Trick or Treat Obstacle Course

Four Different Steps, Changing Gait

If you’ve been following my work you know that many of the goals of my class are PHYSICAL as well as musical. Increasing the students capacity to feel and express musical sensations through movement sometimes requires some raw motor-skills practice. We can then use these new found skills to apply to a musical context. Today’s post will include a MASSIVELY fun activity I call “Trick or Treat Obstacle Course.” Even if you’re not into Halloween themed activities, I can imagine a version of this game for any theme, so check it out anyway! The lesson has a demo video and full explanation! But first…

Housekeeping:

Make sure you’re upgraded to the TEAMM Subscription so you can attend this meeting! I’ll go IN DEPTH on this idea and give all sorts of philosophical and practical thoughts on the utility of numbers in a music curriculum. The TEAMM is growing each and every week and I’m glad to welcome new members all the time! Aside from access to the substantial archive of posts you get tons of content reserved for TEAMM only, as well as individualized coaching from YOURS TRULY and invitations to the workshops/meetings every month! It’s the best $10 you’ll ever spend. (Many of the TEAMM members get their admin to pay for it…)

From the Archive:

This lesson started out as an idea I had last year called “Trick or Treat Coach.” In this lesson we practice various skills we’ll need for Trick or Treat. I like the activity, and maybe you’ll like it too!

Walking and Knocking

I realized that the activity had more possibility. I decided that an “obstacle course” might be the right way to add some structure and focus to the idea. I start by telling the kids that we need to train for Trick or Treat. I point out that there are three basic Trick or Treat situations they might encounter:

• Ringing the Doorbell

• Knocking on the Door

• Getting Candy out of a bowl that’s just sitting on the porch

The children love to share their experiences with these situations and are excited that they relate to the list.