Page 5 - Level 1 Ukulele Lesson Plans

Sing the song, plucking GCEA on your ukulele as you sing “GCEA” and as you sing “Green Children Eat Ants.” At the end, pluck the C string again as you say “Yum”!
Time to tune the ukulele, time to tune the uke.
GCEA Green Children Eat Ants.
Listen to the strings you’re playing, listen to the strings you’re playing. GCEA Green Children Eat Ants.
Are the notes too high, are they too low?
GCEA Green Children Eat Ants.
Time to tune the ukulele, time to tune the uke.
GCEA Green Children Eat Ants. Yum!
“I’m going to sing the song again and I want you to join in by singing any parts that you can remember.” Repeat the song.
6. Song/Game (5 mins): ‘Chop, Chop’ (traditional) Click activity name to open YouTube video link.
“After all that ukulele playing, I’m getting pretty hungry! Let’s make a fruit salad! First we need a giant bowl.” Mime taking out a giant bowl and the children should naturally copy you. Ask a volunteer who has their hand up to suggest a fruit to include. Mime placing the suggested fruit onto your chopping board (flat palm of left hand facing up). Use your right hand to chop the suggested fruit on top of the chopping board to the pulse as you say the first, second and fourth lines. Brush the chopped-up fruit into the bowl to the pulse as you say the third line. Stirring action to the pulse for “Stir it round...” Have a taste. "I think we need some more fruit." Choose another volunteer to suggest another fruit and repeat the rhyme. Repeat this sequence several times. You can experiment with using a baby knife (saying the rhyme quickly with small, quick movements) for smaller fruits, and a sword (saying the rhyme slowly with big, slow movements) for bigger fruits. End by getting the children to serve themselves a large bowl of fruit salad. Everyone counts to three and guzzles it down speedily. Then you say “Mmmm, delicious!” using a loud, silly voice. NB: Make sure your actions are visually clear and audible to encourage the children to move in time with the pulse.
Chop, chop, choppity chop.
Chop off the bottom and chop off the top. What we have left we will put in the pot. Chop, chop, choppity chop.
Stir it round, stir it round,
Tell me what you have found.
7. Plucking the Ukulele (6 mins): ‘The Tuning Song’ written by Lucy Milan Davis Remind the children how to hold their ukuleles. See under activity 5: ‘Tuning’.
“Can anyone remember where on your ukulele is string 4? That’s right. So which string do you think is number 3? And 2? And 1? Excellent! Which note does string 4 play (G)? That’s right it plays G. Strings 1, 2 and 3 play different notes. Listen.” Play GCEA GCEA on your ukulele as you sing the note names in tune.
“Does anyone recognise that tune? That’s right, it’s from ‘The Tuning Song’ we sang earlier. An easy way to remember the note names is to say or sing ‘green children eat Ants’. Can anyone explain why?” If no one can answer, then explain it’s because the first letter of each word is the name of the note.
Show the children how to use their thumbs to pluck the strings and encourage them to all sing “GCEA Green Children Eat Ants” slowly so they can join in. Tell them to start with the 4th string
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