Make a Wind Chime

Stir crazy kids on your hands? Get them busy with this colorful craft activity, and sneak in some math practice without them even realizing it! This beaded wind chime is fun to make, and it gets kids experimenting with patterns, a key kindergarten math skill.

Materials:
Package of multicolored beads
Bowl
Yarn
Masking tape
Scissors
Small bells (can be purchased from a crafts store)
Needle, or something else sharp and pointy (for parents to use only!)
Yogurt container lid, or other plastic lid

Directions:

1. Cut 7-9 equal pieces of yarn. Wrap a small piece of masking tape around one end of each piece, to make lacing easier (each yarn end should now resemble a shoe lace) and then tie a bead at the bottom of the other side of each piece of yarn.  Poke holes with the needle or sharp instrument (parents only!) around the edge of the plastic container lid. You can make a small inner circle as well if you’d like.
2. Give your child the strings of yarn, and a bowl full of beads. Tell her you’re going to make different patterns on each of the strings. One might be ABAB (for example, red-blue-red-blue), another might be ABCABC (for example, red-blue-yellow-red-blue-yellow) and so forth.  Experiment with a variety of patterns and talk about what comes next as you go along. Don’t forget to place a bell or two on each string.
3. Leave some room at the top of each piece of yarn, then thread each piece into one of the holes in the lid, and tie a knot at the top. Once all the strings are hung and knotted, poke a final hole through the center of the lid, thread a piece of yarn through it, and knot underneath. Hang your chimes outside on a breezy day and enjoy the jingle!

Getting students comfortable sorting items into groups and sets is one of the key targets of kindergarten math, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be fun. With this project, your kids will be patterning like there’s no tomorrow, but they won’t feel like they’re studying math, they’ll feel like they’re getting crafty!

Adapted, with permission, from the book "Creative Crafts for Kids" (Hamlyn, 2006).