The Baby Elephant Walk

Pratt's Educational Resources Subject(s): Music and Science
Music Sources:

The Best of Lawrence Welk: The Baby Elephant Walk - MP3 Download (See above)
or
The Baby Elephant Walk midi (It is on the left side of the screen.)
Baby Elephant Walk

Activity: Coordinated Movement

Target Grade Level: Preschool through Early Elementary

Anticipated Length of Lesson: 5-10 minutes

Musical Objectives:At the end of this activity the students will:

-Listen & Follow a steady beat.

Musical Concept:

-Steady Beat

Musical Skills: Listening to music & moving to music

Materials Needed: Recording of song or computer access

Lesson Sequence

1. Anticipatory Set: How many of you have ever seen an elephant. Where did you see it? How do elephants move? Do they move slow or fast? Today we are going to listen to a song about an elephant. This song is called the "Baby Elephant Walk."

2. Everyone sit down on the floor in a circle. Now, you will need to look at me very carefully and follow what I do. Let's begin.

Note: Follow the below chart to do the Movement Activity. You can adapt this to the age you are teaching. For example, if you have toddlers or preschoolers, do something simple. You can change the chart to go with the beat of this music and use it with other music without words. Use your imagination.

Level I	head 8 beats shoulders 8 beats knees 8 beats head 8 beats shoulders 8 beats knees 8 beats
Bridge	Wait for the steady beat to start again. head (8 & 8) on each side shoulders (8 & 8) on each side
Level II	arm near nose right to left (16 beats) arm near nose up & down (16 beats)
Bridge	knees (8 & 8) on each side head (8 & 8) on each side
Level V	march right, left, right,... (16 beats)
Level II	knees right, left, right,... (16 beats)
Level III	knees & shoulders back and forth (16 beats)

URL: http://www.fastq.com/~jbpratt/education/education.html