Consider Using Shapes, Part 2

Many of the small percussion instruments we use form basic shapes:  circles, triangles, rectangles and, possibly, squares.  There are a few with odd shapes like the vibraslap, ratchet or those guiros shaped like various creatures (frogs, fish, crickets, etc.).  Every time I bring out instruments the students get excited, but I like to throw them a curve ball by saying, "We won't be playing the instruments today.  Instead, we will be playing with the instruments" and proceed to show them how the different shapes of the instruments can be used to make a picture:

After my demonstration, the students are eager to give it a try.  I could separate them into groups and have them all go for it, but due to the limited number of instruments in my classroom, I prefer to take a different path.  I choose a small group of students (3 or so) to go to a corner of the room to then create their own work of instrument art while the rest of the class is playing a singing game or something.  I like to set a range of how many instruments they may use for their artwork (between 5 and 12) and let my iPhone random number generator make the decision for each group.  The group work aspect encourages cooperation skills and setting a limit encourages problem solving skills.  Questions students inevitably face along the way are:  what will we make?  Which instruments will we use?  Who decides?  When the artists are finished creating, we sing the song above and have a gallery walk for all students to see what was created.  Here are some examples of my students' work:

 

       Caterpillar:  drums and trinagle beaters

                                       Ribbon and Bow:  triangles and wooden mallets

 

                                                                                                                   Snail: 
                                                                                    jingle bells, triangle,
                                                                                    drum, tick tock block

                                            
                                     Bicycle:  drums, wood blocks, jingle bells, triangle

 

                   Playing the Drum: 

drums, triangle, wood blocks, sand blocks,
           tick tock block, castanet

P.S. Don't forget to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store for more ideas!