Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Singing Meter Board

The idea is that pictures are attached and as the children sing well the pictures go up. (Or down, or sideways, or however you are holding the board).

Here is my basic board. It's really easy to make:
  • thick poster board
  • string (I used yarn)
  • scissors
  1. Measure and mark where you want the holes for the string. If you want, leave more space at the top so you can put a title on it.
  2. Poke the holes
  3. Cut the string and thread it through
  4. Tie it on the back side

*You want the strings tight, but not so tight that they won't move.  Too loose, though, and the items you attach to the front will droop and not stay close to the board.



5. Make the backing to which you'll attach items. Make sure the knot at the back is all the way up and the backing is all the way at the bottom. I used cardboard from a cereal box:


6. Attach items. I was making "fireworks" for the 4th of July, using gift wrap bows. I'm still working on putting the title on my board, but I was in a hurry to get this post up. When the kids sing well the fireworks will go up!

Item ideas are -
  • flowers that grow up
  • fireworks that go up
  • cars that race (side-to-side, turn the board horizontally)
  • thermometer
  • snowmen that melt
  • raindrops that fall down
  • shooting stars (side-to-side)
  • rocketships up to the moon
  • tortoise and the hair (side-to-side)
  • hearts for a "love o'meter"
  • kites
  • ... let me know your ideas! I want to know more ways to use this singing meter board so I can get lots of use out of it!

It's horizontal (which kind of causes the strings to sag if the pictures are too heavy).
I used sticks to put the sign on the side (it is on the top when the board is vertical):

Here is the "Build a Temple" version, used in THIS lesson:




Here is the Valentine's Version:

Another Valentine's Version with "Conversation Hearts":

The March/windy weather version:

For all 3 verses of On a Golden Springtime
(more of just a visual aid than a singing meter)
two pics:



(Yes!,  They are the suns... repurposed!)

6 comments:

  1. Very cute, I like that you can reuse it throughout the year.

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  2. I was just thinking you'd make it in ONE version. How awesome that you can switch it up! I think the kids would love that. Very clever! Thank you!

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  3. This might be a silly question, but how do you use the 3 pull strings? Do you do all 3 for one song? All at once? Or one at a time? Or one per song? I am sure there are lots of different ways to do it, but I was just curious as to how you did it. Thanks for all your ideas, I am in heaven here!

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  4. Hi Merrills. :) I pulled all 3 at the same time during the song (at different rates - my hand jumping from string to string - sometimes holding 2 strings at once). Another time I had children pull the strings. Another time, I assigned one "firework" to boys, one to girls, one to Teachers. Another time 2 were going up for the signs, and a child was pulling the 3rd for singing (we learned the signs for My Flag when I used this board for the first time - which I am referencing). Hope this helps! Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. Thank you Adrienne and Ali. Glad you could stop by. Happy singing! :)

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  6. This is a great adaptable singing meter board. Thank you so much.

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