Third grade's Australian study began this year with the making of a didgeridoo.
We read the book, Do You Do A Didgeridoo? by Nick Page.
Once we had read the book, we learned about Australian didgeridoos.
The students started out by working on 6 different patterns in their sketchbooks. I had a variety of Zentangle pages handy for them and they were also encouraged to come up with their own ideas.
Once their 6 patterns were completed, each student received a piece of butcher paper. They divided the paper into 6 sections and recreated their patterns with a black marker.
When the patterns were done, they taped paper towel and toilet paper rolls together to make the didgeridoo. The butcher paper was wrapped around the rolls and voila!
The last project that the 3rd graders worked on this year was an Australian didgeridoo.
I started out by reading the book Do You Do a Didgeridoo? to them. It's a very silly, sing song book and they loved it! After that, I showed them a Power Point that I had put together explaining what didgeridoos are, how they are made and at the end, included a YouTube video of an aborigine man playing a real didgeridoo.
After this, we went to the teacher work room and each student got a piece of butcher paper (I let them choose their color). We went back to the room and I had them divide their paper into at least 8 sections. I demonstrated how to fill each section with a Zentangle design using their fine tip black marker (we used quite a few of these- 3rd and 5th grade were both using them and with 200 students using markers, they either dried up or the tips got smashed).
When their designs were completed, I showed them how to take either paper towel rolls or toilet paper rolls (I always haveb large bins outside of my door where students and faculty can drop off any items that they want to recycle, so I had plenty for this project!) and tape them together so that they were long enough for the butcher paper to wrap around.
We used clear packing tape to tape the outside and I have stored these for the summer so that I can put them on display when we go back to school in August.
Unfortunately the pictures are not the best, but hopefully you will get the idea. I think next year, I will give them more than just black markers.....
