Peter and the Wolf - Lesson 1

There are lots of fun activities to do with the wonderful story and music of Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev.   But before you can have fun with these activities you have to introduce the children to the story and to the music.  My favorite introduction is with the movie produced in 1996 with Lloyd Bridges and Kirstie Alley.  You can purchase this at amazon.

The reason I like it is 1.  It has a real story line    2.  There is a wonderful underlying theme about the magic of childhood and the child's imagination   3.  You learn the music without being bored to death!   4.  The kids like the play between the real characters and the animation.   5.  There is an unanswered question about whether the grandfather in the story really was Peter.  The little kids love this!

http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Wolf-Kirstie-Alley/dp/B00008EY6W/ref=sr_1_3?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1300068485&sr=1-3

So my suggestion for lesson 1 is to get this DVD and watch it together.  You can check libraries if you want.  I don't know what they may have.  There may be another version that you might like better.  The newer one by director Suzie Templeton is said to be "darker" in its theme.  I love the Lloyd Bridges version.  It is definitely light and fun for young children.

I have to admit that I also showed my kids the Disney version.  It is fun and silly and they laugh and laugh.  I just always saved it until we were done with our whole unit and then we celebrated by watching that version.  It is on youtube in two parts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILI3s7Wonvg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCgJXD3J9Wc&feature=related

Peter and the Wolf - Preparing for Lesson 2

Now that the children know the story of Peter and the Wolf and have been introduced to the music, we want them to be able to identify the music for each character and to know the instrument that plays that music.  Pictures of the instruments are important so they can identify each by sight and by sound.   You will also need pictures representing each of the characters in the story.

The characters:

You will need the following:  Feel free to pull pictures off the internet or to use the following:
Bird = flute
Peter = strings
Cat = Clarinet
Duck = Oboe
Grandfather = bassoon
Wolf = French Horn
Hunters = Timpani Drums

Click on any picture to see the large size.  Then right click and "save as".

Peter and the Wolf Lesson 2 - Learning the Themes and the Instruments

 Lesson 2 - Learning each of the themes for the seven characters in the story - also learning to recognize and name the instruments used for each character.

Here is a treat for you:  Go to this website and you can download this delightful version of Peter and the Wolf.  It is an mp3 file.  Right click on the file to download it.

http://www.archive.org/details/PeterAndTheWolf_753

Now that you have the file, you can play it on the computer. I recommend iTunes.  Please notice that on the left side of the playing bar at the top of iTunes, there is a number counter that counts minutes and seconds as you play a piece of music.  Take note of the following markings:

Peter's music:  1:56-2:30
The Bird's music 2:46-3:12
The Duck's music: 4:06-4:45
The Cat's music: 5:54-6:13
Grandfather's music: 7:38-8:18
The Wolf's music: 9:24-10:10
The Hunters' music: 17:05-17:52

You will need to be able to find these parts of the music as you do the following booklet together.

Below, there is a page for each of the characters. The pages need to be printed for each child.   You have to choose the correct instrument by circling it and there is a little song made up to go along with the music for each of the characters.  Help the children learn to hear and recognize these melodies. There are empty boxes for missing lyrics.  The children can write the missing words in the boxes. Use your large instrument pages to help identify the correct ones.  The children may want to color the pages when you are done with the lesson.

Note that the actual melody is pictured with icons.  The icons show not only the length of the musical notes but also the upward and downward movement of the notes.  They are a visual representation of the music - shown as icons so that young children can see how the melody is played.

Here's a website that has the themes already isolated for you:  Easy to use for future "games" and lessons!

http://www.orcba.org/school/patwsound.html

Note:  The Hunters actually have two themes or  melodies.  There is the hunter's marching music and then the hunter's guns.  The kids will want to know both of there.  The worksheet for the hunters incorporates both but the melody line is the marching music and the instrument is for the hunter's guns.  Please make sure they learn both.

Peter and the Wolf - Preparing for Lesson 3 - Pictures of the Characters

Click on pictures to get the large size.  Then right click and "save as".  I print these out in 2 sizes.  8 1/2 x 11 for viewing with the group.  The first lesson will use these large pictures.  Then I also print smaller pictures - 3x5 or thereabouts.  Those are used later so the kids can self test to see if they recognize the music.

Peter and the Wolf Lesson 3

In sequence, you should have already done the following:
1.  Watched the video so kids know the story and have heard the music.
2.  Worksheets so you've talked about the individual themes and instruments and characters
3.  You have printed out the pictures of the characters and the instrument.

The next thing I did with my kids was sit them all in a circle with the large pictures of the characters on the floor in the center of the circle.  Then I would play one of the themes and we'd see who could choose the correct pictures - both character and instrument.  Do this once or twice until you are confident they know them.

Following the group activity,  I had my kids work with a partner with small card size pictures of the characters and instruments.  I would again play the music and they would order their cards to match the order I played them.  After playing all 7 themes, we would check to see how they did.  This activity is reinforcement.

Now at last they should be ready to play "I See It".  This is a game where they have to act out each character - silently.  It's call "I See It" because I only want to see it - not hear it.  I let the kids show me how a duck would walk, how a sneaky cat would creep along, etc. so they all had a plan in mind for each of the characters.  Then the game starts.  I play a theme - they act it out.  When it looks like everyone is doing the right one, I say "I See It".  They all freeze and wait for the next piece of music to begin.   They'll do really great at being quiet at everything except the wolf and the hunters.  FYI:  I did not have my kids pretend shooting - we were hunters marching.

Peter and the Wolf Test Sheets

 I created some test sheets so that I could do a final check on each child and know how they were doing.