Submitted by Tina Morgan, Mississippi
Idea posted November 22, 2002
Materials: plastic cauldron; various shapes cut from foam core (or laminated construction paper) - yellow moons, white bones, orange pumpkins, green monsters, black bats, blue ghosts; pentatonic Boomwhackers®
You will also need poster board with one of each of the shapes glued on, with these words and rhythm patterns written underneath each shape:
big full moon - ta ta ta Z (low red)
rattle rattle bones - titi titi ta Z (high red)
pumpkin - Z ta ta Z (orange)
very scary - Z titi Z titi (yellow)
bats flying - ta Z titi Z (green)
boo! - Z Z Z ta (purple)
Activity: Put "creatures" in cauldron - I would count my students, then adjust the number I put in the pot. I wanted at least 2 or 3 on each color of Boomwhacker®. While passing cauldron around circle, chant:
Bubble bubble toil and trouble
Boiling boiling hot
What will you pick from the
Big black pot?
Whoever is holding the cauldron on "pot" pulls a shape from inside. Keep playing until all have a shape - if someone has already had a turn and is holding the cauldron again on the word "pot," allow the next child to the right to pull out a shape.
Group children according to the shapes they've pulled from the cauldron. Practice saying the words for each shape, layering all the parts. Distribute Boomwhackers® and do the same.
I tried this today with 5th and 6th graders. As the day wore on, I decided it was too time-consuming to pass the cauldron and chant, so I just instructed the kids to close their eyes and pull out something from the pot as I walked around with it. (Too time-consuming because I had a paper plate concentration activity planned, also.) Last week, my 5th graders worked on this same Boomwhacker® "ensemble" (adapted from an idea from Chris Judah-Lauder), but some groups just couldn't maintain their parts. Having the words added to the rhythm patterns really seemed to help.
I tried it first with various percussion instruments, but these rhythms just sound better with Boomwhackers®. I deliberately avoided anything "too" Halloween-y, because of the students I have who aren't supposed to participate in those activities.