching strategies for using them.

I've written in greater detail about each of these movement props in the past, so for each one I'm linking those posts so you can read all the details, and if they are ones I purchased I've also linked the ones I have and recommend in case you want to get them as well. I will say, most of these are things I've gotten from Amazon wishlists, donorschoose, and other donations over the years, so please don't rule them out if you have a small budget- they are worth trying to raise money to get for your classroom!

1. Scarves

Scarves are probably the most common movement prop for elementary music teachers to have in their classrooms, and they are so versatile! Here are some of my favorite scarf songs to use with early childhood classes:

2. Stretchy band

The stretchy band is one of my newest additions to my classroom and I was honestly intimidated by it at first, but it has quickly become a favorite, even with my older students! Here are some of my favorite lesson activities to do with the stretchy band:

3. Bean bags

I love using bean bags. The longer I teach, the more ways I end up using them in my lessons! Here are all my best tips for management, teaching strategies, and my favorite lessons for using bean bags with every age group:

4. Cups

For upper elementary (and even middle school), cups are probably my favorite movement prop. Ever since the cup song became popular a few years ago they have been cool with my big kids! Here are some of my favorite ways to use cups with upper elementary, plus my best teaching strategies for helping students be successful with passing games in general:

5. Tinikling poles / Jump bands

I love teaching my students how to do Tinikling, a traditional dance from the Philippines, and using jump bands like these makes it so much easier to do with elementary students than trying to use the traditional bamboo poles! Tinikling is great for working on triple meter, and after spending a good chunk of time on it during our unit on the Philippines in 3rd grade, my older students love getting them out at the end of the school year every now and then! Here are the lessons I use to teach my Philippines unit, including how I teach Tinikling:

6. Poi

Poi is another movement prop that is relatively new to my classroom because I thought it would be so difficult and time consuming to make a class set, but after making them for my students to use a few years ago I can confidently tell you they really are not that hard or time consuming to make, and they are one of the highlights of my 2nd grade curriculum for sure! Here are all the details on how I made them, plus all the lessons I do with them:

7. Parachute

For a long time I thought I would only ever use parachutes with my small, self-contained classes because to get one big enough for an entire class of 20-30 students would be too big for my room! Pro tip: I now have 2 smaller ones like this that can fit up to 12 students, and with bigger classes I can have them split in half and use 2 side-by-side, which is a much better fit for my rectangular room. So if you have a similar long room like me, that may be an option! Here are some of my favorite lesson ideas and teaching strategies using parachutes:

I hope this helps give you some new ideas to use with movement props in your elementary music lessons! What are your other favorite ways to use these items? Are there other props you love using in your teaching? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments.

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Things to Make This Summer for Your Music Room Part 2

I love a good craft project in the summertime! And while I definitely make time to unplug from all school-related thoughts over summer break, I also have a list of things I've wanted to make during the school year but didn't have the time or energy to put together that I like to tackle over summer break. I made a list of some of my favorite items I've made for my classroom over a decade ago so I decided it's time for an update! Here are some of my favorite summer craft projects I've made to use in my elementary music classroom.

music truth or dare card/ jenga game

This is such an easy thing to make- just print out the cards, cut and glue them onto some construction paper, and laminate them, and you've got yourself a review game that will get students practicing all kinds of music skills and concepts in a way that truly will have them begging to play again and again, and you can use it with the whole class or as a center! You can leave it at just the cards or take it one step further and add a jenga set to the mix for even more fun. Here are the printables, and here is the full blog post on how the game works:

rhythm composition cards

I truly use these all the time with every grade 1st-6th and they are so helpful! It's a simple concept but works so well for helping students visually see the note values: take some foam sheets, cut them into strips, and then cut them into lengths that correspond to the number of beats in the note/ rest and write the symbol on the card. Here is my blog post with all the details:

poi

One of my most recent DIY's was the poi I made from just some rope. I've used them for 2 years now and they have held up great and still look like new, and the bright colors are so cool when my 2nd graders use them for their performance in our annual International Music Festival! It took me a while to figure out how to do the first one, but once I got the hang of it the rest of them went pretty quickly- this is the perfect summer project because you can mindlessly make them while you watch a movie :) Here is the full blog post with a tutorial video on how to make them, and how I use them in my lessons, especially in my unit on Maori music from New Zealand.

