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Noodle Notes

Pool noodle hack! Pool noodles make a fantastic manipulative for your classroom.  Students love exploring rhythm and meter with this DIY project.  You don’t really need to be crafty to follow this craft tutorial for your music room.  Ideas for use include games, assessment and more.

Introducing  *drum roll please* NOODLE NOTES!  You may remember that I purchased a bunch of pool noodles at the beginning of the school year to make noodle ponies.  Well, the noodles are out again!  This time I created a way for students to compose with rhythms.

Pool noodle hack! Pool noodles make a fantastic manipulative for your classroom.  Students love exploring rhythm and meter with this DIY project.  You don’t really need to be crafty to follow this craft tutorial for your music room.  Ideas for use include games, assessment and more.
In the activity below, first graders were asked to group notes in sets of 4 beats.  We introduce the term "bar lines" and used the small yellow noodles to represent them.  Today we used only notes that fit in one beat like a quarter note (ta), barred eighth notes (titi) and a quarter rest (sh).  Each noodle note has a note on one side and the corresponding rest on the other side.
Pool noodle hack! Pool noodles make a fantastic manipulative for your classroom.  Students love exploring rhythm and meter with this DIY project.  You don’t really need to be crafty to follow this craft tutorial for your music room.  Ideas for use include games, assessment and more.



In future lessons we'll use half notes and whole notes.  The half notes are twice as long as the blue note pieces because they get two counts instead of one.  The whole notes are four times longer than the blue note pieces because they get four counts.

Noodle Notes are GREAT for rhythmic dictation.  I'm storing mine in a file box, but there are many options for storage that will work depending on how you plan to use them in your classroom.

I must confess that I didn't really measure my noodle notes.  I just eyeballed them.  So I'll give you some guesstimates: 
whole notes=about 12 inches
dotted half notes=about 9 inches
half notes=about 6 inches
quarter notes, barred eighths=about 3 inches
the "bar lines" are about an inch (maybe less)

How many noodles should you buy?  Well...that depends.  Do you want a class set?  4-8 sets for workstations?  Will you use the same dimensions that I did?

OH!  And all noodles are NOT created equal!  Some are about six inches longer than others.  Some noodles are very thick.  When creating your set, be sure to measure.  Well...if that kind of thing matters to you. :-)

If you can't tell, I've kind of got a thing for pool noodles.  You can check out my Pool Noodle Awesomeness Pinterest board HERE.


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27 comments:

  1. I LOVE this! I am going to the dollar store this weekend and buying pool noodles! This looks like so much fun. Thank you for sharing!

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  2. ingenious idea for rhythm... thanks for sharing!

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  3. This is a wonderful idea, You should look into a product called Note Knacks.

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  4. Hi there. I made these...fabulous idea. However, one question. For instance, if the kids chose a half note, and then wanted to change it to a half rest, did they have to simply turn it still on the rope, or take it off and flip it over?

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  5. Great idea. One question: If a child wanted to change their mind from a note rhythm to the corresponding rest rhythm, would they have to take it off the rope completely, or did you draw them on so they could just be flipped over?

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    1. Yes, I drew them so that they just twisted the noodle and the note was on the other side. That way it is easy to edit what they have composed.

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  6. Can you tell me how long the segments are?

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    1. The one beat notes are approximately two inches and the rest increase/decrease in size accordingly.

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  7. What kind of rope do you use?

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    1. I used one of the dollar jump ropes from a local dollar store.

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    2. Is there any particular reason for red and blue? Do they work on this in groups/teams?

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    3. The blue pieces are 1 count values. The red pieces are 2, 3 or 4 count note values

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  8. I love this idea. Thanks for sharing it!!!

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  9. AH-MA-ZING! I bought a whole bunch of noodles for my church choir kids and knew there would be a way I could use them in class!!! I LOVE using props to teach! Thank you!

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    1. The kids really love them too! Glad you found something you can use. :-)

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  10. What a creative way to teach rhythm! Thanks for sharing!

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  11. Thanks for your awesome idea! I went to the Dollar Store and made them today. Can't wait to use them in music class.

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  12. Question: What did you use to "cut" the noodle for this activity? I have all the supplies here....ready to make it!

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  13. I used a regular, non-serrated, kitchen knife.

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  14. How many of each note value do you recommend making?

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    1. I made about 24 quarter and barred eighth notes, 4 half notes and 4 whole notes. I made several bar lines but I don't remember how many.

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  15. I made these last year and used them. The kids loved them! I had problems with the sharpie marker rubbing off. Couple of times during the year, I had to re-write the note. Do you have any problems with that or is there something else I should use? Thanks!

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    1. Maybe a paint sharpie would work better. They seemed to stay on megabucks better.

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