DIY Washboard/Guiro Kids Craft

Suggested age: Preschool/Kindergarten

YOU WILL NEED:
Cardstock Paper
Tacky Glue
Popsicle Stick
Crayons/Markers (Optional)

1.  Fold one piece of cardstock accordion style. (The smaller the folds, the better)

2. Put glue on the points of one side of that folded paper.

3. Line it up and glue it down to the another flat piece of cardstock.

4. Children may decorate their instrument with crayon or marker if you wish.

The washboard can be played by rubbing the popsicle stick over the bumps.

*You could also drill a very tiny hole in the end of the popsicle stick, and use a hole punch to punch a hole in the paper on the guiro and attach both with a string to each other so the parts do not get separated.


Music Lesson: 
-You can incorporate this into a lesson about Appalachian Mountain music and folk music

-You can also work this into a lesson on different guiro-type instruments... washboards, regular wooden guiros, wooden frog guiros, metal guiros, etc.

Musical Parcheesi

The game cards are a mix of flashcards of cards with types of notes. If they draw a card with a staff, they figure out what letter it is and move to that letter on the gameboard. If they were to draw the other type of card and it is a half note, they move 2 spaces forward, etc.

I also made little cards on blue paper that are "blue bonus cards" with miscellaneous piano and music trivia questions.  If they land on a blue space on the gameboard, they get a chance at answering a bonus question. If they get it right, they can move 3 extra spaces forward.
A few examples of the bonus questions:

• General music trivia
• What is a composer?
• How many spaces are on a staff?
• Fill in the blanks:  Every  __________  Boy ____________  _____________  *or substitute with whatever phrase you teach students to remember treble clef lines
• Fill in the blanks:  __________  Cows __________  ___________  *or substitute with whatever phrase you teach students to remember bass clef spaces
• What is tempo?
• What are dynamics?
• Name 2 famous composers.
• What is a composer?
• What is a staff?

• Piano specific trivia
• What were white keys on a piano made of a long time ago before we started using plastic?
• How many keys does a piano have?
• What does the damper pedal (on the right) do on a piano?