RIBBON WANDS: HOW TO MAKE

Late Posting Disclaimer: I typed this post up a couple of weeks ago and just plumb forgot to finish editing it and posting it on the blog, so although I talk about ribbon wands in conjunction with May's song below, ribbon wands can be used for just about any song any time.

Of course it is time to talk about

ribbon wands

because May's song,

"When I Am Baptized"

is just

SCREAMING

 for my rainbow ribbon wands

to be used.

Ribbon wands can be an investment in time and money depending on how many you make, but if you can swing it, you won't regret it. The children just loooooooooove using these. They never tire from them. They are great for teaching and feeling the melody of the music. The kiddos get plenty of movement to keep those wiggle worms at bay...and of course, you will certainly get your exercise in for the day. By-the-by, do any of you feel like you've just finished your workout at the gym after you get home from church??? I'm sure I would be in much better shape if I did my "Primary Workout" on a daily basis instead of once a week!


Anywhoooooo, I made my ribbon wands a couple of years ago and use them at least a few times a year. The kids would probably love it if I would use them more often, but there are always so many other things I want to try and do. These are great for nursery too! I first introduce the ribbon wands in Primary after we did the program. It was a great, fun way to release all those wiggles they had held inside of them from sitting so well in Sacrament meeting and it was an easy singing time just singing fun songs and taking turns following the leader in twirling the wands. I've done this for the last two programs and plan on using them again this year, so I guess it has become a tradition.


Ribbon wands are easy to make, but will take a little time to put together if you plan on making quite a few. There are a variety of ways to make them, but this is how I made mine.


ITEMS NEEDED PER RIBBON WAND

• 12" long (I think the diameter I used is about 1/4")  (a 4' dowel will give you 4-12" ribbon wands)
• Small eye hook
• Small fishing swivel
• 36" long double-sided satin ribbon x 1" wide (I did my ribbon 1 1/4" wide x 86" long for the wand I would use because it is just cool to see how a full-length one works. Don't make the children's too long because they would be too difficult for the little ones to use.)
• Scissors
• Saw to cut the dowels or have them cut at the hardware store, but they may charge per cut.
• Drill and drill bit smaller than the eye hook screw or a big headed push pin
• 2 Pliers
• Sand Paper
• Thin blade screw driver 
• Lighter or lit candle (no, this is not to help set the mood)
• Spray paint (optional)

HOW TO MAKE A RIBBON WAND

1. Cut the dowels into 12" lengths.
2. Sand smooth the cut ends and any other areas that are rough. Don't want any slivers.
3. Drill or use a push pin to start a hole to screw in the eye hook. If you use a drill, be very careful in holding the stick so you don't slip and hurt yourself with the drill. You may also want to put a piece of tape around the drill bit to help mark how deep you drill to in the stick. Make sure the drill bit you use is thinner than the screw part on the eye hook so that the screw "bites" into the wood when it is screwed in.
4. If you want, you could paint your dowel. I decided not to because I didn't have the time and I figured over time the paint would start to chip off making them look less attractive. But that's your call.
5. With one plier in one hand grip one side of the eye hook and with the other plier in your other hand, grab the opposite side of the eye hook and slightly pry open by bringing one hand towards you and the opposite hand away from you to open the eye hook wide enough so you can hook on the fishing swivel then close the eye hook back up. Don't try to pry the hook open in a split fashion. It is much harder to close if you do. Hope that is clear as mud.
6. Screw in the eye hook and fishing swivel combo into the hole in the dowel. To help save on your fingers, use the thin blade screw driver to slip into the eye hook hole as leverage to help twist the screw in or use your pliers.
7. Thread one end of the ribbon through the other end of the fishing swivel.
8. Tie a double knot on the end of the ribbon so it won't pull through the fishing swivel. I did not tie a knot directly to the fishing swivel's loop because it didn't seem to swivel as well, it looked a little more bulky and it was harder to tie a knot on the swivel without ending up with a long tail.
9. With the lighter or lit candle, carefully melt the edges of the ribbon to help prevent fraying.
10. Voilà! Now you have a fantastical ribbon wand.

Here are a couple of other quick ribbon wand variations.

• You could use thinner ribbon such as 1/4" wide double-satin ribbon in different colors. Decide on the length you want and double that measurement. Cut 2 or more ribbons in that length. Thread the ribbons through the eye hook (depending on your ribbon width, you may want a bigger eye hook). Even out the ribbons so your eye hook is in the middle of the ribbons. Tie the ribbons in a double knot. Seal the cut edges from fraying and you are good to go. You could add a swivel if you want the ribbon to swirl better.

• A less expensive way is to use 6-7 36" strips of curling ribbon and glue it on the tongue depressor sized craft sticks. Then glue some ribbon around the area where you have glued to help give it a finished look and extra holding power. I have several colors of curling ribbon on large spools that I bought a long time ago from an Xpedx store that I use for gift wrapping. There is a lot of ribbon on those spools that have lasted me for years. Use just one color or several colors. This size is great for those little nursery hands.

