Saturday, January 19, 2013

Kindergartners LOVE the Boomwhackers!

As a part of our winter unit, Kindergartners learned a song about a snowman.  The students really enjoyed using their imaginations and pretending to build their snowmen while we sang the song:


Once they learned the song and practiced several times, they were very excited to add the Boomwhackers!  Boomwhackers are colorful plastic tubes that are various lengths and pitches.  I tell my students that they are called Boomwhackers because they make a "boom-ing" sound and you "whack" them on things. 
For this activity, we played them on the carpet.  The students took turns playing up the scale while we sang and then down the scale when the snowman melts at the end of the song.  It was a great visual for them to see that as the notes got higher, the Boomwhackers were shorter.  They did such a great job!  Here are a few pictures of them with their instruments:

It takes a LOT of self-control for Kindergartners to keep all of their Boomwhackers on the floor! 

They love to play the "Big Reds."


Someone knows how to pose!  haha.

Silly shot!

YAY Boomwhackers!

8 comments:

  1. What is the tune to the Snowman song? I think my Kindergarten students would LOVE this!

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    1. The colors on the visual goes with the corresponding Boomwhacker colors. It goes straight up the scale then back down. :)

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  2. Going to use this for an activity w/ 1st grade today since I have less than half the kids and somehow it was okay for us to have school!! No buses came today! Thanks for the idea!!

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    1. Thank you, Molly! I'm so glad it was helpful. It is a great song to pull out when you have a few minutes to fill. :) Thanks for reading!

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  3. Cute! What is the rhythm that you use for this song?

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  4. How fun! I just ordered these. Do you happen to have anymore winter/Christmas songs you can share to use with the boomwhackers?

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  5. Do the students his the tubes on the floor before or after they say each line of the chant?

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  6. Veteran teacher here. For years I have avoided Boomwhackers as "not really instruments." While teaching hybrid, hour long music lessons this fall in the classrooms, however, they were a great motivator AND easier to transport than 12 glockenspiels. In addition to visuals for pitch, Boomwhackers develop ensemble skills as they all have to work together and pay attention to make the song complete!

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