Let's Make Noise!

Lesson 2 of 3 in Unit: Musical Adventures for Tots

---

🎵 Lesson Title: Exploring Percussion Instruments: Let's Make Some Noise!

---

📚 Curriculum Context

Learning Area: The Arts – Music
NZ Curriculum Level: Early Learning / Te Whāriki
Strands from Te Whāriki:

• Mana Reo – Communication: Children discover and develop different ways to express themselves.
• Mana Aotūroa – Exploration: Children learn through active exploration of the environment.

---

🧠 Big Ideas (from NCEA Learning Matrix for Level 6 – Age-Appropriate Adaptation)

While preschool students are not assessed within the NCEA levels, the foundational ideas still apply developmentally. This lesson introduces:

• Music is a way to express identity and emotion.
• Music helps us connect with people and our environment.
• Music has structure – even through simple beats and rhythms.

---

🎯 Learning Objectives

By the end of this 60-minute lesson, ākonga (learners) will:

• Identify and recognise common percussion instruments (visual and auditory).
• Experience beat and rhythm through hands-on instrument play.
• Participate in music-making as a group, building early teamwork and listening skills.
• Respond to basic tempo changes (slow/fast) with their instruments.

---

🛠 Resources Required

• Percussion instrument set: maracas, hand drums, tambourines, egg shakers, rhythm sticks
• Large floor mat or open indoor play space
• Picture cards of percussion instruments
• A simple beat/rhythm recording (e.g. taonga pūoro-inspired rhythm)
• “Hello song” and “Goodbye song” recordings
• Soft toy mascot (e.g. "Tama the Tūī" – used as a helper in storytelling)

---

⏰ Lesson Breakdown (60 minutes total)

🌀 1. Welcome Circle & Warm-Up (10 minutes)

Activity: Welcome song and movement

• Play the class’s familiar “Hello Tāmariki Mā!” song
• Children sit in a circle. Greet each child with a simple rhythm tap (e.g. clap-clap-pause).
• Use movement-based warmup: “Can You Tap It Like This?” (Teacher demonstrates tapping on knees, heads, floor – encouraging imitation)

Purpose: Establish rhythm introduction using body percussion, build anticipation and readiness.

---

🪘 2. Instrument Discovery Table (15 minutes)

Activity: Rotating small groups of 5 children at the Instrument Discovery Table

• Lay out 3-4 percussion instruments. Each group of tamariki rotates through the station, guided by the teacher or teacher aide.
• Encourage exploration (“Can you make a soft sound? A loud sound?”)
• Use the soft toy “Tama the Tūī” to ‘ask’ questions and model good listening.
• The rest of the class engages with quiet finger-play songs or simple musical puzzles on the mat with support staff.

Purpose: Sensory and aural introduction to timbre, simple concepts of pitch and volume.

---

🕺 3. Group Rhythm Play (15 minutes)

Activity: Everyone gets an instrument and sits in a circle

• Call and response: Teacher taps out simple rhythms, students echo.
• Use fun actions: “Let’s march our drums!”, “Shake our maracas like we’re in the jungle!”
• Play a short rhythm recording. Encourage students to find the beat ("Tama hears a heart beating! Can you hear it too?")
• Introduce “Freeze Game”: Play to a rhythm and freeze when teacher claps.

Purpose: Helps children understand rhythm, timing, and impulse control. Builds collaborative sound-making.

---

🌿 4. Storytime with Soundscape (10 minutes)

Activity: Tell a short story using percussion instruments.

• E.g. “The Journey of Tama the Tūī” who hears sounds in the forest; the teacher narrates while children “become” the sound (shakers = rain, drums = thunder, tambourine = bird wings).
• Encourage creativity: “What sound would a river make?”
• Option to include a bit of taonga pūoro context through story (acknowledging natural sounds of Aotearoa).

Purpose: Reinforce connection between sound, environment, and narrative. Promotes deeper listening and expressive skills.

---

🌈 5. Cool Down & Reflect (5 minutes)

Activity: Return to the circle for musical breathing and reflection

• Play the “Goodbye Tāmariki Mā!” song slowly
• Ask reflective questions: “What was your favourite instrument?”, “How did it feel to play with your friends?”
• Tama the Tūī gives high-fives or feather stamps as a “thank you for exploring”.

Purpose: Slow transition to end, reinforce learning with emotional connection.

---

✅ Assessment for Learning

As per Te Whāriki’s formative and narrative assessment style:

Teachers observe and document:

• How children engaged physically and emotionally with instruments
• Whether they responded to rhythm cues
• How they participated in group music-making and cooperated
• Notable moments of creativity (e.g. creating a new rhythm)

Use learning stories and photographs to share with whānau via portfolios or parent communication platforms.

---

🧭 Extension and Localisation Ideas

• Link to Kaupapa Māori: Introduce traditional Māori percussion elements such as body percussion (paki) or natural elements like stones and shells.
• Outdoor music garden: Take the instruments outside next session and play along with birdsong.
• Art integration: Create maracas out of recycled jars filled with shells or seeds next lesson (Lesson 3: “Our Own Instruments”).

---

🗣 Kaupapa Māori Integration

This lesson honours kaupapa Māori by:

• Integrating storytelling with nature elements
• Using a bird as a guiding spiritual and natural symbol (Tūī)
• Emphasising collective participation over individual performance
• Providing opportunities for holistic learning through physical, emotional, and spiritual channels

Whakataukī inspiration:

Te toi whakairo, ka ihiihi, ka wehiwehi, ka aweawe te ao katoa.
(Artistic excellence makes the world sit up in wonder.)

---

🧡 Final Notes

This lesson promotes active musical discovery in line with Aotearoa New Zealand’s curriculum foundations. It is developmentally appropriate, culturally responsive, and deeply fun. With the structured exploration of percussion instruments and guided play, tamariki are empowered to explore rhythm, sound, and collaboration in meaningful ways.

---

Kia tū rangatira ai ngā tamariki o ngā rā āpōpō – Let today’s young ones rise to lead tomorrow!