Classroom Activities: Woodwind Instruments

These classroom activities are designed to complement the Woodwind Instruments topic on BrainPOP Jr.

Bottle Woodwinds
Have each student bring in different sizes of bottles. Encourage them to bring in bottles of different materials such as plastic, glass, or even ceramic. Then have them blow across the openings of their own bottles. What do they hear? Encourage them to add water into the bottle and blow across the opening again. What happened to the sound? Have students go around the room and listen to classmates blow across their own bottles. They may want to draw pictures, make recordings or videos, or take notes of their observations.

Pan Flute

Make your own pan flutes! Bring in tubes of different sizes. Plastic or PVC tubes are affordable and can be purchased from any hardware store. Cut different sizes of tubes and distribute them to small groups. Have them order the tubes from shortest to longest and tape them together. Then have them create a song together. One child can play the melody, while others can make up lyrics and sing along. Encourage students to write lyrics about their favorite story or about something they learned in class. Then have
the “bands” perform their songs in front of the whole class.