There are so many different kinds of music and so many ways to use it with children, from helping them express their feelings to just playing with it.

Materials:

• Paint and paintbrushes
• Scarves or streamers
• Paper
• Non-toxic markers
• Radio or recorded music with player

Directions:

Using recorded music or a radio, try out several different kinds of music for the children. (The selections might include children's songs, country music, rock, or classical.) Do the children like certain types of music and not others? Do they have preferences that are different from others? Does any of the music make them feel sad, happy, angry or silly?

Let the children help you choose some music to play for a longer period of time and encourage them to think of something they'd like to do while they listen. Be sure to give them a variety of choices so they can see that different people have different interests and can participate in different ways. Here are a few suggestions:

• Painting to music
• Moving to music
• Making up words to go with music
• Drawing pictures that show how the music makes them feel
• Daydreaming while the music plays
• Or, just plain listening

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