Halloween Music Activity: Let’s Make “Bone Soup”!

By Arvi Lapuz, ETM-LA Instructional Supervisor
Education Through Music-Los Angeles
October 30, 2025

Grade Level: 1-5 (modifications can be made to simplify or advance concepts)
Duration: 50-60 minutes
Lesson Type: Singing, Speech, Movement, Instrumental Play
Theme: Storytelling through Music (Halloween/Autumn Season)

SHEET MUSIC HERE

WATCH OUR TEACHERS PLAY BONE SOUP

 

Standards Alignment (CA Arts Standards for Music)

Creating (Cr):

• MU:Cr1.1.1–2a – Improvise rhythmic patterns and speech to express ideas.
• MU:Cr2.1.2a – Organize short rhythmic ideas into patterns using symbols or notation.
• MU:Cr3.1.2a – Evaluate and refine musical ideas collaboratively before performance.

Performing (Pr):

• MU:Pr4.1.2a – Demonstrate steady beat and accurate rhythm while performing.
• MU:Pr4.2.2a – Perform rhythmic and melodic patterns on classroom instruments.
• MU:Pr6.1.2a – Perform with expression and awareness of ensemble balance and form.

Connecting (Cn):

• MU:Cn10.0.2a – Relate music concepts to story elements and imagination.
• MU:Cn11.0.2a – Recognize music’s role in cultural and community traditions.

 

2. Objective / Student Learning Outcomes

Students will:

1. Sing and perform the melody from Finnegan’s Song with accurate pitch and steady beat.
2. Compose and perform a rhythmic speech ostinato using invented “ingredients” for Bone Soup.
3. Transfer rhythmic patterns from speech to barred and unpitched percussion instruments based on  grade level skills/concepts (quarter, eighth, dotted rhythms, etc).
4. Collaborate in small groups to create and perform layered ensemble textures.
5. Demonstrate understanding of simple musical form (e.g., AABA or ABABA).

 

3. Aim / Purpose

To engage students in creative music-making through storytelling, singing, speech, and instrument play—building rhythmic literacy, ensemble skills, and imagination while connecting music to literature.

 

4. Materials Needed

• Book: “Bone Soup” by Cambria Evans
• Classroom Instruments:
  • Bass Xylophones, Alto Xylophones, Soprano Glockenspiels
  • Tone Blocks or Rhythm Sticks
  • Alternatives for pitched instruments:
    • Boomwhackers
    • Bells
  • Alternatives for rhythm instruments:
    • Guiros
    • Egg shakers
    • Body percussion
    • Buckets
• Whiteboard / chart paper for lyric and rhythm writing
• Optional: Scarves, props, or cauldron visual for scene setting

 

5. Procedures

A. Opening (Engage) – 5–10 min

1. Read “Bone Soup” aloud, inviting students to react to the story.
2. Discuss the main character, Finnegan, and ask: How does he make his “magic soup?”
3. Introduce Finnegan’s Song – sing through once for the class. Explore what the students hear as they listen (melody, repeating rhythmic patterns, other).
4. Identify melody and teach the main melody by rote, inviting call-and-response singing. 
5. Have students listen to the song again and pick out and volunteer to clap a repeating rhythm they heard. Define ostinato.

B. Guided Practice (Explore) – 10–15 min

1. Show the picture of the soup and ask students what “ingredients” they see.
2. Introduce rhythmic speech patterns for four groups: SHEET MUSIC HERE
   • Group 1: | BONE BONE | SOUP YUM! |
   • Group 2: | ADD TOENAILS | AND BATS |
   • Group 3: | ADD TOENAILS | AND BATS (d’lish!) |
   • Group 4: | Stirring Stirring Stirring Stirring | Stirring Stirring Soup! |
3. Practice each speech ostinato in rhythm; then layer the groups to form an ensemble.

C. Transfer to Instruments (Explain/Elaborate) – 10–15 min

1. Assign each group to their corresponding instruments.
   • G1 → Bass Xylophone
   • G2 → Alto Xylophone
   • G3 → Soprano Glockenspiel
   • G4 → Tone Block / Percussion
2. Guide students to find their notes and practice maintaining a steady beat.
3. Encourage listening across the ensemble and awareness of form.

D. Creative Extension (Elaborate) – 10–15 min

1. Have each group create their own new ingredient ostinato using food or spooky items. (Example: “Spider Legs / Ghost Toast!” or “Pumpkin Seeds / Moon Beams!”)
2. Transfer their new rhythms to instruments or body percussion.
3. Practice and refine as a group. 

E. Performance & Reflection (Evaluate) – 10 min

1. Perform the final Bone Soup composition as a class.
   • Example structure: A (Song) – B (Group Ostinatos) – A (Song)
2. Ask students to vote and decide on the overall form (AABA, ABABA, etc.).
3. Reflect together:
   • What made the performance exciting or spooky?
   • How did we work together as a team?
   • What sounds best represented the story?

 

6. Assessment

Formative:

• Observe student participation, steady beat, and accurate rhythmic speech.
• Check for correct transfer of rhythm to instruments.
• Monitor ensemble cooperation and listening skills.

Summative:

• Students successfully perform their ostinato and maintain their part in ensemble.
• Students can identify the form used in the final performance.
• Students demonstrate creativity through their invented “ingredient” rhythms.

 

7. Differentiation / Modifications

• Simplify rhythms for younger or less experienced students.
• Allow advanced students to improvise variations and add movements.
• Adapt for limited instruments using body percussion or unpitched percussion only.
• Provide visual rhythm cards for students who benefit from visual support.