Halloween Music Lesson Success, Three Creepy Spiders!

Aug 13, 2024 | Activities

Creepy Spiders replace Ladybugs! (From In All Kinds of Weather, Kids Make Music)
Since our lesson plan for Melody Makers (from Music Box Downloads, weekly lessons) calls for Ladybugs but it was Halloween, I decided to change the lyrics and props a bit. I used 3 spider rings (hundreds in a bag for a very low price from one of those catalogs for cheap stuff) instead of my 3 lady bugs (felt set, I also have lady bug puppets from www.musicrhapsody.com/shop).
So instead of the “Three Little Ladybugs,” Here’s “Three Creepy Spiders”
3 creepy spiders with nothing much to do, one feels a drop of rain, now there are two (rain sticks)
2 creepy spiders out to have some fun, then the wind starts to blow, now there is one (circular movement on hand drum heads, thunder tube)
1 creepy spider hears the thunder roar, crawl away, hide away, now there’s no more. (gathering drum)
No creepy spiders, none can be found, out comes the nice warm sun, they’re dancing all around! (hanging chimes, gong)
Orff instruments play level borduns with 3 rows of pitch. To prepare, students patch legs, pat shoulders, pat legs, pat shoulders, then tap head. When you do this while singing, you will tap your head after each rhyming work (at the end of the phrase). Transferring this to Orff, the basses play big A and E when we pat legs, the altos play A and E when we tap shoulders and the glockenspiels play when tapping head.
The students decided what instruments to play after each verse. This always makes it a lot of fun for me, year after year, its never quite the same.
After the lesson, each student got their own spider ring. The next week, the kids came in and said “Can we do the Creepy Spiders this week?
Changing those 2 words made this a whole new activity for me and my students!