I'm sure you could probably find a variety of other ways to make ribbon wands on the internet as well as you can purchase them off the internet, but they can get quite pricey.

Later I will post ways to use ribbon wands along with cheat sheets for different pattern movements to help you in choreographing your songs.

EGG-CITING EGG SHAKERS

Now that  Easter is over, it is time to confiscate all those plastic Easter eggs probably lying around the house void of the  yummy treats once inhabited inside, or check out the clearance sales or dollar store and purchase them for cheap because now is the season to make some fun-to-use. . . 

EGG-CITING EGG SHAKERS!!!

This is a great, easy rhythm instrument to make that doesn't cost much (hey, you may already have everything just sitting around the house) and the kids will love them as they learn songs through rhythm. You play the eggs similar to maracas by shaking them to the beat or to add accents to the rhythm. An accent example would be like; shake—shake—shake-a—shake-a—shake. Can you hear me saying this and visualize me shaking my egg?

"Shake—shake—shake-a-shake-a—shake!"

LOL Yeah, so hard to demonstrate this in words. These are great to use in nursery too!

HERE'S HOW TO MAKE THEM

Materials

• Plastic Easter eggs
• Filling: rice, popcorn kernels, lentils, barley, beans, etc.
• Experiment with each to see what sound you like the best. I first made mine with rice but soon discovered after the first use that the plastic eggs have some small air holes in them and some of the smaller pieces of rice came out on the floor when the kids shook them. So I redid them using popcorn kernels.  HAH! Now those suckers won't pop out of the holes!
• Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
• I tried a variety of glues and the hot glue seemed to work the best.
• Ribbon, optional
• Egg cartons for storage or some other container like a box, bag or basket.

Instructions

1. Open the plastic egg separating it into the two pieces.
• If the egg is hinged, you may want to cut the hinge off to make it easier for gluing.
2. Put a tablespoon or two of your filler in the bottom half of the egg. Use more or less filler depending on how you like the sound.
3. Run a bead of hot glue around the rim of the egg. If you don't think you can be very neat, run the bead of glue on the inside rim of the top half of the egg; however, you usually can peel dried hot glue off of the outside of the plastic egg.
4. Carefully attach the top of the plastic egg to the bottom half.
5. You can glue a piece of ribbon around the outside of the seam for a more decorative look if you like. 
• If you use these for nursery, depending on how rough your little ones can be, you may want to glue the ribbon around the seam for added security. See the one lone egg with the ribbon around its middle in the picture below. Unfortunately, I have not gotten around to finishing putting ribbon on the eggs. Someday...

And there you have it!  Easy-peasy!

OTHER IDEAS FOR PLAYING THEM

• There are two main ways to hold the egg shakers: one is simply in the palm of your hand shaking up and down, which is usually the easiest. Another way is holding the larger end of the egg between your fingers (mainly with your thumb and first two fingers) with the pointed end facing out in a forward position and shaking it in a forward and back pattern. In this position, the filler has a little more room to go back-and-forth in making it a little easier to do more accent-type shaking as well as being able to do a good, crisp shake.
• Alternate shakes raising your hand up and down.
• Do a couple of shakes above the head and a couple at chest level or to each side of the body.
• Do a strong shake on the downbeat and soft shakes on the other beats or every-other beat.
• Alternate each side of the room having the children shaking their eggs to the beat.
• Tap the egg shaker in the opposite hand in different beat or rhythm patterns.
• With the older kids, have them snap their fingers or slap their thigh on the downbeat with one hand and shake the egg on the other beats with the other hand.
• Shake to the rhythm of the song while pitch leading. It is easier to do this holding the egg in the second position I mentioned above with the pointed end of the egg facing out while holding between the fingers.
• March or incorporate some other movement while shaking the eggs.
• For an added choose and review fun activity, you could fill several plastic eggs each with a different filling as mentioned above as well as other household items like paper clips, marbles, coins, jingle bells, buttons, pasta, small toys, etc. Go with the jumbo sized eggs for extra oomph on this one. Then shake an egg and let the kids guess what is inside the egg. You could give them a hint by listing the different fillings or showing a sample of the fillings and seeing if they can match the eggs up one-by-one. When they guess one of them right, sing the song you have assigned that egg. Continue singing the assigned songs as they guess each one.

NOW, GO GET SHAKING!!!

RHYTHM STICKS OR CLAVES

Kids love rhythm sticks or claves (Klay-Vays—African/Latin) probably because they make loud noises and they get to bang them together.  Hey, when it comes to kids, it doesn't get much better than that especially when it comes to instruments.  Songs with an upbeat tempo such as “Choose the Right” and “Follow the Prophet” are great for using rhythm sticks.

