Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum by Ashley Bryan

Since it’s Monday, this is a very late edition of Fantastic Fiction Friday. While not necessarily an art book, Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum by Ashley Bryan is a great book to use as a read aloud when learning about African Djembe Drums or making your own drum.

Beat the Story Drum, Pum-Pum is a collection of African stories that have been passed down from generation to generation in story and song. During these storytelling session, someone often kept the beat on a drum. What I love about this book is the rhythm of the sentences. You can easily imagine the drum beat when you read this book. The stories beg to be read aloud.

The book includes five stories, each of which includes a lesson, though the lessons are a bit darker than what we are used to in the U.S. For example, the first story is about a frog and a hen who are trying to escape a storm. As the storm approaches, Hen builds a house and a bed, collects corn, and rolls some pumpkins onto the roof. Frog refuses to help. When his hole floods he weasels his way into Hen’s house by threatening to call the cat. In the end, Hen sends Frog to the roof to get a pumpkin where he is scooped up by a hawk. Hen eats her pumpkin with satisfaction.

I recommend this book for 3rd graders and older.

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Create Your Own African Djembe Drum

Like the African artisans you learned about yesterday, you can create your own Djembe (Jem-Bay) drum. This is a fun project, though it does take a bit a time. I recommend it for third graders and older.

Supplies Needed:

Two plastic, Styrofoam, or paper cups

Scissors

Tape

Newspaper

Flour

Water

Paint

Paintbrush

Punching balloon

Rubber band

Yarn (optional)

Cover your workspace. You’ll notice in the pictures how messy my towel got. Mix one cup of flour with two cups of water to make your papier mache paste. Tear newspaper into strips.

Choose two cups. Try to pick cups with interesting shapes. Cut the bottom out of the cups. You may need an adult to help with this step. Tape the bottoms of the cups together.

Cover the outside of the cups with a thin layer of papier mache covered newspaper strips. You don’t need to use a lot of the mixture to make the newspaper stick, and the less you use the quicker your cups will dry.

When the cups are dry, paint over the newspaper with white paint. This is just meant to cover up the newsprint and make sure it doesn’t show through the designs you paint onto your drum later.

Let the white paint dry. While you wait, decide what patterns or designs you want to paint onto your drum.

When the white paint has dried, paint over it with a solid color. I painted the top of my drum brown and the bottom yellow. You can choose any colors you want.

Let the paint dry.

Now paint your patterns onto your drum.

Let the paint dry

Choose a punching balloon and cut it open. It’s best if you stick your scissors into the opening and just slit the balloon apart. This leaves it as whole as possible. Stretch the balloon over the top of the cup and wrap your rubber band around it to hold it in place. You want the balloon to be stretched tight. Ask an adult to help you if you have trouble with this. Cut off most of the extra balloon (careful—not too much

If you stop here, you have a lovely, working drum. You may choose to add yarn to your drum. This can be difficult but, if you’re up for the challenge, you can try it. Wrap a length of yarn about four times around the middle of your drum. Tie the ends together and tuck them back into the wraps. Wind another length of yarn around the top, tie the ends together and tuck them into the wraps.. Now weave a longer piece under the bottom wraps, then over the top wraps. Repeat until you’ve gone all the way around the drum. Tie the ends together and tuck them into the wraps.

Enjoy your drum!

Tomorrow: A story you can read when making your drum (while you wait for it to dry).

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African Djembe Drums

Djembe (Jem-Bay) drums are traditional African drums. Each drum is carved by hand from a single piece of hardwood. The inside is carved with a special design that makes the sound more beautiful when the drum is played. Often the outside is decorated, too.

Goat skin is stretched over the top of the finished Djembe drum. The skin is attached to the drum by many strings. The strings can be tightened to change the sound that comes out of the drum. Sometimes, instead of goat skins, zebra, antelope, deer, calf, or camel skins are used.

A finished Djembe drum is believed to have three spirits inside of it. It has the spirit of the tree that the drum was made from, the spirit of the animal that gave its skin, and the spirit of the drum maker. This makes each drum special.

Check out this collection of African drums.

Listen to a clip of Djembe drumming. Click on the link that says “Main Instrument: Djembe, length 1min.” It’s worth a listen.

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Create Your Own Story Totem Pole

Yesterday you learned about Native American totem poles. You know that Native Americans often created totem poles to tell stories. Today, create your own story totem pole.

A Note to Teachers/Parents: This is a great project to help teach kids about the parts of a story. Read a story and then have the students create a totem pole that retells the tale. Tell students that their totem pole should include all the main characters, the problem, the solution, and three plot points. In my area, 2nd and 3rd graders have been learning about the parts of a story for at least a month and they have filled out more graphic organizers than anyone should ever be made to fill out. This totem pole project is a fun way to break up the monotony and to appeal to more visual, kinesthetic, or artistic learners.

Supplies Needed:

A good story (I used Goldilocks and the Three Bears)
Paper towel rolls
Construction paper
White paper
Markers/Colored pencils/Crayons
Scissors
Glue
Tape
Rubber bands

Read the story. Think about the main characters, the problem, the solution, and three plot points. All of these things should appear on your finished totem pole.
Draw and color each item. My totem pole tells the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears so I drew three bears, Goldilocks with porridge, Goldilocks in a chair, and Goldilocks sleeping in bed.

Cut out your pictures. Arrange them in the order of the story. I put the beginning of the story on the bottom of the totem pole and built each piece on top of the one before it.
Choose a color for the background of your totem pole. I chose red. A sheet of construction paper is the same length as a paper towel roll, but you’ll need to cut the paper to the correct width. You want it to be about 6 ½ inches wide. If you want your totem pole to be longer than a paper towel roll, just fit another roll inside the first and attach with a little tape. You’ll then need to cut another piece of construction paper and tape it to the first piece.
Glue your pictures, in a column, to the center of the construction paper. Let them dry.

Spread glue over the back of the construction paper. Wrap the paper around the paper towel roll. Carefully twist rubber bands around the ends to hold the construction paper in place while it dries. If you’re in a hurry, or the glue won’t hold, use a little bit of tape at the edges.
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Totem Poles

Along the northwestern coast of North America (America and Canada), some Native Americans create totem poles. These totem poles are carved from whole, full-grown Western Redcedar trees, and can be huge. They show people and animals stacked on top of each other, sometimes painted bright colors.

We don’t know how long Native American tribes have been carving totem poles because wood rots. Eventually, every totem pole must be taken down and destroyed. There are totem poles from the 1800s and stories about totem poles from much earlier.

Totem poles are used for different reason within different tribes. Some are used to show family history, some tell stories, and some are meant for protection. Native American tribes even used to use totem poles to embarrass other tribes who owed debts.

When a Native American totem pole artist creates a totem pole, he first decides what animals to include. He designs his pole. When he knows what his totem pole will look like, he begins to carve. This can take a year to finish. Imagine carving an entire tree! Depending on which tribe he belongs to, the artist may then paint the animals with bright colors.

When the totem pole is finished, the tribe stands it up. First, the base of the totem pole is burned using wood chips that were carved from the pole during its creation. This is supposed to help slow the rotting process. Then a wooden scaffold is built and attached to the totem pole to make it easier to pull the pole up. It takes hundreds of people to raise the totem pole. Next, there is a ceremony in which the artist is paid for his work. He then dances around the totem pole holding the tools he used to create it

Check out this site for pictures of totem poles.

EDITED TO ADD: Create Your Own Story Totem Pole

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