Praise Him with songs and music

Use scriptures to bring an inspirational lesson to music fun. You’ll find suggestions at the end of the article.

Paper tube rhythm instruments

Seal one end of the tube by cutting a circle of cardboard to match the size of the end. Place it in the end and secure it with a square of paper and tape. Place a tablespoon of uncooked rice or beans into the tube. Seal the open end. Decorate as desired. One rhythm instrument is ready to go.

The timbre of the instrument will vary depending on what is put inside, how much there is, how long and wide the tube is and how tightly it is sealed. With enough different “voices” you can create a real band.

Pop bottle woodwinds

A washed soda pop bottle with a little water added becomes a woodwind instrument when you blow across the top of it. Add different amounts of water to create different sounds. Ask some questions of the children: Does more water sound deeper or higher in tone than less water? Does the force of the air across the top of the bottle make a difference?

Oatmeal box and coffee canister drums

An empty oatmeal box or coffee canister (can or plastic) with a lid makes a great drum. Tap or rap on the lid to create tempo for the band. Try using plastic spoons, wooden dowels and fingertips for a variety of effects.

Tissue box dulcimer

Place rubber bands of varying thickness around an empty tissue box to make a do-it-yourself dulcimer. Sounds will vary with the width and depth of the box and the size of the rubber bands. If you don’t have a variety of rubber band thicknesses, vary tension by knotting the rubber bands to different lengths.

Play the dulcimer by sitting with it across your lap and plucking the bands, rather than strumming like a guitar.

Warning: Snapping rubber bands can be quite hazardous. Exercise extreme caution when playing a tissue box dulcimer. Use discretion as to age group.

Rhythm sticks

Lengths of dowel (eight to twelve inches long) in pairs form a simple instrument – old-fashioned rhythm sticks. By tapping one stick against the other, children can learn rhythm skills and how different tempos can combine to make music. Vary the sounds by using different thicknesses of dowel. Just beware of impromptu swordfights among the musicians.

Doing this at home? Substitute a pair of wooden spoons for dowels.

Paper tube kazoos

Okay, so they aren’t really kazoos. But kids can hum or sing into paper towel or toilet paper tubes to get some interesting harmonics going.

Jingle bells

Tie a couple of sleigh bells along a length of ribbon or yarn. Tie the ends of the ribbon or yarn together to make a loop. Shake the loop to play the bells. Punch holes through a handful of bottle caps and string them loosely on a piece of yarn or ribbon to make another jingly instrument. Metal caps will sound more “tinny” while plastic ones will be “rattle-y.”

Pot lid cymbals

Light-weight metal pot lids of similar size make dandy cymbals. Warning: don’t use enameled lids – the enamel is likely to chip.



Put together a marching band to burn off some energy, or have quiet sit down music to encourage winding down. With homemade instruments, music is just moments away.

Scripture references

Add a scripture, such as: “The Lord is my strength and song.” (Exodus 15:2, KJV) or “…therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.” (Psalm 28:7b, KJV). Other possibilities: Judges 5:3; I Chronicles 16:9; I Chronicles 16: 23; Psalm 7:17; Psalm 9:2; Psalm 13:6 and many more. Use a concordance or go to Biblegateway.com to search for things like “music,” “sing,” “song,” or instrument names like trumpet or flute. You’ll find lots of choices.

John 3:16 Poster

This time of year can become a little crazy, and it's easy to lose sight of what we celebrate. I first made this poster more than 40 years ago.

I was away at college and there was a door decorating contest in the dorm. I had no decorations with me and no money to buy any. What I did have was a shallow box, just the right size to hold a piece of paper bearing John 3:16, the description of the first, best and most precious Christmas gift ever given. While I didn't win the contest (and didn't expect to when I saw the many fancy tinsel and ribbon decorations around the dorm), I did feel good about the number of people who thanked me for the reminder.

These days, I have word processing and desk top publishing to help me make the poster fancy, but it doesn't change the importance of the content.

This one was created in Microsoft's Publisher 2007. You can create one in virtually any publishing or word processing program you may have. You can add artwork or a different background, change to whatever font you prefer - make it your own vision of God's Gift.

If you're short of time, here is a .pdf version you can download and print: John 3:16 Poster

Have a most blessed Christmas!

More Thanksgiving Ideas

Thanksgiving brings with it lot of images of turkeys and Pilgrims. Here are some ideas for Thanksgiving crafts to help you entertain the little Thanks-givers.

