Sunflower Drum Kit

We've enjoyed some beautiful sunflowers this year, but now sadly they're starting to die down. We're keeping the flower heads so we can collect the seeds to plant next year, & leaving what's left for the birds to enjoy outside.

 But after looking at the sunflowers we discovered how sturdy & strong the fibrous stalks were, & Minnie discovered they make a neat set of natural drumsticks!! Now all we needed was a drum kit, so we added a table to Minnie's Garden Tearooms, along with a space hopper, upturned wheelbarrow, some pans & bowls & the Garden Drum Kit was ready to Rock!

Minnie had fun discovering which objects created high / low / loud / quiet / long / short sounds, & the different sounds / vibrations she could create as she tapped gently or hit with force.

This was definitely a physical activity with lots of large arm movements & plenty of jumping! At times she did resemble Animal from The Muppets!!

And of course, different materials (metal, plastic, rubber) offer different sounds when hit, yet another discovery.

The big bass drum (space hopper) was Minnie's favourite.

Minnie's selection of bowls & pots were an ideal height for the sticks to be scraped along the top creating newly found sounds.

Then Minnie left the sticks & played the pots in the style of bongos!

This was a great set up for exploring a variety of sounds, movements, rhythms, sizes, & imagination. Give a child freedom to play & they'll astound you with their creativity!