You will need two sticks per child.  If you don't have enough, you can take turns by class.  You can purchase rhythm sticks for around  $2 and up a set.  Here are a couple of places on the Internet you can purchase them from: Front Row Experience and Amazon.  There are other various versions of the sticks as well. Purchasing rhythm sticks can be a bit costly though.  

If you don’t have a Primary budget for it, here are some options.

• You can make your own by purchasing 5/8” diameter dowels and cutting them into 8”-12” lengths.  You could fancy them up by painting them or keep them au naturel.  To even save more on the cost, you could go with a smaller diameter, but they won’t make as loud of a noise, which could be good or bad depending on how you look at it.
• You can also make them from ½” - 1” diameter PVC pipe
• You could buy pencils, especially during the back-to-school sale time.  Because of the size, the pencils will not make as loud of a sound.  Is that good? Bad?  Like I said before . . . your preference.  Oh yeah, don’t sharpen the pencils.
• Check out your local Chinese specialty grocery store and get some inexpensive wooden Chinese chopsticks, the ones with the blunt tips, not the Japanese ones with the more pointed tips. They usually have fairly inexpensive ones.  You could even collect those cheap disposable ones for free from the restaurants whenever you go and eat Chinese.  Just go out with a bunch of family or friends and have them all ask for a set, of course, wash them well after eating with them.  Cut off the tips and sand down if they are still a little too pointy. The best ones are the ones that you don't have to pull apart, but if that is all you can find, then make sure you sand down the rough edges where they are torn apart.  Maybe if you ask nicely, the restaurant will give you extra ones for free or for a nominal charge.  They aren't very expensive for the restaurants when they buy them in bulk—usually a few cents each or you can probably buy some in bulk off the internet for $5 or less for a set of 100. 

• You could check with your stake to see if they have some rhythm sticks that you can borrow.  If not, maybe you could suggest to the stake music leader to purchase some that can be shared with the wards in the stake.
• If you know someone that works at a school, you could borrow from there.  I’m fortunate to have a sister who works in a school that I am able to borrow the sticks from about 2-3 times a year. 

If you have never used rhythm sticks before, introduce them first by showing the children how they are tapped together to make a sound.  Explain that when the music is played or you sing the song, rhythm sticks are tapped together to the beat of the music (# of beats in a measure or can also be the tempo) or the rhythm of the music (sounds and silences in the music with differing lengths or gaps between them—basically the patterns of the notes/words being sung).

Before passing out the rhythm sticks, you must make sure you have made clear your expectations regarding the use of them.  I always explain that I know that they will treat the sticks nicely, that they will make sure they don’t poke, hit or hurt others with them, that they know stick fighting with them is not right (yep, all those boys I have), that they will keep them out of their mouth and when I say “sticks up” or have my sticks pointing upward, they must also have their sticks up and quiet.  Also let them know that if they choose to not follow the rules that the consequence will be to have their sticks taken away from them.  And most importantly, you must follow through if any children do not behave properly.  You can always return them to the child after a short time has passed with the reminder that they will be taken away again if they choose to not use the sticks right.  Setting the ground rules up front is a real important step to remember to do with anything you hand out to the children to use so that you can keep some semblance of order. 

WARNING!  This activity can be real fun for the children, but it can also get out of control if you don’t maintain control of the group.  Does it always go reverently—quietly?  Of course not, but having the guidelines and following through helps a lot.  Also, there will be some noise with the sticks hitting together, which is part of the experience, so, as an adult, if you are a bit sensitive to noises, rhythm instruments may not be for you or just use smaller diameter sticks. Yes, this is one time that Boyd K. Packer's quote of "Reverence . . .does not equate with absolute silence" will be generously utilized.

Here are some suggestions on how to use them:

• Have them tap the sticks together only on certain parts or words of the song.
• March around the room as you play the sticks.  This is mainly for JR.
• Sit on the floor in a circle or in a group and tap the sticks on the floor in front 4 times then tap sticks together 4 times. Repeat.  Add another tapping version to the mix, such as 4 taps above the head, after they have mastered the pattern taught.
• They can be played with a partner similar to hand clapping patterns I have explained in the "Books in the Book of Mormon" post here. (Scroll down to the bullet points.) This is usually too complicated for JR.
• Use the dynamics in the song to direct how to play the sticks; loud vs soft, staccato vs legato.
• After doing a few basic movements with the sticks, ask the children if they can think of a different way the rhythm sticks can be tapped together.  E.g. above the head, down low to the ground, behind your back, on the left side, on the right side, on the floor in front of you, on the floor to the right, left or either side of the legs, on the lap, on the shoulders, with a partner, turn then tap, kick a leg forward then tap, stomp-stomp-tap-tap, step to the left-tap, step to the right-tap, oh, the list could go on and on.  Oh yes, you can get a good workout from this!

As you can see, playing rhythm sticks is not only fun, but they are also great for reviewing a song over and over, teaching the rhythm and beat of a song as well as the children are able to use movement in their singing.