Music & Drawing Activity for Sandra Boynton's 6 Songbooks (with worksheet)

I like to call this activity ditty doodles since the students listen to a little ditty/song, then doodle what they picture in their mind, based on the ditty's context clues. I like to use Sandra Boynton's 6 songbooks since the kids love the songs and each one is accompanied by her illustration, a recording by a celebrity, and the sheet music. I sometimes give the students clues about what Boynton's illustration looks like in case they want to draw what she drew.

This slideshow features information on the 6 songbooks:

1. Philadelphia Chickens
2. Rhinoceros Tap
3. Dog Train
4. Blue Moo
5. Frog Trouble
6. Hog Wild

Plus a worksheet for each book, featuring 6 songs from each book that I feel are the most fun to interpret through doodling. This worksheet is where the students sketch their 6 doodles while listening to the songs. I have also provided a blank version of the worksheet so you can write in whatever song resources you want. Feel free to use other albums, books, shows, etc.

The slideshow (PDF) also features YouTube links to all of the songs for all 6 books, but I only embedded the videos and provided the illustration for the 6 songs I chose per book. The slideshow also provides a short video of me leading one song from the book Dog Train with a 1st-3rd grade class, plus more detailed instructions on how to perform the activity.

One songbook (6 songs/drawings) takes about 20-30 minutes to complete with a class. I like to do one book a month, so my resources could last all semester/year! Ditty doodles are great for brain breaks, for teaching children about context clues, listening and speaking skills, developing a personal interpretation of a song through art, and more! They never tire of this activity!