This morning we utilised plastic spoons as a percussion instrument to create music. The activity involved clenching two spoons in their fist and dragging them rapidly from index finger to extended pinky with the last beat hitting their leg. Before starting the activity, we watched a YouTube video to understand how to play the spoons. The children were encouraged to create there own rhythm or beat, which led to some fantastic riff off's. This activity encouraged children to be creative by developing there own sound and to work collaboratively. Moreover, they were engaging their basic motor skills through the motion of hitting the spoons against their legs.
This afternoon the children experimented with different volumes of water in a number of glasses and explored how the sound changes depending on the level of water in the glass. We started the activity by collecting sticks and hypothesising what might happen when we hit the glasses with the sticks and then discussed whether the amount of water in the glass would make the pitch high or low. We then tested our hypothesis and discovered that our hypothesis was correct! The children then challenged their musical abilities to create and play songs for everyone to enjoy.
The children loved this activity, it was great to see them thinking about what might happen to the sound and explore playing songs using them. The children had so much fun performing for each other and singing songs. The children who participated were mostly quite young, so we had a couple of spilt glasses of water and we had to stop and have a conversation about being careful because the glasses are made of glass. However the children were able to correct identify what might happen with different levels of water which was really great to see.
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