Stadium Cheers and Anthem Movement
Music in the stadium is unforgettable - the anthems, the drums, the crowd chants. Recreating it develops rhythm, listening and a sense that World Cup energy belongs to everyone.
- Framework: EYFS
- Unit: EYFS Football Around the World
- Learning area: Music & Movement
- Level: EYFS 3-4, Reception
Objectives
- Move rhythmically to anthems and crowd chants
- Create a team chant with claps and stomps
- Experience how music unites a stadium crowd
Materials
- Recordings of short instrumental snippets of two or three national anthems
- Recording of stadium crowd chants ('Olé Olé Olé', drums of Brazil, viking clap of Iceland)
- Open space
Instructions
Gather children standing on a wide circle. Play a snippet of a national anthem and ask everyone to stand still and tall, hand on heart, 'like the players do before the game'. Play a second anthem and repeat. Now switch to crowd chants. Demonstrate the 'Olé Olé Olé' clap rhythm: clap-clap-clap, clap-clap-clap. Children copy. Try the Iceland viking clap (slow-slow-faster-faster-CLAP!). Each team from the unit then huddles to invent their own short chant with a clap pattern, two stomps, or a jump. Teams perform their chant for the circle while the others copy. End with everyone marching in place to a final anthem, then a big shared cheer.
Educator tip
Keep anthem clips to about 20 seconds. The chants are what children remember and reuse spontaneously on the playground.
Assessment
Observe and note: ability to follow two-step instructions, use of new vocabulary in context, early problem-solving strategies, and sustained shared thinking episodes. Assess against Development Matters age-band expectations. Observe rhythmic accuracy, willingness to perform a chant, and respectful behaviour during anthems.