Making Wind Chimes

What You Need:

• Multi-colored beads
• Small brass bells
• Buttons
• Yarn, cut into 7-9 pieces at least 6" long
• Paper tape
• Scissors
• Cardboard, pre-cut into a circle
• Hole punch

What You Do:

1. Help your child wrap a small piece of paper tape to one end of each piece of yarn to help make lacing easier.
2. On the opposite end, help them tie a bead in place.
3. Help them punch holes in the cardboard circle where the laced wind chimes will be attached. Make sure to punch one additional hole in the center.
4. Have your child create different patterns while they thread each string. Encourage them to play with various textures by using different sizes of beads and bells.
5. Ask them to leave at least 2" on the top of each piece of yarn bead-free.
6. Help your child tie on and knot each of the threaded pieces of yarn to the holes in the cardboard disc. Leave the hole in the center open.
7. After all of the strings are tied in place, thread one more piece of yarn through the center hole and knot it from below.
8. Hang the finished wind chime up and enjoy breezy jingles!

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