Wonderful wind chimes

Activity

Use materials you have in your school garden or collect recycled items to make a wind chime.

  • Estimated time: 30 minutes
  • Location: Outdoors & Indoors
  • School term: All year round
  • Level of experience: No experience needed
  • Subject(s): Art&DT, Geography

Learning objectives

  • Learn how to design products 
  • Choose from a wide range of materials
  • Learn about the weather 

Preparation

Use this activity as part of a sensory or weather project.

Equipment

  • Pot, twig or soild item to form the base 
  • Length of string
  • Large beads
  • Scissors
  • Selection of items to make interesting sounds. Metal objects such as copper pipe, keys, cutlery or natural objects such as shells, short lengths of bamboo

Step by step

  1. Choose your materials and decide what will form the base of your hanging structure before you begin. Then decide how you will arrange your items.
  2. Cut string to different lengths to attach your noisy items. Make sure they will bump into each other to make noise. 
  3. Attach your items to the string. For copper pipes and cutlery, just attach one item. For keys or shells, attach them in a series, knotting each one to keep it in place.
  4. Repeat several more times, spreading the threads evenly around the base. Make a loop of string to hang the wind chime from a tree or arch where it will catch the breeze
  5. Ensure it is above head height so no one will walk into it. 

Hints & tips

  • This activity would work equally as well with natural materials such as pine cones, it will be silent but will still move around in the wind.
  • If the wind chime doesn't make a noise then it is a mobile.
  • Use this activity as part of Sensory Sensations class growing topic.