Groove Weaver for teachers

Every activity below is a link. Paste it into Google Classroom or an email, and kids land on the grid with the song already loaded. They change it, press Share, and paste their link back to you. No accounts, nothing to install.

1. Copy a link below and post it as an assignment or in an email.
2. Kids open it and press the big button. They try the challenge on the grid.
3. They press Share and paste their own link back. Open it to hear what they made.

Activities

• Find the beat

  • Grades K–1
  • Beat
  • 5 min

  Say it out loud

  1. Press the big button. Listen for the BOOM.
  2. Pat your knees every time you hear it. That steady pulse is the beat.
  3. Now tap the rocket. Can you keep patting along?

  Listen for: Everyone pats together with the boom. The beat only gets faster when the speed changes; it never speeds up on its own.

  Going further: Turn on a few squares in the clap row. Where does the clap fit between the booms?

  Open itCopy link

• Echo the rhythm

  • Grades K–3
  • Rhythm
  • 10 min

  Say it out loud

  1. Press play and listen: stomp, stomp, clap, rest. It goes round and round. Say it along with the sound.
  2. Now press Clear. Can you build the same pattern from memory? The stomp is the boom drum; the clap is the clapping hands.
  3. Press play. Does it sound like the pattern you heard?

  Listen for: Two booms, a clap, then a silent square (a rest), over and over. Notice who remembers to leave the rest in.

  Going further: Change one square and ask a partner what's different.

  Open itCopy link

• Stairs and slides

  • Grades K–2
  • Pitch
  • 10 min

  Say it out loud

  1. Press play and watch the colors. The sound climbs the stairs, then slides back down.
  2. High squares make high sounds. Low squares make low sounds. Point up when it goes up and down when it goes down.
  3. Now make your own hill: tap one square in each column, going up and then down.

  Listen for: Kids point up as the sound rises and down as it falls. The rainbow rows are a ladder: every step up is a higher sound.

  Going further: Make a staircase that only goes up, or a zigzag. Can your partner hear the shape with their eyes closed?

  Open itCopy link

• Fast or slow?

  • Grades K–5
  • Tempo
  • 5 min

  Say it out loud

  1. Press play. Now tap the rabbit, then the rocket. Is it still Twinkle Twinkle?
  2. The notes didn't change. Only the speed did. The speed of a song is called its tempo.
  3. Which speed would you pick for a lullaby? Which for a chase?

  Listen for: Same notes, different feeling. Kids can name slow, medium and fast and say which one fits which kind of song.

  Going further: Pick another starter song and try it at all three speeds. Does it still sound right?

  Open itCopy link

• Same song, new sound

  • Grades K–5
  • Timbre
  • 10 min

  Say it out loud

  1. Press play, then tap the pictures one at a time: piano keys, teddy bear, robot, guitar, flute.
  2. It's the same song every time. Each picture gives it a different sound color.
  3. Which one sounds plucked? Which one sounds like blowing? Which one isn't a real instrument?

  Listen for: The notes stay the same while the sound changes. Kids can say the guitar is plucked, the flute is blown, and the robot is electronic. The color of a sound is called its timbre.

  Going further: Pick the sound you think fits the song best, and tell your partner why.

  Open itCopy link

• What comes next?

  • Grades K–3
  • Patterns
  • 10 min

  Say it out loud

  1. Press play and watch the colors: low, high, low, high, low, high… What comes next?
  2. Tap the next two squares to keep the pattern going.
  3. Keep going until the grid is full, then press play to check your pattern.

  Listen for: Kids who see the low-high pattern continue it. Some will make up a new pattern; ask them to tell you the rule.

  Going further: Make a pattern with three colors that repeats, and challenge a partner to continue it.

  Open itCopy link

• Finish the song

  • Grades 1–3
  • Melody
  • 10 min

  Say it out loud

  1. This song stops halfway! Press play and hear where it stops.
  2. Can you remember how Hot Cross Buns ends? Tap what you think comes next.
  3. Yours doesn't have to match the real song. Play it: does it sound finished?

  Listen for: The real ending is one note four times, then the next note up four times. Kids can tap Hot Cross Buns in the song row to hear it and compare.

  Going further: Change the ending so it's your own. Does it still sound like Hot Cross Buns?

  Open itCopy link

• A and B

  • Grades 2–5
  • Form
  • 15 min

  Say it out loud

  1. The first half of the grid is part A. Press play and listen to it.
  2. Now make part B in the second half. Use different notes or a different rhythm so it sounds like a new idea.
  3. Press play. You'll hear A, then B, over and over.

  Listen for: Part B should contrast with A: higher or lower, busier or sparser. Ask kids to describe how their B is different.

  Going further: Close your eyes while a partner plays it. Can you hear where A ends and B begins?

  Open itCopy link

• Sleepy, spooky or silly

  • Grades 1–5
  • Tempo, pitch and timbre
  • 15 min

  Say it out loud

  1. Pick a feeling: sleepy, spooky or silly.
  2. Choose a speed and a sound that fit your feeling. Then add squares until it sounds right. Use only three colors.
  3. Press Share and send it to a partner. Can they guess your feeling?

  Listen for: Kids explain their choices. Slow and low often feels sleepy; fast and bouncy feels silly. There are no wrong answers as long as they can say why.

  Going further: Remix a partner's song to change its feeling without changing its notes.

  Open itCopy link

• Write an ending

  • Grades 4–5
  • Melody and form
  • 20 min
  • 32-square grid

  Say it out loud

  1. This grid is twice as long: 32 squares. Press play and hear the whole tune.
  2. The song stops on D, and it feels unfinished. Write your own ending in the last eight squares.
  3. Try ending on the lowest C. Does it sound finished now?

  Listen for: Songs usually end on their home note, which here is C. Kids can hear the difference between an ending that feels finished and one that wants to keep going.

  Going further: Share your ending and listen to a partner's. Whose feels the most finished?

  Open itCopy link

Good to know

• Make your own. Build any song on the grid, press Share, and paste the link. It holds the whole song: notes, drums, speed and sounds.
• A longer grid. Grades 4–5 can use a grid twice as long, 32 squares instead of 16. Open the 32-square grid, build a song, and press Share: the link remembers the long grid.
• Reading the grid. The eight colored rows are notes from low C at the bottom to high C at the top, and higher rows sound higher. The three rows at the bottom are drums: boom, clap and shaker. Squares are shaded in groups of four to help kids count along.
• Keyboard. Arrow keys move around the grid, Enter turns a square on or off, and Space plays and stops.
• Privacy. There are no accounts. A song is saved only in the browser on the device it was made on, and a Share link carries the song itself and nothing else.
• School networks. Every sound is made by the browser, so no audio site needs to be unblocked.