For the craft in our Chinese World Culture Tour stop, we chose to make a Chinese pellet drum known there as a Bolang Gu. These are double headed drums with dangling beads on either side that act as the percussion on the drum heads by turning the drum side to side.
They first began being used in China during the Song Dynasty. They were and are used for ceremonies, but they also quickly became popular as children toys. Why? Because they're fun to use, and they make noise!
It's a pretty easy craft, and the end result gives the kids something to play with, so that's a plus.
Tie a shoe string around a wooden spoon or paint brush, leaving the handle to be the handle for your drum.
Find 2 old CD's.
(Take some time to explain to the kids what they used to be used for!)
With a few inches of shoe string hanging off either side of your spoon/brush, glue the CDs to either side, covering the spoon or brush head.
Leave some time for the glue to sufficiently dry.
Then string wooden beads onto your shoe string ends.
We used beads from a necklace, tying them on instead of running the lace through them.
Paint whatever design you'd like on the CDs.
We chose to paint solid colors on ours and then have our boys write their names on each side in Chinese. (Google Translate is a big help here)
Once your paint dries, start using the drum! Simply hold it by the handle and turn back and forth, letting the beads strike the front and back of the drum.
Click to see more of the World Culture Tour and for other crafts, check out our
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