Today I have what I think is a real treat! This fun Love is Spoken Here Egg Carton Instrument singing time idea uses empty Egg Cartons to tap out the music! It’s like your own homemade xylophone to take along to the song!
Of course, the egg carton won’t play in different notes, but it does beautifully represent how the music changes in tones as the children go up and down in the different notes.
We’ve correlated all of the colors to match with our hand bell music note cards, so you can also extend this lesson right over to using your hand bells for additional fun!
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How to Make a Love is Spoken Here Egg Carton Instrument
Supplies:
- Egg Carton (1 per class)
- Paint or Markers
- Unsharpened pencils, chopsticks, or rhythm sticks
Gather enough egg cartons to have at least one per class or row. You can get a set of 12 Egg Cartons on Amazon for pretty cheap! I prefer the pulp style egg cartons, but any will do.
Keep in mind, it’s totally okay to not have enough for everyone in the Primary – that builds in TONS of repetition as everyone wants a turn!
Paint or color the bottoms of the egg cartons to cover the 9 notes used in this song. I coordinated my colors her to match my hand bells, and it just visually makes the most sense to rise in color sequentially with the notes.
You’ll need: red, orange, yellow, light blue, dark blue, purple, then repeat red and orange.
Tip: Add a little water when painting. That will help it spread beautifully!
Gather a utensil to tap on the egg carton “notes” with – such as a pencil, chopstick, or rhythm stick.
How to Use the Egg
Cartons in Singing Time
*Downloads are available at the bottom of the post when signed in!*
Sing through Love is Spoken Here song once before you get started. You might head over here to grab the Love is Spoken Here flip chart to help!
Then, post the Love is Spoken Here Music Notes chart from below up on the board. If using the larger posters, it will form a grid of 2×2. You may want to trim the right and left edge of the paper so the notes are right beside each other in a continuous pattern.
Ask the children to guess what you might be doing today! It’s always fun to hear what they come up with!
Pull out 1 egg carton, and demonstrate by singing the first line of the song, and playing along with the notes. Pause, and ask if the children think they can do it, too! Ask them if they notice anything that’s different or unique on the poster that they’re not sure about (the arrows). Explain to the children the red and orange notes have both a low note and a high note.
Red & Orange Notes: The first verse follows higher notes. You’ll play the top red and orange note, except for the one time the down arrow is shown to indicate using the lower orange note. The second verse uses lower notes. You’ll play the bottom red and orange note, except the couple of times an arrow indicates to use the higher notes with an up arrow.
Pass out the egg cartons to the teachers or to the first student on one end of each row. Remind the children that everyone will get a turn!
Sing through the song and tap out the notes throughout the song. Then, have all the children pass the egg carton and baton to the right and repeat.
Love is Spoken Here Egg Carton Extension Activities:
- Start with the simplified note chart. In Senior Primary, you might also give the full note chart a try for a challenge! Or, let the kids give the harder note chart a try while waiting for parent pick-up.
- Have the other children pat their legs for all the colored notes when it’s not their turn with the egg carton.
- Try humming all the white background words and singing just the colored note words! Then switch and sing only the white background words.
- For an extra challenge, try singing it with both verses combined – and all the notes at once!! Don’t expect perfection, it will probably sound like a mess!
- Try out the egg carton music notes below with bells!
Head over to this post next for another fun singing time idea – Love is Spoken Here with Simple Actions!
Love is Spoken Here Egg Carton Music Lesson Plan
Well, I got a little carried away with this printable! It’s a whoppin’ 22 pages! The printable lesson plan includes an overview of how to make the egg carton music notes, how to use them for singing time, and extension ideas!
It also includes a 1-page poster and a 4-page larger version poster for both the 1st and 2nd verse. You’ll find a simple notes chart with only select notes ready to play and a challenge notes chart with every note colored in!
Simply print the pages for the style you’d like to teach and the size needed with whichever verses you’d like to use. The 2nd verse will be easier as it’s a bit slower paced, but it can be used for either or both!
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What other fun extension ideas do you have for using this Egg Carton to teach Love is Spoken Here?
