YELLOW BRICK ROAD MUSIC

3 Elementary Music Games to Play Outside

Most elementary music games are conducive to being played outside on the playground. It gives everyone more room to move, it’s a great change of pace for elementary students, and everyone could use some more time to play outdoors (especially elementary students).

Today, I’m going to round up three game songs from past blog posts that would be perfect for an outdoor setting. Depending on the song you choose, you will either need jump ropes, basketballs, or empty pop cans. However, you might be able to find suitable replacements for some of these (such as hula hoops in place of skipping ropes). As always, it’s a good idea to speak with your P.E. teacher to plan out a date and time to borrow their equipment.

ON A MOUNTAIN

On a Mountain is a skipping rope song that works well for teaching binary form. You will only need one jump rope per three students.They will need to be long, as this game requires two students to swing the rope, while the other jumps in the middle. If you have particularly long ropes (and skilled jumpers), you could have pairs in the middle.

AL CITRON

Al Citron is a children’s game from Mexico. Students sit in a circle and pass an object to the beat, with a slight twist at the end. This game is wonderful for teaching strong versus weak beat, and you can vary the tempo to make it extra challenging for upper elementary students. I suggest using empty pop cans for the timbre, but I’m sure you could think of a suitable replacement if need be. You can watch a video of students playing this game and read the full blog post HERE.

BOUNCE HIGH, BOUNCE LOW

This well-known tune is another great choice for teaching strong and weak beat, as well as high/low pitches. You will need enough basketballs (or suitable replacement) for each student to have one. The great thing about playing this outside, is that students have a lot more room to work on their hand-eye coordination. You can read the entire blog post about this song and game HERE.