Supplies:
Construction Paper
School glue or glue stick
Pencils
Crayons
Safety scissors
Apples, oranges or styrofoam balls
Cheese cubes
Toothpicks or uncooked spaghetti
Marshmallows, full-size and miniature
Candy corn


Snack time:
Make little turkey treats with marshmallows: Use a full-sized marshmallow or two as the body. Thread miniature marshmallows on toothpicks or uncooked spaghetti pieces (for younger children) for the tail feathers. Use a single miniature marshmallow as the head and a piece of candy corn for the beak. Cut a marshmallow in half to serve as the wings and two pieces of candy corn for the feet. Try to enjoy it for a moment or two before devouring!

If you can find the multicolored marshmallows, they make a fun display. Or roll plain ones in cocoa powder for a brown turkey. If your turkey seems a little "tail heavy," prop it with a toothpick in back.

Larger turkey treats can be formed on apples, oranges or styrofoam balls for the body. Thread cheese cubes on toothpicks for the tail feathers. Attach a small triangle of cheese to a single cube to form the head and beak.

Just a caution: this works much better with medium cheddar (or something with a similar smooth texture) than sharp cheddar. Witness the disaster below:

Sharp cheddar is a little too crumbly to make neat cubes. So you can learn from my mistake - LOL.

Pilgrim buckles:

Cut rectangles of gold (or yellow) or silver (gray) construction paper. Cut two openings in it to form a simplified buckle.

Print a scripture or scripture reference about thanks along the outer edges. Cut a strip of black or dark blue construction paper and thread through the center.

 

Secure with a small piece of tape or a dot of glue on the back. These make nice little bookmarks or place cards for the table. The blue or back strip provides a good surface for a small sticker, if desired. Make them as large as you would like. My sample is about 3.5" by 4.5" for the buckle size and 2" X 9" for the strip inside.

Test your writing implement on a sample of the paper before starting the lettering. The marker I used wasn't quite as fine a tip as I would have liked. It worked - it just wasn't as tidy as I hoped it would be.

Drumsticks for all:

Cut out construction paper drumsticks, large enough for a scripture verse or reference on one side. On the other side, you might put the person's name or have each person write something for which they are thankful.

 

You can get several from a single sheet of paper if you reverse every other one. A template for five to an 8.5" X 11" page is here: Drumsticks Template

These make great bookmarks or place cards as well. And everyone at the table can have a drumstick!

Turkey Time - Handprint Turkeys

Ah, the handprint turkey! Is there anything more personal for little ones to do at Thanksgiving? Choose the appropriate activity level for your group.

Supplies:
Paper - plain white paper to trace on
Construction paper - to cut out feathers and other features; to mount finished pictures on
Crayons
School glue or glue stick
Finger paint
Watercolors
Assorted glitz - sequins, glitter and such


To begin:
Have each child open one of his or her hands as far as possible. Trace the hand on the white paper with a crayon. Older children may want to trace their own hand. For very young children, you can make photocopies of a hand you traced from an older child.

The thumb will be the turkey's head; the other fingers serve as the tail feathers and the hand itself is the turkey's body.

Very young children:
Draw wings on the body. Draw eyes, a beak and wattle on the head. Add feet. Let the children color the bird.

Youngsters:
(Adults should pre-cut construction paper features for the birds.) Glue construction paper tail feathers on the tail. Glue a yellow beak and a red or pink wattle on the head. Draw in eyes, feet and wings. Color as desired.

Any age that enjoys getting messy:
(With thanks to Dr. Karen Romito of HobbyTown USA in Folsom, CA) Put finger paint on the hand and fingers in a variety of colors. Place the hand down on the paper and move the four fingers (but not the thumb) back and forth a little to create a fan of colored tail feathers. Draw in any additional details after the paint dries.

Older children:
Using safety scissors, cut features for the turkey from construction paper. Glue them on as desired and use crayons to color the other parts.


Here's a picture of a real feather, if you'd like to use that:

You can download the image here: Feather Photo



Feel free to get creative within your group's abilities with things like glitter, water colors (use water color paper to start rather than copy paper), colored pencils or other decorating techniques. This is a very adaptable project, suitable for a wide variety of time frames and skill levels.

Some ideas for incorporating "Thanks" into the project:
Have the children print something or someone they or thankful for on each tail feather (or have an adult print it for them);

Have them print an appropriate scripture reference or passage at the bottom of the picture. Some options are:
I Chronicles 16:8
I Chronicles 16:34
I Chronicles 29:13
Psalm 30:4
Psalm 69:30
Psalm 75:1
Psalm 92:1
Psalm 95:2
Psalm 100:4
or have older children find their own verses;

Have them address the picture to someone they are thankful to and give it to that person as a thank you gift.