The credit for today’s simple project goes to my 6-year old daughter! She told me she wanted to make a tambourine, scrounged through art supply central at home, and came up with this a few minutes later.
4 things I like about this project: 1) Unlike the paper plate versions, this tambourine uses a plastic oatmeal container lid that won’t buckle or tear; 2) The surface of the oatmeal container lid makes the instrument sound more drum-like (and thus more like a real tambourine); 3) The bells are threaded through pipe cleaner pieces and attached with tape. This made it possible for her to make the project with zero adult assistance; Finally, 4) My kid’s a crafter! SUCH a proud mom right now.
Inspired by her project, I developed a slightly fancier version. It is a little more work, but the threading part of the project really helps build those fine motor skills.
You’ll need:
- 1 large oatmeal or yogurt container lid
- 3 jingle bells
- 3 pieces of pipe cleaner
- 2 ribbons
- Hole punch
- Tape
First, punch 7 holes around the perimeter of an oatmeal or yogurt lid. Thread the ribbon through the holes, ending with all the ribbons meeting in the bottom-most hole.
Quick hint for threading floppy ribbon through holes…create a “needle” using masking tape. When you’re finished, just unwrap the making tape, or cut it off the ribbon entirely.
Thread a jingle bell onto a piece of pipe cleaner, fold it into a U, and and insert both ends into a pair of holes. Unfold the ends of the pipe cleaner and secure them to the back of the lid with tape. Repeat these steps with the remaining 2 bells.
Your tambourine is finished!
Looking for some musical accompaniment? How about this rockin’ Medieval lute project?
Who knew infinity could be so beautiful? I’ve returned with Part II of the Digitopolis event post (
The boxes are designed to be infinite, interactive environments that play with your perception and inspire inquisitiveness and wonder. They were in constant use during the event, and there were lots of shrieks of amazement, enthusiastic explosions of “Cool!” and long, drawn out utterances of “Woooooow…”
Digitopolis was not without its celebrities, including the King of Numbers himself. I speak, of course, of the Mathamagician.
That’s real-life mathamagician Brent Ferguson on the right, grinning away under the pointy hat covered with equations. He’s math faculty at the Lawrenceville School, and in 2013, he was awarded the National Museum of Mathamatics’ Rosenthal Prize for innovation in math teaching. On the left is Dr. Dan Fishman, a high school math teacher, who, like Brent, has unbridled enthusiasm for all things math.
Also at the Mathamagican’s table were three Digitopolis “tourism” posters for families to take home (the posters were inspired by 
A quick word about the Mathamagician’s costume. The robes and hat were made by freshman James Jared, who ingeniously modified 
The Mathamagician wasn’t the only celebrity in Digitopolis that day. Does this gentleman look familiar to you?
Yup, it’s Albert Einstein. Or rather, professional reenactor Bill Agress playing Albert Einstein. Mr. Einstein circulated the event floor, chatted with kids, answered questions about his life and work, tried an activity or two, and posed for pictures. And yes – he wasn’t wearing any socks.
They also whipped up an 
Elsewhere in Digitopolis, another math wizard was hard at work. This is Emile Oshima, a junior at Princeton and master of the Japanese abacus. Next to him is senior Rei Mastsuura.
In addition to having Emile and Rei teaching kids how to use an abacus, Emile raced kids (and parents!) armed with electronic calculators to see who could reach the product of 3 x 3 multiplication problems faster. Emile always won. He was lightning fast!
Meanwhile, at another event table, another calculator was keeping kids busy. But this calculator was rather…odd.
The “Crazy Calculator” was designed by the Princeton Society of Women Engineers using 2 Makey Makey sets. Have you seen Makey Makey? It’s pretty awesome. Each set consists of wired alligator clips, a small central board, and computer software.
Interspersed with the other event tables were five “Pop Up History” activities that tied together math and history. These tables were designed to be simple, stand-alone, and un-staffed.
