View

• Barney - "We've Got Rhythm"
  BJ is banging on a drum. Barney and the kids explore how a drum can make rhythms. Then they learn about drums from around the world, and everyone has fun making their own rhythm instrument.
• Reading Rainbow - "Hip Cat"
  This is the story of a cat that creates a sound all his own and then experiences how the rhyme and rhythm enchant his audience. Jazz, America's most original music form, is the topic of this show. Viewers experience examples of improvisation in music, literature, art and dance, and meet Joshua Redman, a jazz saxophonist who talks about how music has influenced his life.

Do in Class

• Arthur: Arthur's Music Jamboree: Preschool Activity Guide - Try these fun activities in your early childhood classroom.
• Between the Lions: Music & Dance - Make musical instruments from materials found around the house.
• Clifford: Friendly Pick'n and Grin'n - Practice playing fair and taking turns while making a guitar and pick'n some tunes.
• Clifford: Share the Rhythm - Make homemade instruments and try to play favorite tunes.
• Dragon Tales: The Sorrow and the Party: Moods and Music - Listen to music that evokes happy and sad feelings, and make up corresponding happy and sad movements to dance along.
• Dragon Tales: Whole Lotta Maracas Goin' On - Make your own maracas using household items.
• George Shrinks: Section 3: Creative Problem Solving: Making Music Can Be Fun! - Talk about the experience of learning how to play an instrument and create your own instrument that can be used in class.
• Jazz Kids: Tap Your Feet - Practice following a pattern, learn about beat and tempo, and create an original rhythm piece.
• Maya & Miguel: Musical Guessing Game - Make homemade instruments and then play a related listening game.
• Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: Musical Bottles - Mix music with science. Gather some plastic bottles (from water, juice, or soda). Pour different amounts of water in each bottle. See what happens when you blow air across the top of the bottles.
• Reading Rainbow: Barn Dance - Make clay pots into bells of different sizes to learn how tones can vary.
• ZOOM: Bottle Hit and Blow - Discover that you hear different sounds when you blow on or hit different objects.
• ZOOM: Glass Xylophone - Create a glass xylophone and discover how it makes sounds.
• ZOOM: Listening Table - Try to hear sounds vibrating through different objects.

Play Online

• Africa for Kids: Thumb Piano Tunes - Listen to or play music with an online thumb piano.
• Arthur: Crank It Up! - Record music made from unexpected objects in this online game, and then send it to a friend.
• Arthur: The Music Box - Put together online puzzles while listening to holiday music from Arthur's radio.
• Barney: Barney's Music Game - Try to repeat Barney's music patterns. (Shockwave Required)
• Boohbah: Boohbah Dance - Use sliders to create your own rhythm for the Boohbahs' dance.
• Caillou: Caillou's Magic Keyboard - Create a song by selecting music notes associated with letters of the alphabet.
• Clifford: Hide and Seek Toy Box - Help Clifford clean up his toys by matching the toy to the characteristic sound it makes.
• Creativity: Pentatonic Scales - Play different musical instruments' scales online.
• Cyberchase: Pattern Player - Create a musical pattern you can see and hear.
• Dragon Tales: Share a Song - Create a new song from a classic song online.
• Dragon Tales: Zak and Wheezie's Music Machine - Experiment with instrument sounds and play along with different music styles in this online game.
• Jazz Kids - Be a bandleader, join the jazz band, or learn about jazz greats.
• Maya & Miguel: Global Groovin' - Mix tunes by using sounds and rhythms from different cultures, and learn facts and history about the instruments.
• Sagwa: Musical Lanterns - Make sounds using Chinese lanterns with this online game.
• ZOOM: Tunes and Spoons - Create H2Overtures with this downloadable game.

Read

• Ah, Music
  By Aliki
  Published April 2003 by HarperCollins Children's Books
  This picture book examines the elements of music: sound, rhythm, melody, pitch and tone, volume, and emotion. It introduces the instruments used to make music and the people who write it and play it. You will also learn some of its history and diversity.
• I Hear America Singing: Folksongs for American Families
  By Kathleen Krull and Allen Garns
  Published May 2003 by Random House Children's Books
  This collection contains 62 folk songs from every region of the country. You will find work songs, spirituals, protest songs, and songs just for fun. One index separates the songs into 23 types, including animal songs, ballads and story songs, and blues. Each comes with sheet music and its complete lyrics. A CD with 23 of the songs is included.

*As most PBS children's programs offer one year extended taping rights for teachers, please feel free to tape them now and save them for use in your classroom during the school year.