Making an Irish Harp

We are loving our study of Ireland, St Patrick's Day and rainbows. There is so much fun stuff to do and everyday I'm more convinced that we need to live in Ireland. The fact that there are no snakes on the whole island is reason enough. Please, no need to tell me why we don't want to live in Ireland. I know it rains there somewhere around 200 days a year. But. There are no snakes.

We watched American Cultures for Children, Irish-American Heritage yesterday. And again today. It is such a neat video. We've been reading Count Your Way Through Ireland by James Haskins.and learning to count to 10 in Gaelic. The video also teaches it so we now have someone pronouncing the words for us! We'll have it down by the end of the month! The video covers a little bit of everything and even included a tutorial for making a harp.

Start with a box. On the video they used a pasta box (a large one like for jumbo shells, not spaghetti), we used ice cream cone boxes. Cereal boxes were also suggested. You can paint your box and then decorate it. We covered ours in wrapping paper and then the girls stamped it with paint and foam stamps. After your box is ready you will cut a rectangle on both sides like so

Then you will tape a pencil to one side of the box on the side of the window. Next you will stretch rubber bands around the box and over the windows according to width. Finish by taping the rubber bands down on both sides of both windows.

Play a Celtic tune!

One more thing. Aubrey wanted left over pancakes for dinner tonight (the colors became slightly distorted after going through the microwave). I happened to pick up some clouds at the store earlier today. How fun is this?