Page 17 - Level 1 Ukulele Lesson Plans

“I’m going to sing ‘See Saw’ on my own and I want you to watch carefully because afterwards, I’m going to ask you a question.” You sing ‘See Saw Up and Down’ and clap the rhythm as you do so. “What was I clapping? Was it the pulse?” If none of the children are able to answer, explain that you were not clapping the pulse. You were clapping the words! Then, everyone sings the song as they clap the words.
Next, ask volunteers to sing the song on their own as they clap the “words”.
“When we clap the words we are clapping the rhythm.” Ask the children to repeat the word “rhythm” with you three times. “Let’s all sing the song and clap the rhythm one last time!” Everyone sings ‘See Saw Up and Down’ as they clap the rhythm. Make sure you sing slowly to make it easier for the children to clap the rhythm.
9. Strumming the Ukulele (8 mins): ‘Bell Horses’ (traditional)
Remind the children how to hold their ukuleles. See activity 5 ‘Tuning’ from lesson plan 1 for instructions. Please also take a look at the strumming instructions under activity 9 ‘Strumming the Ukulele’ in lesson 1.
Ask a volunteer to demonstrate a C chord.
Remind the children how to play a C chord (left ring finger on 3rd fret of 1st string). “We press down on the string using our third dinosaur finger.” Then say “1 dinosaur, 2 dinosaurs, 3 dinosaurs” as you do the finger movements from the finger dexterity exercise. Your thumb will end up touching the correct finger. Ask the children to count across in the fret spaces “1, 2, 3” using their first, second, then third fingers. Then make sure they have space between the neck and their hand so you can get a pencil through. Remind them it’s like the dinosaur claw grip.
Get the children to finger a C chord and strum downwards to the pulse as they say “1, 2, 3, 4” several times without stopping.
Next, you sing ‘Bell Horses’ while the children play a C chord, strumming in a downwards and in time with the pulse. Make sure to play along with them to encourage them to play in time.
Then, encourage the children to sing, as well as play, and repeat. It’s okay if they find it too tricky to sing along at this stage. “Are we playing during any rests in the song (yes)? That’s because we are playing in time with the pulse. Can anyone remember what the pulse is like (listen to the response of a volunteer)? The pulse is like the heartbeat of the song because it never stops, just like our heartbeats, even if there is a rest.”
Get half the children to sing and strum the C chord in time with the “pulse” while the other half sing and tap the bodies of their ukuleles to the “pulse” to help keep the others in time. You should sing and tap as well to guide them. Then switch so each group has a turn of singing and strumming and a turn of singing and tapping.
Ask two volunteers to tap and sing on their own (as a duet) whilst the rest of the class strums. “What’s it called when two people sing or play an instrument together (a duet)?” Get everyone to repeat the word “duet” three times. Ask two volunteers to sing and strum on their own whilst the rest of the class the class taps.
If there is time, go back to half the group singing and tapping and half the group singing and strumming, then switch.
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