Here are best practices for how to teach students to play Boomwhackers along with great songs and Boomwhacker storage ideas.

How do you teach and introduce kids to play Boomwhackers?

Like any instrument, you need to have a few routines and procedures in place.

How to Pass Out and Collect Boomwhackers

There are many ways to pass out and collect Boomwhackers. The objective is to get it done quickly and safely. Here are some options.

• If your storage is portable, such as in buckets, you can place them in several locations in the room and let students get their instrument. The different locations will prevent congestion to keep things quick and safe.
• Another option is for the teacher to be in charge. This will take longer but will let you give them to the students who show readiness.
• Designating student leaders works efficiently. One student can hand out all the Cs and Ds, another the Es and Fs, etc.

Resting Position

Always designate a resting position so that when the you give the designated phrase or signal, the instruments will be put in this quiet spot.

Resting positions can be on the flat on the floor with your hands in lap, holding it on your shoulder, lay it across your lap, etc. This will need to be practiced first with a pretend Boomwhacker and then with the instrument.

How to Play the Boomwhacker

What’s your verb going to be? “Play” your Boomwhacker? Or hit, tap, whack? 🙃 The end goal is to make beautiful music. (Well as much as you can expect from a plastic tube called a Boom Whacker!) I thought tap sounded the best-descriptive with a lightness to it! haha Here are some possible ways to tap it.

• Tap hands-a nice light sound.
• Tap the floor-a sharper sound and there was a BIG rule to tapping the floor. The ENTIRE Boomwhacker tapped, not just the end. If they tap the end, the Boomwhackers will eventually bend and get misshapened.
• Tap your foot-a kid favorite and thunky sound. Going back and forth between both feet (sitting on floor) gives a fabulous tremolo.
• Tap a chair-It has to be a light tap on the back, seat, or leg of a chair to keep from bending the instrument.
• Tap with a mallet-Place on the floor and lightly tap with a mallet. This wasn’t my favorite way because the sound isn’t very loud and kids tend to want to smack the heck out of the tube with their mallet to get it to make more sound.

Boomwhacker Safety

The bottom line, a Boomwhacker is an instrument to make beautiful music and should never be used to hit or touch anyone or anything. Make this clear before you hand out a single instrument.

Play Alongs

Stranger (Things) Rings-Notes BAGE

Boomwhackers! How many do I need?

How many sets do you need? Amazon is a mess when it comes to looking. West Music and other companies are better, but the actual Boomwhacker site is the BEST!
Whether you are playing mainly diatonic pieces or a mix of diatonic and pentatonic activities, the Classroom Pack (BW54TB) is the best deal. It comes with Chroma-note stick ons and a tote bag. While you can buy the same items individually $14 cheaper (less the tote and stickons) if you are going the diatonic route, it’s substantially cheaper for the ability to play pentatonic melodies too.

Let’s break it down. Four diatonic sets will give you 32 notes for diatonic melodies and 20 notes for pentatonic. (I’m not counting high C) If you do count high C, you could then get away with buying one less pentatonic set and save an additional $20 by not buying the classroom pack.

TPT Resources for Boomwhackers

Bought Me a Cat uses mi, re, do (BAG) patterns
The Mitten uses so, mi, re, do (G EDC)
Cobbler uses a pentatonic activity-do, re, mi, so , la (CDE GA)
Miss White uses la-based so, la, do, re, mi (DE GAB)
Turkey Strut uses a diatonic melody D, E, F, G, A, Bb, and C
Waltz of the Drumsticks uses chord playing to a “cantabile” song.
Over the River uses the diatonic melody in C of this classic song.

Storage Ideas

Storage Buying Options