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Frosty Weather folk song music lesson activities for elementary music class by Music Class Teaching Tips. Movement, Scarves and Ukulele lesson ideas to teach Frosty Weather.
I’m Sandra the creator at Sing Play Create and I have some fun extension activities you can do with “FROSTY WEATHER” Kodaly Folk Song.
MOVEMENT: 3:05
SCARVES: 8:41
UKULELE: 16:36
UKULELE PLAYING TUTORIAL: 21:40
Most likely you know the traditional song “Frosty Weather”. It’s a popular Kodaly music lesson.
But in today’s video I’m sharing 4 different ways to use the song in music class.
If you’re teaching ukulele, I’ve added in a play along at the end of this video for you.
I’ve listed the sections in the description for easy reference. So, you can skip to those as needed.
If you decide to use some of these ideas, I’m hoping you’ll come back and share your experiences in the classroom with all of us in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.
I do have these activities available in the Sing Play Create TpT store and on my website.
I like to diversify the lesson activities so that there’s something on the music lesson menu for all my students.
I also feel that it’s important to add variety to the activities so that I can use the core music lesson over 4 class times.
If you are a newer music teacher, you can implement this strategy until you have developed a full curriculum.
This means that I’m using one song to teach many concepts.
Not only are we learning solfege, note names, rhythms, beat, but we’ll also play the song, move to the song, create our own movement as well as create rhythmic and melodic ostinato parts.
I don’t have to use all these ideas in one grade level.
I can use these ideas in different grade levels differentiating the activities according to the learning goals.
One way to diversify across grade levels using FROSTY WEATHER is to have Kindergarten and First students learn to sing the song and move on the beat. They will do the scarf activity too. First grade can play the game.
Second Grade will sing the song and work hard on the solfege, the game, movement. They will create their own body percussion patterns. I can choose for them to do scarf movement too if time permits.
Third Grade and up will sing the song and work hard on the dotted rhythms, the solfege and playing the song. They will work on the movement and create their own body percussion, rhythmic and melodic patterns in STATIONS.
Diversifying the learning and teaching across grade levels is successful way to unify your music curriculum and maximize learning. In essence, you’re teaching the music ABC’s in Kindergarten and setting students up for success in the upper grades for improvisation and music making.
Let’s begin with the movement activity idea.
I’ve found that it’s important to integrate some kind of movement activity with a singing lesson. Even though there is a fun game to play with FROSTY WEATHER. I know that my students love to move too.
Movement can provide another way to help them learn the song, feel the beat and rhythms as well as use some energy.
If you’re just starting using movement in your classroom, then choose one action they can do and sing at the same time.
Eventually, I will have them do 1 action on each beat.
Clapping or Stomping are easy choices.
I will have my students practice one action until they are pretty comfortable with it before adding in another action.
I’ll have them do the action on the beat as I sing or play the song.
I may wait to add in the second action until the next class time.
Once everyone can do one action on the beat for the FROSTY WEATHER song, then I’ll have them do a pattern of 2 actions. And then finally, four actions on the beat.
Next I’ll have them help me create action patterns for the different phrases in the song- like this;
CLAP PAT CLAP PAT
FROSTY WEATHER
CLAP PAT CLAP PAT
SNOWY WEATHER
STOMP FOUR TIMES
WHEN THE WIND BLOWS WE
WAVE RIGHT, WAVE LEFT, WAVE RIGHT, WAVE LEFT
ALL GO TOGETHER
Movement can be a powerful teaching tool when it supports the learning goal.
Let me know how this went for you!
I like to use a scarf movement activity with FROSTY WEATHER because my Kindergarteners love scarves and it’s another way for them to feel the beat.
Another reason I like to incorporate scarves is that they give the students something to hold. Meaning- it keeps their hands busy.
Here’s how I set up my students using scarves.
When I do a scarf activity I have my students create their BUBBLE SPACE.
I have them chew a pretend piece of bubble gum.
Chew it up- don’t let it fall out.
Make it nice and chewy!
Then breathe in through your nose and blow a big bubble around your body.
This is your BUBBLE SPACE!
Keep your scarf, your hands and feet, elbows, knees, and toes in your BUBBLE SPACE.
When I do scarves for a folk song, I usually give the students some time to wave their scarf around without any direction other than to stay in their space.
FROSTY WEATHER is a great song to add in some scarf movements.
I’ll go ahead and use the music tracks for this activity. Or, I will sing the song.
The next class time, I’ll teach them some specific moves I want them to “copy cat” me doing.
I may have my students practice the scarf movement without the scarves. It depends on the students.
We’re going to move our scarf on the beat using one scarf action.
I’ll show the pictures of the scarf moves and I’ll have them wave their scarves to a drum beat.
I’ll have them do 1 movement for 4-8 beats.
Next, I’ll have them do the actions for 2-4 beats, and then on the beat.
I don’t have them move on each beat too quickly. I don’t want them to get frustrated. Moving on the beat can be a challenge for some children.
I follow their lead and move forward when they are ready.
We’ll do scarf action patterns.
I like to practice each action separately, then put them together.