At “Global Counting,” kids could see diverse numerical systems on a big display board (the book Go Figure: A Totally Cool Book About Numbers (DK, 2005) was very helpful in this regard). Then, kids copied their favorite number system on a 3.5″ x 17″ strip of paper, and used yarn to turn it into a little scroll.
At another table were Möbius strips, a must-have for any hands-on math event. Discovered in 1858 by German mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius, the strip demonstrates how a piece of paper can have only one side! All it takes is a 2.5″ x 28″ piece of poster board, tape, and some 
Another hands-on math must-have? Tangram puzzles. Originating in China, tangram puzzles were first introduced to Europe in the 19th century. There are plenty of inexpensive tabletop tangrams out there, but we decided to splurge on some giant foam floor size versions (thinner ones purchased from SimplyFun, chunkier ones from Fat Brain Toys). Later, these were donated to a local non-profit family shelter.
The fourth Pop Up History table was called “Tally Hides.” Some American Indian tribes kept track of important things by making tally marks on animal hides and tree bark. Definitely a cool way to count!
Before the event, we cut 9″ x 12″ pieces of brown paper into the shape of a hide. During the event, kids wrinkled the paper, flattened it out, and used markers to draw the wildlife they’ve seen around their homes and town. Then, they estimated how many times they’d seen each critter, and made a tally mark next to it. The project is originally from The Secret Life of Math (Williamson Books, 2005).
The final history table was called “Tile Tessellations.” Decorating surfaces with tiles spans many cultures, and many centuries. But did you know that the geometry in Early Islamic art was so intricate, it was unrivaled for over 500 years?
Kids put their tiling and tessellating skills to work by gluing 3/4″ paper tiles to a 6″ x 6″ square of 
That’s it for history – how about some games? 
Or entire families could take a break and play Number Ninjas.
Heck, maybe you could even beat Einstein at Qbitz! After the event, the games were donated to a local non-profit family shelter.
For the musically adventurous, there was “Musical Fractions,” an activity composed by senior Matt Smith and freshman Demi Zhang. Kids used percussion instruments (assorted floor drums, wood blocks, maracas, a wooden fish, claves, and sand blocks) to learn how to play, and recognize, wholes, halves, quarters, and eighths. They also learned about musical structure and patterns.
Each instructional session ranged between 10 to 15 minutes. I wasn’t able to catch an entire one, but I did manage to grab a few seconds of this one. Just listen to those fractions!
At big events like this, my staff and I wear costumes so that people can find us quickly in the crowds (helloooo 
On the backs were our favorite numbers. Let’s hear it for 9, 2, and 11! Woot woot!
I’d like to send a million, trillion, zillion, googolplex thanks to everyone who made this event possible, and who generously gave their time to make math fun, approachable, unusual and fun. An extra shout out to the Princeton University students, and the student athletes who volunteered so energetically and enthusiastically! Thank you so much, everyone!
Literacy is, among other things, about communication. Writers write, readers read, and ideas and experiences are shared. Then I started thinking about communication in all its glorious forms. What about jazz music? Specifically, improvisational, free form, impromptu jams in which the musicians carry on entire musical conversations with their instrument voices. How exactly does that work? What cues are the musicians using? How do they know when to start? When to stop?
At the program, Karen was joined by Brian Glassman on double bass and Tom Sayek on drums. All I can say is…wow. I can’t believe what they packed into that 60 minute performance.
Karen explained accents, beats, syncopation, melody, tone, changes, coda, chords, tags, and pitch. Interspersed with her instruction were jazz pieces that not only demonstrated the concepts she was explaining, it also got the kids singing, clapping, and dancing along!
At the end of the program, the kids were invited to come up and meet the musicians and the instruments.
The drum set was an absolute mob scene.
But, as a former bass player, I made a beeline for the double bass. It was made in Concord, New Hampshire by Abraham Prescott circa 1820. Love. Loooove.
Later, I caught up with Karen to ask her a little more about jazz communication.