Dip Tray Workstations: Bottle Cap Pitches

Like many teachers and moms, I am a big fan of dollar stores.  I love a good deal and am often inspired to create while walking the aisles.  My husband is most tolerant of my dollar store ways, so that helps feed my addiction too.  In this week's edition of Summer Project Sundays I'm sharing a project with you that is fun to make, fun to use and inexpensive if you have a dollar store near you. This week's project is a Dip Tray Workstation.

This workstation is great for 3rd grade and up.  Students are given a box or bag of bottle caps that have treble clef notes on them.  Students identify the note and then place it in the appropriate compartment. My students loved the novelty of playing with the bottle caps and the dip trays.  I loved that they were practicing naming treble clef pitches and staying on task. To make this dip tray center, I printed out a set of treble clef pitches on the staff.  Using a 1-inch hole punch I punched out each of the notes.  I printed this sheet on both card stock and regular copy paper.  There wasn't much of a difference in the finished project, but I thought it was easier to manipulate the ones that were printed on card stock.

I have a large collection of bottle caps that I use for a variety of activities (including Bottle Cap Staff).  I just grabbed a few of them for this project.  If you choose to start collecting them, 2 liter soda bottles work best.  There are also some plastic water bottles that have lids with a 1-inch diameter that would work well too.

After the notes have been punched out, I attached them to a bottle cap with regular school glue.  This was such a bad idea!  After the first group I realized that this was not a good solution.  The notes popped right off bottle cap.  I took that batch home and used Modge Podge (an adhesive and sealer) on them.  This worked MUCH better!  I would recommend using it instead of school glue for your project.

The finished result was a unique and useful music manipulative.

My kiddos really enjoyed this activity.  It was a great addition to my pitch workstations.  My students used the dip tray workstation on the floor, but it could just as easily be used at a desk or table.

You can download a directions sheet and the sheet of pitches designed to work with a one inch hole punch HERE.  Next week I'll show you a few more ways to use dip trays in your music classroom.  If you are just now check out this project you may want to check out projects from the last two weeks:
Pool Noodle Ponies-What to Do With Your New Herd Steady Beat Swords (Pool Noodles)
Pin this idea for later.