discbound teacher planner

Putting together your own teacher planner is the definition of the perfect summer project. I know a lot of teachers are intimidated by the idea of printing your own pages and putting it together yourself but seriously, there is no way to get a more perfect-for-you planner that you'll actually use, and save the most money because you'll only buy the supplies once. Here are the music teacher planner printables and here is my post on how I put mine together:

kindergarten learning target visuals

When my district started requiring us to post learning targets for every class with every grade, I laughed at the idea of writing long sentences on the board to go over with my Kindergartners who couldn't even read yet. These visuals have made it possible for me to actually post learning objectives in a way that actually benefits student learning, but they have also really helped a lot of students grasp concepts more quickly by seeing them represented in graphic form! I highly recommend these, they really do make a difference. Here are the printable cards, and here is the blog post with the full explanation of how I use them: 

musical memory matching games

These are another easy project that just takes a little time to sit down and complete: print out the cards, cut and glue them to construction paper, laminate, and you're done. The game is played the same way a traditional memory matching game is played: players take turns flipping over 2 cards, one at a time, to try to flip over a matching pair of cards. If the 2 cards match they keep the cards, if not everyone tries to memorize their position and the player flips them back over. The player who collects the most pairs wins the game. But in this case students are not looking for cards that look exactly like each other, but pairs of cards that match, like a picture of a note G on the staff matching with a card with the letter G! I made mine myself but you can find plenty of options for musical memory matching game printables on teacherspayteachers for all kinds of vocabulary and concepts here.

I hope this helps give you some inspiration, or maybe even remind you of a project you had thought about and forgotten you wanted to do! And don't forget to check out my first post on summer craft projects for even more ideas!

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Music Teacher Planner Setup 2026-2027

I get questions all the time about the supplies I use to set up my teacher planner, so today I'm giving you a full update on everything I'm using for the upcoming school year. The nice thing is most things I use for many years so I get my money's worth, and every year I tweak a few little things here and there so I still get to enjoy the fun of putting together a fresh new planner every summer!

*this post contains affiliate links*

1. Cover and discs

You can get hard covers like the one I have from a few different places but the one I have right now is from The Happy Planner. Honestly when my planner cover starts to get beat up after several years and it needs to be replaced, I look for one from any brand that I can find on clearance and get that one! This one is pretty similar to the one I'm using. I love these Happy Planner Rainbow Expander Metal Discs. The colors are just so fun and because they are metal they are so sturdy! I've been using them for several years now with very little sign of wear.

2. Paper

You don't have to have a fancy hard cover or rainbow colored discs to set up a teacher planner like this, but you will definitely need a hole punch to be able to put your papers into a discbound planner! Someone gave me the hole punch I'm using now from The Happy Planner but I used this one, which is much cheaper, for years with no issues.

This may surprise you but I think the biggest difference between a printable planner that feels cheap and one that feels professional is the paper. If you get 24lb paper to print at home you will notice a huge difference, and it's really not that much more expensive! Here's the paper I'm using right now.

You can also definitely have your planner pages printed- I used to have mine printed at Staples and they always came out great- but it is nice to be able to print at home and have the flexibility to just print out a page or two here and there whenever I need it without having to leave the house, and it ends up being cheaper. I use HP's instant ink service so it sends me new ink cartridges whenever I need them-  here's a link to get 1 month free if you want to try it too.

3. Folders and pockets

I find it really helpful to have a double-sided folder and a zippered pocket in the front of my planner. I got a new folder this summer from this accessory pack but you can use any letter size folder! I haven't found any other zippered pockets as good as this Arc Clear Zippered Pocket and it's so nice to keep my favorite Frixion Erasable Pens, some stamps, and address labels in there. I keep a Staples Clear Pocket in the back too for my choir sheet music.

4. Tabs and bookmarks

If there's one thing I've used longer than anything else (and probably will still be using 10 years from now) it's this pack of  Rainbow Paper Tabs. They are essentially sticky notes in the shape of tabs so I just write the section name on it and stick it where I want each section to begin (you can see them along the side in the photo above). They hold up shockingly well as well!

And I made my own bookmark to hold some sticky notes to use in my planner years ago that I am still using today- it's basically just a laminated piece of scrapbook paper cut to size with holes punched to add to my planner, but here is my Bookmark/ Sticky Note Dashboard DIY tutorial if you want all the details.

I also started using a plastic bookmark from The Happy Planner a few years ago that someone gave me and it is finally wearing down so this year I got a new one in the same accessory pack I got the folder from. I keep the DIY one in the current month, and the plastic one in the current week. 

Of course the most important part of my planner is the pages inside it- this is the specific one I use, but if your class schedule is different from mine here are all the different weekly planning formats you can choose from.

I hope this helps if you are thinking about setting up your own planner like mine- I absolutely love it and have been using it with pretty much the same setup for over a decade now! Please let me know if you have any questions, I'm happy to help. Happy planning!

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