The Orgelkids organ kit is a lesson box containing a craftsman built pipe organ. In the box are the parts with which children can assemble (under guidance of an organ builder or organist) themselves. The building process can be prepared by several small groups, after which the organ is assembled and can be played by the children.
To build this organ can be part of one or more lessons in which the organ is the focus. For supervisors there is a teaching guide available for lessons in primary school.
- Building the Orgelkids organ can be part of a series of lessons about music instruments.
- This teaching guide contains elaborated ideas for 3 lessons.
- The material is especially suited for children of 8 to 12 years of age.
- This teaching guide shows you an organ project of several successive lesson activities spaced one or two weeks apart.
Lesson 1: introduction – What kind of instrument is an organ?
The first lesson is given at school, by the school’s own staff, or by a music specialist. The lesson can consist of a lecture in which the organ is introduced. This subject fits well in a general lesson about music instruments, with emphasis on wind instruments. The teacher can show several types of instruments.
Lesson 2: Building the Orgelkids organ
To assemble the Orgelkids organ is the central part of this second lesson. This lesson is led by an organist working closely with the groups teacher.
The work consists of several component preparation tasks which can be done simultaneously by small groups of students and the subsequent assembly of the components into the finished instrument. The total time to build the organ is about 45 minutes.
It is recommended to allow another 60 minutes to give students the opportunity to play the organ themselves and and then to disassemble it.
Lesson 3: Meet the large organ
The third lesson is an excursion (field trip) to the church. Now that the children have learned how an organ is constructed, they know all the important principles of the organ instrument. During the tour and explanation, they can associate the knowledge gained from the small kit organ to the scale of the real instrument. This applies to both the organ building technology as well as the playing or performing on it.
Extra: Childrens concert
A subsequent concert is the best way to let the children hear, experience (and feel) the color tones of the organ. Make the concert interactive with a quiz with listening questions, or let the children sing along with the organ.
Download Teaching Guide
The complete Teaching Guide with this plan for 3 lessons is available as download (PDF).
If you want to get started with the Do-organ, we have instruction cards, a lesson plan, sheet music and much more ready for you.
