Teaching Kids Classical Music
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I love music. I have been a singer my whole life and am now a singer in the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. I play guitar, ukulele a little piano, & minored in music in college. I feel like it is so important to teach my children to love all kinds of music as well. We have found a couple of things that we love for teaching kids about composers and classical music.
Check out my post on 25 Pieces of Classical Music for Kids.
Fun Ideas for Teaching Kids Classical Music
Some simple ways you can expose your children to classical music is by taking them to a symphony concert. You can attend any local performance that allows children. Â Many cities have free performances. Â (If you live near Salt Lake City, come to our weekly live broadcast- Music and the Spoken Word– with a 360 member choir and full orchestra! It’s also live streamed each week.)
There are even performances in our community designated for children. They perform fun classical pieces and selections such as the Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens, Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky, Peter and the wolf by Prokofiev, Flight of the Bumblebee by Korsakov.
I listen to the classical music station in my car while driving lots of the time. Â We also have it on in our home often. Â We dance around to the rhythm of the songs and have a grand time!
My kids have started asking who’s music is playing, and have also started picking out various instruments that are playing in the pieces that we are listening to. I love hearing my 6-year-old son saying Mom- these are violins playing- or I hear the piano there. It’s makes me smile!
I like to play a classical music guessing game with more common pieces to see if my kids know the names of the piece or the composer. It’s a fun, low-pressure game, but we all love it!
There is a fantastic website called Classics For Kids that we frequent at least once a week. This site really knows how to make classical music fun!  They have weekly broadcasts that teach you about different composers. The broadcast is only 6 minutes long (not too long for littler ones) and they focus one one composer for an entire month. Along with the broadcast there is a little quiz for the kids to do while listening, and an activity page you can print.
This website also has lesson plans, games, a section to learn about the instruments in the orchestra, and different musical periods. You can listen to music from many classical composers, too.
Along with that, I found these GREAT albums that my kids love. There is a series of them called Classical Kids. They are stories of the different composers lives set to their music. They have fun names, too such as: Hallelujah Handel, Mr.Bach Comes to Call, Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery, and Beethoven Lives Upstairs.
My kids have listened to them over and over.  They love the stories, and even recognize music from the composers now. There are two volumes if you buy the complete set, but they also have each one sold individually. I was lucky enough to find them at our local library.
Awesome Books to Teach Kids About Classical Music:
A Child’s Introduction to the Orchestra by Robert Levine
Opal Wheeler’s Great Musician Series This series of books tells the stories of famous musicians from their childhood up to their creation of many of their great works. They are lovely books to read to kids. There are books on Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Haydn, Handel, and more!
The Story of the Orchestra series by Katy Flint- there are seven books in this series and they are excellent!
The Year of Wonder by Clemency Burton-Hill is a day by day book giving you a piece of classical music to listen to each day of the year. Plus, you can find full playlists on Apple Music! Â This book is geared to adults, but I read it to my kids each day.
A few other neat websites to teach kids about music:
Go Classical For Kids– They have a fun Hansel and Gretel Opera interactive activity for kids!
What favorites do you have?
Try Beethoven’s Wig CD series (1-4). The first section contains music by various composers with the silliest lyrics (ie: Beethoven’s wig, it’s really big!). The second section is just the music without lyrics. My 3 (3,5 and 7 yrs) LOVE this series and know so many composers because of it. They also hum the music all day and sometimes make up their own words! I am a new follower from Boost My Blog Hop. Nice to meet you! Looking forward to more ideas from you. 🙂