Play with Sound with the Junk Jam Music Game

Since we were talking about doing taste tests to explore the sense of taste, I thought it would be fun to look at ways to explore other senses as well. When it comes to learning about sound, music and rhythms are a great place to start.

This Junk Jam idea from Mosswood Connections (which came from the Exploratorium in San Francisco) is really simple to set up and uses trash to help kids play with and learn about sound.

You can play with matching rhythm, exploring pitch, counting as you hit different bottles, exploring how filling containers with different things (rice, beans, water, air) causes them to make different sounds, writing numbers on the containers and writing a song based on the order you play the bottles and more.

These containers are great to keep around and use as recycled instruments even when you’re not playing the game, and your kids will have as much fun with them as they do with purchased musical instruments.

Do you play any musical/sound games with your kids? I’d love to hear about them.

[Photo via Mosswood Connections.]There are lot’s of music learning resources available online too. Check out these Music games and Learning tools and Music Learning Flash Cards.

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Easy Sensory Activities for Valentine's Day

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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Have you read?

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