What To Do With Those Boomwhackers

If you are starting a new job in a new classroom and suddenly find yourself with access to a bunch of boomwhackers you don't know what to do with, or you have had the instruments for a while and feel like you're not getting as much use out of them as you should, this post is for you! In this post you'll find tips for storing boomwhackers, procedures for managing their use with students, and tons of lesson ideas and center activities to use with a broad range of grade levels!

1. Storage

I've written an entire post with all the details on how I do this, which I'll link below, but I highly recommend keeping your boomwhackers stored in a way that students can easily access, but also allows students to use the different sizes and colors as a visual aid for understanding and discriminating high and low pitch and reinforcing specific solfege and letter note names. Besides being less fragile and easy for young students to play and hold, the main advantage of these instruments is the way they are color coded and have both the solfege and letter names written on them, so I think it's important to use them to your advantage! Here is the post with all the details on how I store mine:

2. Management

These instruments can very quickly turn into light sabers, missile launchers, walking sticks, etc, and sometimes I lean into that! But most of the time I do want to maintain a little more semblance of order. I always remind students of the same rule I have for every instrument before they get their hands on them: "if you play before I say you'll make the instrument go away". I point out that if they mindlessly tap it on their leg or swing it around it will very likely play and then go away. I have students carry it to their seats and hold it while waiting with two hands. When they are playing, I usually give them the option to either tap it on their other hand, tap it on the floor, or (especially if they are sitting in chairs) tap it on their knee. Otherwise you will very quickly find students bopping themselves on the head!

3. Lesson and Center Ideas

I've written an entire post on my favorite lesson and center activity ideas using boomwhackers, which I'll link below. I truly use these with every age and, contrary to what I expected when I first started teaching, I actually find I use them more with the older grades than the younger ones! They are also great for center activities because I don't have to worry too much about monitoring students using them independently, and we can use them to do a lot of activities with pitch in a simple way that's easy for them to do on their own. Here are all my favorite lesson and center activity ideas:

I hope this gives you some ideas to start using your boomwhackers more in your lessons! If you want the fully detailed lesson plans and materials for everything I do with boomwhackers and more, you can find them in my curriculum. They are really an amazingly versatile instrument for teaching such a wide range of skills and concepts and they are so much fun for all ages!