It may be on the 3rd or 4th class time that we actually will move on the beat using the patterns.
When we are waving scarves in this “Frosty Weather” music lesson, I want my students to sing and move too.
It’s important to me to take the steps for them to sing and move slowly so that they have fun while we are doing something challenging.
Now that they’ve learned the song and practiced the scarf moves they are ready to sing and move together.
I’ll play the accompaniment, music karaoke track or play the piano or xylophone and my students will sing and move without my help.
I love watching the final result of all of their hard work. It brings joy to me and to the students when they can do it alone.
This FROSTY WEATHER scarf movement can be part of a lovely winter music program.
You can have your students sing the song, play the song and then use scarves for the song.
You may want to have the students change the words for each verse to represent different types of weather. A fun favorite of mine was to change the words to a rain theme.
Rainy weather, stormy weather.
When the clouds burst, we’re all wet together.
If you’re wondering how to have enough scarves for all your students here are some ideas.
I would need 150-200 scarves, and so I improvised using a variety of other materials I could get cheaply so that everyone had something to wave.
You can use tissue paper, fabric, plastic table cloths from the dollar stores, ribbons for the scarves so that everyone has something to wave.
Adding in props to your music programs helps with management and is exciting for the students as well as the audience.
Let’s play FROSTY WEATHER on the ukulele!
If you are teaching one grade level the ukulele, it’s really nice to have them play songs they already know.
This way you don’t have to learn more songs and there’s a continuity to your music curriculum that allows you to focus on concepts instead of millions of materials.
When I teach ukulele, I like to teach one chord songs. FROSTY WEATHER is perfect for learning and practicing the C CHORD.
If your students don’t know the song, then have them learn to sing it first.
Next, have them practice playing the C CHORD on the steady beat.
Earlier in this video I shared ideas on how to help students feel the beat through movement and scarves.
If you’ve used those activities, students will more easily be able to strum on the beat.
This is why I recommend diversifying activities that use one song to learn music concepts. It makes it easier for your students to translate the skills if they already know the song.
If your students are just learning to play the C CHORD, then the first thing I do is to have them play to a drum beat.
I play the drum and walk around the room to see how everyone is doing.
Another tip is to have students be buddies so they can help each other too.
I walk around with the drum and play the beat for a minute or so.
Next, I’ll have a smaller group play for me to work with to make sure they know the fingering.
I’ll have a student play the drum.
I repeat this until mostly everyone has the chord down.
Another way to learn a new chord on the ukulele is for the students to play the chord on the beat while I play songs on the piano.
They really enjoy this. It makes them feel like they are making music and are ukulele heroes!
Next, I’ll have them CLAP when they are supposed to play in the song.
I’ll sing and play as they clap.
If they can sing and CLAP at the same time- that’s great, but I don’t focus on that at this point.
Next, I’ll have half the group sing the song and half the class play the ukulele. Then we switch.
If needed, I’ll play the piano chords on the beat to keep us together.
Finally, we’ll all try to sing and play together.
I’ve included a ukulele play along of this song for you to use as needed.
FROSTY WEATHER is a fun song that can be used in so many ways to help students learn music concepts. Whether feeling the beat or singing solfege or clapping dotted rhythms, there’s something for everyone in this song.
“Frosty Weather” Scarf movement activity is a fun way to move to the traditional Kodaly folk song and use scarf movement too as well as learn patterns and move on the beat. Students will have fun singing the song and then waving their scarves to the music. The teacher can choose to use the presentation with patterns for each line and use the movement cards to create new patterns. Moving and singing together will help your little ones with their reading as well as develop gross and fine motor skills. You’ll have plenty of materials to keep students engaged with the video, presentation, flash cards and google slides presentation. Best for PreK- 3rd Grade.
“Frosty Weather” movement activity is a fun way to move to the traditional Kodaly folk song and learn to move on the beat too. Students can move on the beat using the actions as well as learn movement patterns. Students will have fun singing the song and moving on the beat to the music. The teacher can choose to use the presentation with patterns for each line and use the movement cards to create new patterns. Moving and singing together will help your little ones with their reading as well as develop gross motor skills. You’ll have plenty of materials to keep students engaged with the presentation, flash cards, posters and music tracks. Best for PreK- 3rd Grade.
“Frosty Weather” ukulele music lesson is a fun way to learn the traditional Kodaly folk song or extend learning of the song to the ukulele and the C chord. Students will love how easy it is to play the song using the play along teaching video with directions and practice tracks. The video has students playing the steady beat. The presentation offers a more complicated strumming pattern too. The student booklet offers students a chance to show what they know- a fun assessment activity where they will color in the pictures and identify string names and chords. Best for 2nd grade and up.
I enjoyed sharing my movement and scarf activity ideas with you. Thanks for visiting the Sing Play Create Blog.
I hope you’ll SUBSCRIBE and comment about your experiences with this song and these activities.
Let’s keep kids moving and learning with music.
Hi there! I’m Sandra, one of the authors behind Sing Play Create. My goal is to provide teachers with interactive resources and activities to improve the effectiveness of their teaching and enhance student learning.
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