Peter and the Wolf

 We've been learning about different instruments and their sounds for about a year now and I printed out some instrument cards for L to name.  We also talked about the different families the instruments belong to-woodwind, brass, strings and percussion and sorted the cards into each of their families.

Yesterday L and I listened to my recording of Peter and the Wolf together.  You can hear a similar version here.  We cuddled on the couch and she loved being scared of the wolf.  When it was done she asked for it a second time and we acted out all of the characters as the instruments played.

We then got out the water colors and painted each of the characters.  At first she was quite abstract but as she went on they became more realistic.  You might be able to make out the Grandfather at the top and a tree and pond on the right.  Anyway I also painted some with the idea of making puppets.

As soon as I got out the scissors L wanted to cut hers out too.  So we made two sets of puppets.

After dinner we put on a puppet show for Daddy while the CD played.  It was fantastic.  L was so into it and SO serious about the whole thing.  She just couldn't wait for the wolf to come on so she could make her ahooo sounds.

Today we put the show on again for Granny with equal excitement and then matched the characters up with their instruments.

This is a wonderful way to introduce children to music and the instruments of the orchestra.