Children who are attending the first grade in the elementary school have an great interest in music instruments. From a didactic point of view, it is very helpful to use various musical instruments in a music class. But instrumental activities in a elementary music class was negligent up to the middle of 21th century. Nowadays music teachers would introduce various music instruments, if they can know how to apply them to an music class of the first grade. In order to provide an overview and develope effective teaching methods of instrumental instruction for the first grade in elementary schools, the researcher in this paper has investigated three representative music textbooks which are adopted each in Korea, USA(Share the Music), and Germany(RONDO). The conclusion which can be drawn from this study is as follows. Although the number of musical instruments introduced for musical activities of children in Korean music textbook is close to ten as in the American music textbook, the teaching methods are relatively monotonous. As compared to that, the German music textbook constructively deals with instrumental instruction for music class. There is used musical imaginary for beating rhythms with Orff-instruments. Children would make practical application of music instruments to play accompaniment and create musical works. So, it is provided to diversify music instruments and activities which are used for music education in the first grade.