Submitted by Cheryl Elder, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Idea posted April 28, 2003
I thought I would share a few things I have done already with my newly acquired Boomwhackers®. With every grade, from 5-year-old kindergarten to grade 4, I have done "Whacky Do Re Mi" (from Music K-8, Vol. 11, No. 1). First we sing it with the hand symbols. Then I demonstrated them to the kids. Most of them were able to figure out that the order of the colors were like the colors in the rainbow, except for that darn blue one that is teal instead. Then we sang the song and I picked eight people that were listening and had them play. After that, I stood everyone in a circle and passed them out. Then I had them get into groups according to color and we sang it again. I have them play it in their hands.
With my fourth graders, I did the songs "Hosanna," "Me Build A House," and "Sarasponda." First we used them to hear the octave. Then I handed some out so we could play the C and G chords. I love them because you can teach intervals, harmony, and letter recognition (for the little ones).