Kids Make Music Series: Kids Can Listen, Kids Can Move!: Book & CD

This resource turns concert hall classics into kinesthetic experiences that preschoolers and primary-age children actually remember. Kleiner's specificity about movement contexts (marching, hiding, sleeping, entering class) means you're not scrambling to invent applications; every activity comes with both pedagogical purpose and genuine child appeal.

Orchestral excerpts unfold as invitations to move, play, and discover rather than sit and listen. The combination of story, rhythm, and familiar instrumental colors creates moments where young children suddenly recognize themselves in the music, whether they're marching like Carmen's soldiers or swaying like sleeping animals.

Preschool and early primary teachers seeking to integrate serious orchestral music into their daily routines without requiring musical training. Parents and music specialists working with 3-7 year olds will find both the movement ideas and the curated recording invaluable for building musical vocabulary and listening skills.

• Use the included CD to establish the orchestral sound before introducing movement cues, so children develop listening familiarity alongside physical response.
• Start with shorter selections (2-3 minutes) to match typical early childhood attention spans before progressing to longer orchestral movements.
• Anchor transitions to specific pieces: "Carmen tells us it's time to march to our next activity" creates musical scaffolding for classroom routines.
• Invite children to choose between two movement options for the same piece in subsequent sessions, building ownership and deepening their connection to the music.

Weave these selections throughout your week as transition tools and circle-time centerpieces rather than reserving them for formal music time. A preschool might anchor morning meeting with a greeting song, use "Marching" to move to recess, and close with a "Goodbye" piece; an early elementary music class can layer these foundations before introducing the original compositions they appear in.

• Listening to orchestral instruments and identifying their timbres
• Responding to musical form and structure through movement (recognizing repetition, phrases, and contrasts)
• Coordinating large-motor movements with rhythmic and melodic patterns
• Developing familiarity with canonical classical works that will appear in later music study
• Following musical cues for classroom transitions and routines