Submitted by Kristin Lukow, Nebraska

Idea posted August 23, 2001

I use pipe cleaners for making musical notes. Everybody gets one pipe cleaner. We bend them into the shapes of the notes. It is THE BEST way for me to teach note types to my little ones.

  • Whole note - obvious... you make a circle with the pipe cleaner
  • Half note - just make a smaller note, open middle with a stem
  • Quarter note - twirl the pipe cleaner around like a snail to fill up the
  • middle and leave a stem.
  • Eighth-note - just bend a flag onto the stem
  • Two eighth-notes - you can use one pipe cleaner and make a small one, or what I like to do is have a student find a partner and work together to make them connected.

We also make quarter and eighths rests... whole and half rests are fun to make but it really takes two pipe cleaners to do it well.

Some of my very creative students like to make 16th, 32nd, 64th notes and even treble and bass clefs, sharps and flats.

I extend it by turning right to rhythm reading with the notes. Kids can make the kind of note they want, and then I write a rhythm on the board, and we all read together. When their type of note comes up, they pulse their note in the air. We switch notes and do another four beat pattern. This idea is totally my own crazy idea, and my kids really get into it. I use it with kindergarten through second grade. I sometime reinforce in the older grades. They never really get tired of it through the years!

We sometimes keep them to take back to class and sometimes make a bulletin board out of all our pipe cleaner notes.

By the way... this is a great way to start the year and make a cool bulletin board to boot. I just cover a large bulletin board with colorful paper and border and have the kids stick the notes up there. They love it and so do I! I like to have something for Open House, which is right away in the fall and the kids do it all!