Turning a Song into a Movement Activity (Lesson Manipulatives)

Get ready for a fun and engaging movement activity using the beloved song La Vaca Lola! 🎶 While this traditional song can be done without any special resources, the authentic recording in MusicFirst Elementary brings it to life in a way your students will love. If you haven’t explored MusicFirst Elementary (MFE) yet, now’s the perfect time—try it free for 30 days https://www.musicfirstelementary.com/) and see how it can enhance your music lessons! Plus, check out my YouTube channel for in-depth MFE tutorials (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO2UG241-fB6Ghg2abkM1PvcB-j1TySq-) and bite-sized #TechTipTuesday MFE videos (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO2UG241-fB5gvd-38w5B9OYFkiwGgLhZ) to help you get the most out of it. Let’s make music magic together! 🚀🐄🎵

What is MusicFirst Elementary?

MusicFirst Elementary Powered by Charanga (https://www.musicfirstelementary.com/) is a game-changer for elementary music educators, offering an engaging, cloud-based curriculum filled with interactive songs, seven creative tools, intuitive lessons for grades K-5, Orff and Kodály-inspired activities, recorder/ukulele/boomwhacker/xylophone curriculum and play-along videos, assessments, curriculum maps, and so much more. With a focus on creativity and student participation, this platform makes it very flexible to bring music to life in your classroom—whether through singing, playing, or movement-based activities. Best of all, it’s designed to help you seamlessly integrate technology into your teaching while keeping students actively involved. Ready to take one of these songs and turn it into an exciting movement activity? Let’s dive in!

La Vaca Lola

Meet La Vaca Lola, the most musical cow around. This popular, children’s Spanish song from South America tells the tale of Lola, a cow with a head, a tail, and a whole lot of "mooo!" It's easy to sing, fun to move to, and perfect for bringing a little farmyard flair to your music class.

Here are the traditional lyrics:

🐄 La vaca Lola,
🐄 La vaca Lola,
🎶 Tiene cabeza y tiene cola.

🐄 La vaca Lola,
🐄 La vaca Lola,
🎶 Tiene cabeza y tiene cola.

Y hace mu, muuu!🐮✨

Here’s how it goes in English:

🐄 The cow, Lola,
🐄 The cow, Lola,
🎶 She has a head and she has a tail.

🐄 The cow, Lola,
🐄 The cow, Lola,
🎶 She has a head and she has a tail.

And she goes moo, moooooo! 🐮✨

Turning the Song into a Movement Activity

Using the manipulatives found free at https://buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech/extras, you can turn this song into a movement activity! The process is as follows:

• Slide 1: Title Slide

• Slide 2: Show the teacher the goal

  • Purple Rectangles ▭: Clap your hands

  • Red Star ★: Snap/flick your fingers

  • Orange Circles 🟠: Stamp your feet

  • Yellow Diamonds 🔸: Tap your coconut (head)

  • Green Underlines ̳̳: Shake your tail

  • Blue Moon ☽: Give us your best “moooo!”

• Slide 3: Sing the song to review the melody and lyrics.

• Slides 4 and 5: Purple Rectangles ▭: Clap your hands

• Slides 6 and 7: Red Star ★: Snap/flick your fingers

• Slides 8 and 9: Orange Circles 🟠: Stamp your feet

• Slides 10 and 11: Yellow Diamonds 🔸: Tap your coconut (head)

• Slides 12 and 13: Green Underlines ̳̳: Shake your tail

• Slides 14 and 15: Blue Moon ☽: Give us your best “moooo!”

• Slide 16: Would you like to use the song with the activity? You can try MusicFirst Elementary for 30 days by clicking here: https://www.musicfirstelementary.com/ Please note that the audio recording of the song works when beginning at Slide 6. Before this slide, we sing it acapella. Additionally, we performed this entire activity a few times, acapella, before adding the recording.

Extension Activity

Add pitched and non-pitched instruments to represent rhythm patterns found in the song.

• Purple Rectangles ▭: Clap your hands = Xylophones 1/3 Lola are on the F bars and 2/4 Lola are on the G bars

• Red Star ★: Snap/flick your fingers = Glockenspiels, metallophones, or non-pitched metal instruments like jingle bells

• Orange Circles 🟠: Stamp your feet = Drums

• Yellow Diamonds 🔸: Tap your coconut (head) = wood block or rhythm sticks

• Green Underlines ̳̳: Shake your tail = Vibraslap or shakers

• Blue Moon ☽: Give us your best “moooo!” = triangle to metal instrument or if you have the thunder drum

Bring La Vaca Lola to life in your classroom with this engaging movement activity that will have your students singing, moving, and laughing! 🎶🐄 Download the free lesson, grab the recording, and see just how easy it is to energize your music lessons. Plus, unlock 30 days of MusicFirst Elementary for free to explore even more interactive songs and resources—perfect for making music magic happen this week! Click below to get started! 🚀🎵