Gallerys Body Painting

We have been busy this week making these cool tin can drums. I borrowed this fab idea from Jamie as hands on : as we grow. Luckily my can opener leaves a nice smooth edge so I didn't need to tape up the edges before we painted them. I gave the children lots of different coloured paints and they were off!

I use plastercine to fix them to the table so they didn't move around whilst the children were trying to paint them.

Look at that concentration!

We used poster paint to paint ours, but we have also used acrylic paint in the past.

Then we just had to wait for them to dry.

Some of us found it difficult to wait until they were dry to give them a go!

Once dry, I cut the thin part off of a balloon and stretch the remaining part across the top of the tin.

With the addition of a stick, we were ready to make music:)

Although they made a reasonable amount of noise when banged with a stick, J found that by stretching the balloon and then releasing it, it made a much cooler sound!

And here are our finished drums.

I think these are so fab that I've have added one to our music wall.

The rest have been taken home for parents to enjoy:))

Links to EYFS:

CLL: Handwriting (showing good control of the paint brush)

CLL: Using Equipment and Materials (demonstrating good hand-eye coordination)

CD: Being Creating Music and Dance (creating sounds by banging / tapping, singing / making up songs, tapping out rhythms, exploring how sounds can be changed)

I've seen quite alot of info on the web about music walls, but nothing had inspired me to create my own until I read Jenny's post at Let the Children Play and followed the links she had provided (also I had a panel left over from the water wall that would be just perfect!) So after visiting Poundland, the local carboot sale and of course my garage, I got busy! It's been a bit of a 'work in progress' over the last few weeks (you may have caught glimpses of it in the background of some of my other posts) but now I'm happy its more or less finished - for the time being! So what does my wall consist of;

Buttons threaded on strings for rattling.

Saucepan for banging and metal rack.

Plastic bottle filled with rice and beans for spinning. A metal flask for banging.

A banana slicer (much better use for it) and a plastic tray for banging.

A hard plastic container with elastic bands (I melted small grooves into the container to stop the elastic bands moving)

metal wind chimes and giant bamboo wind chimes

And a metal tray.

The instruments have been attached to the frame my husband made me (see water wall) and two radiator airers that I got from Poundland.

But what did the children think of it......

Well its been thoroughly explored. The metal tray was definitely their favourite! Though this part does have to be removed at times to save relations with the neighbours!