Carnival of the animals

We do have over 400 free educational resources available including PDFs, SMART Board notebook files, PowerPoints, and Videos, mostly for Pre-K through the elementary grade levels.

Note: this blog post has been updated (March 2016). Some of the links and resources in the original version were […]

Use a Carnival of the Animals listening map and movement activities to teach Carnival of the Animals in your elementary music class.

I have loved this collection of songs for a very long time, but have always struggled to find ways to meaningfully engage my students in active, hands-on activities. Over the past several school years I have spent some time and been more intentional in finding and developing some lessons that truly engage my students and help them to remember the wonderfully fun pieces of music. If you would like the full 23 page pdf, send me an email - musicquilt@hotmail.com. Happy listening!

Looking for ideas for teaching "Carnival of the Animals" by Saint-Saëns? This blog post details five ideas for integrating this unit into your music lessons, including a free virtual classroom!

The Art of Andy Fling | Watercolor, Pastel, Digital, and Wacky Sketchbook Doodles

Description Carnival of the Animals Crafts Looking for a creative activity for students to do while listening to Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals? Search no more! These four craftivities are perfect. These activities are perfect for K-3. Included in this kit: Paper Plate Lion (Use while listening to Royal March of the Lion.) -directions for creating this craft Funky Fish (Use while listening to Aquarium.) -template and directions for creating this craft. Tortoise (Use while listening to…

Ah, spring! The weather gets gorgeous, life gets very busy, and students get antsy. I like to do a lot of movement lessons to counteract the craziness. Carnival of the Animals is perfect for this, and is a great way to review musical opposites and steady beat. Here’s what I do for the first few movements with my kiddos. Lion listening map Lion/Introduction Focus: Steady beat Prop: Hands, then scarves Questions: How does a lion move? How would a lion keep a steady beat? When is there a “roar”…

I begin by discussing the composer Camille Saint-Saens. We discuss how he enjoyed jokes and wrote this piece to entertain his students. I would ask students to think of a time when they were acting silly with their friends and pretending to be chickens or other animals. Some say that Saint-Saens liked to write songs about his friends and how they acted. This is not bullying because is was good natured humor and his friends knew he was just being silly. We listen to the piece after discussing…

Description This Carnival of the Animals assessment pack includes three different types of assessments to use during and after teaching Carnival. Each assessment has several variations of the assessment, to allow you to assess the animals in the song that you are specifically working with at the time. 1. Carnival of the Animals Circle Color Assessments: 5 variation tests are included in this file. When assessing, I tell all my students to pick up a red crayon. I then tell them to listen and…