Floating Bells!
Floating
bells might sound fancy, but here’s a secret: you can make them in the kitchen!
This week in
music class we had a blast playing with metal mixing bowls as they floated in
the water of our sensory table. I added a little blue food coloring to make it
extra fun! The kids enjoyed tapping the edges of the bowls with metal spoons
and listening to the unique pitches of three different size metal mixing bowls
as they floated in water, which amplified the sound that they made in a unique
way. We also discovered that small amounts of liquid inside the bowls would
change the pitch and quality of the sound! After the children took a turn with
a spoon, they used crayons and paper to draw a reflection of what they saw and
experienced.
Our school
age crew used the bells to play some of the rhythms they have been learning in
music class on the staff, including a new value—a pair of eights notes!
Eighth
notes in pairs are often called “ti-ti” or “tucka” and they look like this:
We used food
phrases such as “Chi-cken nug-gets” to remember how to play them:
Check out the cute pictures below and
don’t forget to ask your child about music class this week using the extender
questions below!
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR
CHILD:
1) How many bowls were inside the water
table? Three
2) What did you use to tap the bowls
with? A spoon
3) What color was the water in music
class? Blue!