The kids in our homeschool co-op were paired up in teams to do a presentation about a country they were assigned to but it was not just a presentation they had to make an amusement park about that country.
My seven year old son was given South Africa. For his portion he was to make a map of the park, a menu of the foods in the park and to present some type of music from South Africa. After searching on-line we decided to make a spirit drum, which is what is played in part of South Africa. When played the twisting the handle, which in turn causes the attached beaters to hit the drum head, plays the drum.
Materials:
Toilet paper tube
yarn
Un-sharpened pencil
Hole puncher / scissors
Cut the toilet paper tube in a section a 2 inch piece. My son colored the tube bright colors on the outside. Then I took a hole punch and hole punched a hole on the bottom and one on each side of the tube. We inserted the pencil through the bottom hole. Using a 5-6 inch piece of yarn we strung it through the side holes, stung 2 pony beads on each side and then double knotted the ends. On one side of the toilet paper tube we took a small piece of Duct tape and placed in over the opening. Then another piece of duct tape and taped the yarn and pencil to the one side of the Duct tape. Then placed a piece of Duct tape on the other side. Then we wrapped the pencil with Duct tape.
Simply move the pencil stick side to side or like my son does place the pencil stick in between both hands and move your hands back and forth – both of these motions will have the beads move back and forth onto the Duct tape which plays a nice drum sound.
We set his African craft on the table with the other things he made – a map of his and his teammates South African amusement park, books, etc. The kids visited each other’s tables and saw everyone’s presentations and when they came to my son’s table one of the first things the kids picked up was the spirit drum and played it.
What geography crafts have your kids made in their homeschooling or schooling?
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Fun! This looks easy but still packed for of information activity for kids. Even if kids are in public school I think it’s still good to do a little homeschooling to fill in some cracks the school system might have missed.
I totally agree! I think we can greatly increase what our kids are learning by simply adding on things that maybe the teachers just don’t have the time to teach.
I love this idea! Such a great way to engage kids in learning geography and culture! My kids are in public school, but I think this would be a great learning project/presentation idea for my daughter’s teacher to consider.
What a fun and simple craft! We have always done recipes from different cultures.
I agree. This is a fun and simple craft. That is important for learning if you ask me.
Wow how fun! I need to find a local homeschool group. Sounds like a fun way to be hands on and keep the kids happy while creating fun crafts!
Oh that is cute! Love upcycling things or repurposing something for another use. Plus what kid doesn’t enjoy a good noisemaker?
Our schools have the kids make dioramas of the places they are studying. Usually a camp site or village, people and all!
What a great way to gather educational posts. Love this.
Oh how fun! My kids would love playing with these.
This is such a fun craft! My little guy would love it!
That’s such a cool craft project. I never knew you could make these so easily. How fun!
I’ve always thought those were such neat toys! The sound they make is way fun!
We made something similar to that. It was a Spirit stick, it was very similar though. Love it.
What a neat craft idea. I can’t think of anything my son has made yet off the top of my head.
How fun! I literally cannot think of a kid who wouldn’t have a BALL with this! Have a great weekend 🙂
xo,
Stephanie
Diary of a Debutante
Oh this sounds cool. I bet they had a blast!
Looks like a great toy. My kids would love making something like that.
What a great idea! My son would love this! Thanks for sharing.
Back in my day we didn’t have to do those cool projects, they look neat.
That’s pretty nifty! My girls were playing with these at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I think it would be cool for them to make their own.
What an adorable craft! My kids love anything that makes noise, so this would be particularly appealing.
What a great hands-on lesson for kids.
This is so cool! We’re starting to talk about other cultures in our homeschool, so I’ll have to add this to our craft list! My oldest is the same age, so I think he’ll really like it.
I definitely need to find a homeschooling co-op in my area. Is it like an after school program?
Interesting! China has a very similar drum toy. 🙂
You know, I had one of these as a kid and never knew it was an African Spirit Drum! It was a gift (not a craft) and I LOVED it, it was beautiful and exotic.
I’ve always loved these kind of drums. It’s so easy to make them and teaches kids so much about music and culture.
This is a really cute and easy craft project! My little guys are not yet in school though I am sure they would enjoy making this.
None that I can recall, but this is seriously cool. I didn’t think about how easily these drums could be made. I think it’s time to get some geography going up in this place.
What a great idea! I especially love the use of the patterned tape, my girls would love this!
What a great craft idea! I also like that the items are easy to have on hand.
I love how this incoperates culture and music.
I realize this is an old post, but I hope you can help me. My son is doing a project on Africa and chose the Spirit Drum. We are having a very difficult time finding information on this specific drum. Do you have a link for where you found your information?
no. Like you said this is a really old post. 2013. If I had a link I would have referenced it in my post. I may have just stumbled over a photo on-line or something. I do not remember. Sorry.