Submitted by Daniel J. Fee, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

Idea posted February 14, 2003

Well, here's a thing I did today with gr. 3 when I discovered we had 10 minutes that I hadn't planned on having! I haven't done this activity in years... the name, obviously, is just made up.

  • Everyone sits in a pretty tight circle on the floor, legs crossed.
  • Everyone gets 1 rhythm stick. I usually just start passing the rhythm sticks from where I am in the circle until the first stick ends up next to me... at the "end of the circle."
  • They all echo me on a rhythm (like ta ta ti-ti ta) with the sticks on the floor. (You could start the rhythm on something else.)
  • Then we just keep doing the rhythm ON different things... usually in twos/pairs (like "on the floor/on the floor in front of the person on your right").
  • Keep making the pattern longer till you have about 8 places where you do the rhythm. Today, it was:

    • - on the floor

    - on the floor in front of the person on your RIGHT

    - on your shoe

    - on your other shoe

    - on your shoulder

    - on your other shoulder

    - on your hand

    - on your other hand (requires a quick hand switch)

  • Then I added a second group of 8. Today, it was:

    • - on the floor

    - on the floor in front of the person on your LEFT

    - on your neighbor's shoe

    - on your shoe

    - on your knee

    - on your other knee

    - on your head

    - on your neck

  • OK... here's where it gets wild. The next step is to slide/roll your stick into the middle on the circle. Everyone tries to get a new stick in 8 counts (sometimes it takes 16 counts). I make it real structured here to be sure everyone is safe. No stick may leave the floor, no one may argue over who gets a stick, etc. Anyone who gets carried away simply goes back to their seat. Then the whole mess starts over.

We had a TON of fun with this today. I forgot how much fun it was. Lots of laughs and giggles... and lots and lots of self-control on the students' part, or it won't work.

There are many variations of this possible. The rhythm could be different or longer, for example. You could use two sticks instead of just one (yikes!), and so on.

Enjoy!