Page 6 - Level 1 Ukulele Lesson Plans

which is highest to the ceiling and move down to the first string which is closest to the floor. Sing the motif several times in a row without stopping until most of the children are joining in.
Sing the whole of ‘Time to Tune the Ukulele’ from the beginning, encouraging the children to join in, singing and plucking “GCEA Green Children Eat Ants.”
“Your second piece of homework for this week is to practice singing and plucking “GCEA Green Children Eat Ants”.
8. Song/Game (6 mins): ‘Bell Horses’ (traditional)
Sing the song, tapping the pulse on your thighs as you do so. The children are likely to copy your actions without any prompting.
Bell horses, bell horses, what time of day? One o’ clock, two o’ clock, three and away. Bell horses, bell horses, what time of day? Four o’clock, five o’ clock, home for today.
Teach the song by rote, getting the children to copy one line at a time, then two and then the whole song. Make sure the children continue to tap the pulse throughout.
NB: there is no need to introduce the word “pulse” at this stage, however, the children should copy your pulse actions regardless.
Next, choose a child who has been tapping the pulse correctly to hold some hand bells. Everyone repeats the song and taps their thighs to the pulse while the chosen child taps their bells to the pulse.
Then, tell the children you’re going to turn them all into bell horses. Give them each a set of hand bells. Tell them that they are going to gallop around in a circle but that they must be “back at the horse stable” (sitting back in the circle) by then end of the song, “home for today” (this will give them a sense of the length of the song). Repeat 2 or 3 times, depending on how much time you have left. Don’t worry too much about getting them to gallop in time but try and encourage them to sing along with you.
NB: If there is limited space, ask only two children to gallop at one time.
9. Strumming the Ukulele (6 mins): ‘Bell Horses’ (traditional)
Remind the children how to hold their ukuleles. See under activity 5: ‘Tuning’.
When strumming, encourage the children to:
1. Use thumb only.
2. Stroke downwards only to begin with. Nice and gently “like stroking a cat”. Encourage the
children to use a relaxed hand.
3. Strumming should be between the sound hole and neck rather than over the hole. This
gives the best sound.
4. When strumming open strings to get a feel, hold the neck between thumb and first finger
where it meets the head (where the nut is).
5. When strumming fingered chords, the left thumb should be placed at the back of the neck
centre between first and second frets (same as for plucking).
NB: You can try putting stickers on the back of the children’s ukuleles to help them find the right place.
6. When fingering chords with the left hand, they should use their fingertips. They will need to press their fingers down quite hard so tell them they should have a groove in their fingertip when they take it off. Remember to tell the children that their fingers should be
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