Last weekend we had a lovely winter snowstorm. Two feet of snow stacked up on the ground over a 24 hour period. To commemorate the changing landscape, both of weather and a transition between a group class performance and a few weeks off, we decided to do an extra special activity.

We made our own Twinkle Snowstorm!

Imagine the final result:
13 twinklers (age 4-6) standing in lines.
Each one has a snow flake dangling from their scroll
The snow flakes aren’t yet moving or dipping to the ground, their posture is stable and tall
Teacher and pianist play Twinkle Theme while students stay in posture and listen
Every parent has a camera out to document the moment
We take a twinkly bow, students ask to keep the snowflakes, which of course they can

It was a great success. I want to explain here exactly how I set up the snowflakes and framed the activity to make it wonder-full and educational.

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Make the snowflakes

I used this Martha Stewart tutorial to make one snowflake for each member of the class.

I attached fishing line to each snowflake with a paperclip, then tied a large loop at the top of the line. The paper clip gives the snowflake a nice weight so the flakes really hang down.

I transported the collection by looping the large top loop around a dowel. The snowflakes still got a bit tangled, but I would not recommend letting all of the line loose and just carrying by the flake part.

Snowstorm in Class

I introduced the activity by instructing students to their best violin posture (no bows necessary). I told them we were going to hold up our instruments while Ms. Sarah (co-teacher) took a trip outside and back. She put on her coat and hat — it was quite theatrical — and then retrieved the paper snowflakes which were in the hallway.

As she came back inside I exclaimed, “Oh my goodness! Look what Ms. Sarah brought back with her!”

Sarah and I then went around the room looping the snowflake lines over students’ scrolls until everyone had a dangling snow flake.

Students stood with tall scrolls and hanging snowflakes as Sarah and I performed Twinkle Theme.

We let them keep their snowflakes as a souvenir from class.

I hope you try this engaging activity with your Twinkle class. It’s important to spice things up (or cool things down) every once and a while!